Article December 19, 1994 Issue

Christmas joy

Clifford Kapps Eriksen

The message of Christmas is one of joy—the good news of God's love and provision for each of His children. Narrow religious thinking would focus primarily on the brief moment when there was a "babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger" (Luke 2:12). But Christian Science shows that Christmas is a reminder of the ever-presence of spiritual joy and of man's unchanging relation to divine Love. We can tap this reservoir of spiritual joy even if we are weighed down by physical or mental suffering.

Throughout his career on earth, Christ Jesus embodied and demonstrated the power of real joy to regenerate and reform lives. Even as he was facing the crucifixion, he lifted the thinking of his disciples to a more spiritual viewpoint when he prayed, "These things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves" (John 17:13). Jesus assured his disciples that this joy no one could take away (see John 16:22). How different his standpoint was from that of those who assume a dour disposition in the name of piety. He taught us how joy in God's love triumphs and brings healing that lifts us to a higher understanding of our real selfhood as the child of God, His perfect expression.

Claiming and maintaining the joyous dominion of which he spoke, however, require vigilance. We must protect our maturing understanding of joy from anything that would rob us of it—especially impositions. "What are you so happy about?" someone snarls. "Famine! War! Pestilence!" cry the media. "You must suffer because you are sick!" shouts some pain. We are not to ignore such challenges; we can fearlessly recognize them for what they are: the general arguments of materialism claiming authority to discourage and depress, suggesting that man is beyond God's love. With God-given courage and strength, we face these impositions with prayer, knowing that nothing can overrule God's might or deprive anyone of the heritage of real joy, spiritual provision, and wholeness.

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