Advent: Daring Assertions of Joy in a Polarized Age
Merriam Webster recently announced its choice for 2024’s Word of the Year: Polarization.
A division into two sharply distinct opposites; especially, a state in which the opinions, beliefs, or interests of a group or society no longer range along a continuum but become concentrated at opposing extremes.
How do we navigate the holidays in an age of polarization? How do we stop to reflect during this Advent season when the public and private mood provokes dissension—do we attempt to bridge the divide or steer clear?
Furthermore, what does JOY have to do with it?
Earlier this fall I spent a few Saturday afternoons reading C. S. Lewis’s Surprised by Joy. He suggests that “joy is distinct not only from pleasure in general but even from aesthetic pleasure. It must have the stab, the pang, the inconsolable longing.” I wonder if some of this polarization is due to an inconsolable longing for something more, something better, something lasting.
Advent rhythms are meant to encourage reflection, to awaken dormant longings within, to stimulate our imagination as we strain to understand the both mundane and mysterious birth of Jesus.
“Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11).
This statement, declared by an angel no less, serves to reorient us. We live under the rule and reign of the King who brings good news of great joy for all the people. Not just to those on the extreme right or left of the divide, but even to those on the opposite side.
Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Advent reminds us of our need to hasten to Bethlehem—like the shepherds did—to behold Jesus with our own eyes. He is the Savior of the world. We desperately need to remember who he really is and why he really came.
Let every heart prepare him room
The season of Advent gives us an excuse to do what we need to do to clear away our own bitterness and angst, to prepare room for Jesus in our hearts, our relationships, our fears, and our politics.
Prompts for Reflection
Prepare him some room this week, ask him to allow you to feel the stab, the pang, the inconsolable longing. Extend your arms, open your hands, and receive Pure Joy.
Over the next few days, spend some time reading Luke 1–3. Take note of all the things that happen leading up to and just following the birth of Christ.
Have you known the feeling or experience of joy that Lewis describes as a stab, a pang, an inconsolable longing? Talk to God about this longing and process this with someone who loves Jesus.
What difference does it make in your life to know that Jesus is Lord and how does this reality inform the issues that polarize us?
What does joy have to do with it?
I wonder what would happen if we met the rage that comes at us and even from within us with compassion or love or merely an invitation, “Tell me more.”
