Let's all sing 'Joy to the World'

During the Christmas season we hear and sing one of the most famous of all Christmas carols: “Joy to the World.” This year, not just churches, but our secular community choirs have celebrated the 300th birthday of this famous carol and made it the headliner of their Christmas programs. Originally it was published in a book of poems by Isaac Watts in Great Britain in 1719. Watts used a “Christian lens” of interpretation to celebrate Jesus’ role as the “King” of the Christian church and the whole world, rather than translating words of Psalm 98:4-9 in the Old Testament.

In reading Psalm 98:4-9, the joyous verses are really a summons to praise God and all of God’s creative order. The reason for all the praise is the anticipation of God’s coming to rule with justice over all heaven and earth. Therefore, joy in the Psalm can be found in a willingness to trust God and prepare room for Him to rule and judge with love in our future. The original poem was put to music a century later using these famous words: “Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare Him room, And Heaven and nature sing. And Heaven and nature sing. And Heaven and nature sing.”

Here in La Conner, there’s a sense home and joy found in the sacred spaces that have been used for more than 100 years under the Bell of Methodism and Sacred Heart of Catholicism. Belonging and a sense of home means people can be depended on to pray with and for each other, no matter what they believe or don’t believe. Together they hold the Light Of Faith and have even been part of the joy of igniting a miracle.

Last Christmas I was given “The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World,” written by Nobel Peace Prize Laureates His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. And, despite their hardships – or as they say in the book, because of them – they are probably the most joyful people on the planet. They wrote this book together after they looked back on their long lives, and offered answers to a single burning question: How do we find joy in the face of life’s inevitable suffering?

Their answers are all about how to make room and bring joy to the world. In the book they offer practices of joy through what they call “mindfulness.” Mindfulness, simply, is: The basic human ability to be fully present in one’s surroundings and not over-or-underwhelmed by what’s going on around us.

Mindfulness is like what Mary, the mother of Jesus, does in the Luke 1:46-48 passage. Mary is in a world of trouble: she’s pregnant, and not married; one can imagine that she felt tremendous fear and insecurity. Yet, she’s not overwhelmed, she is mindful of who she is and whose she is and in realizing her blessedness she sings out with joy: that God is great. God has done and will do great things through her.

We all know the world is in trouble and desperately needs to find some joy to sing about. So here’s an opportunity to be inclusive on the 300th birthday of the Christmas carol “Joy to the World.” Will you stop what you’re doing for a moment? It doesn’t matter if you are a Christian, or one of the “Nones” (folks who check “None” when asked what religion they are), or you call yourself “spiritual but not religious,” take a deep breath and sing or at least hum a verse of “Joy to the World”

Come on: “Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare Him room, And Heaven and nature sing. And Heaven and nature sing. And Heaven and nature sing.”

You just sang for Joy – now practice the mindfulness of joy: How can your voice bring more joy in the world? How does a sense of home bring you or others joy?

By Marcella Baker

Marcella Baker is pastor of the La Conner United Methodist Church.