Description
This week is the third week of Advent. Following on from the previous two weeks which have focussed on God’s hope and peace, this week we focus on joy.
At this time of year, our surroundings overflow with symbols of joy – there’s colourful displays, bright lights, festive music, fragrant candles, beautifully wrapped gifts, and so much more. On the surface, it can seem like joy is everywhere. And yet, if we take a closer look at our own hearts or the lives of those around us, we may see a different story. While Christmas is often a time of great joy, for many it is also a season marked by hardship and heaviness. Exhaustion, loneliness, worry, and even numbness can quietly settle in.
This week’s readings take us back to a time when God’s people had little reason to feel joyful. They were living in exile, in societies fractured by politics, religion, wealth, and ethnicity. They were weary, disillusioned, and longing for something more.
It was into that very darkness that God spoke with words of hope and joy. God was present. And God had a plan: a future of restoration that would bring deep, lasting, overflowing joy for all people. Not a surface-level, glittery kind of joy, but a bold, active, world-changing joy.
In this resource, through interactive Bible readings, creative reflection, tinsel prayers, movement, and active listening, we’ll explore God’s joy and consider how we might receive and share that joy with others.
