The Third Sunday of Advent

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Luke 2:10Intro: So here we are again, with the angels and the shepherdsI chose to read only these three verses, because the story is so well known- but when we circle back to it every year at this time,• we run the risk of treating it as if it only exists for this season◦ like the tree, and the lights, and the nativity scene with its little figures◦ the heavenly choir shows up every year for their Christmas cantata• they announce the arrival of Jesus, and with him, joy and peace◦ the theme for the third Sunday of Advent is joy- who am I to talk about returning to this theme only one day a year?• how often do my Sunday morning talks return to joy?◦ we weren’t hearing much joy in Hosea!• if anyone needs to be reminded of joy all year round, I’m that guyFor my own sake, I decided to explore JOY