Voices: Unshakable joy

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:4-6)

Jason DuntonWe are up to our eyeballs in Christmas preparation at our church right now. With everything from banquets, to decorations, to mission projects, to special Christmas services, we really have a lot going on.

I’m not sure whether it’s all of the activities of this season, or simply the busyness that surrounds it, but there is always a palpable buzz that permeates everything this time of year— and there should be. These are good things. It’s a great thing to celebrate with friends, family and co-workers at the end of the year. To celebrate the victories, to acknowledge growth through defeats, to express gratitude for one another and to the Lord for everything that happened over the last 12 months.

We should be excited when Christmas rolls around each year. The Advent of our Lord Jesus Christ is the foundation of our hope and something that should perpetually drive us to our knees in wonder and awe.

Anxiety, not awe

Unfortunately for so many, this time of year is not marked by wonder but by stress that comes from overloaded schedules, Christmas parties, school productions and gift shopping. Instead of awe, we find people gripped with anxiety as they prepare for the pressure that comes with family visits, meals to prepare and even more gift shopping.

I understand this. I really do. As a worship pastor, I feel the weight of this season every single year. I feel the pressure to put things before the congregation that not only are meaningful, but also bigger than last year, better than last year, different than last year, etc. I receive the flurry of emails from church members who all have personal and passionate stakes in what the decorations should look like, the songs that should be sung, who should be involved in the services and productions, and so on. There is a lot going on.

In a lot of ways, the Christmas season seems to come like a hurricane. I’ve found if you’re not anchored to something deep, you’re easily swept away by all of the activity, expectations and busyness.

“Do they know …?”

At one of our rehearsals for our Christmas service, one of the students who recently came to know the Lord and is also a part of our praise band came into the worship center and asked if it was OK to sit with me and listen for a while, to which I said “of course!”

After sitting and listening to a few songs, this student leaned over and whispered, “Do they know what they are singing?”

At first, I was a little confused at the question, so I pressed for clarification. “Do you mean, conceptually?” I asked.

She shook her head and then said: “What I meant was, do they know what they’re singing? I hear the words but I’m not buying it.”

Over the next several minutes, the Holy Spirit washed over me with waves of conviction and allowed the immensity of that insight to absolutely blow my heart to pieces. I found myself beginning to confess to the Lord about all of the times I recently spoke about the glorious grace of Jesus, but my attitude and actions were absent from that speech. I confessed that in the busyness of rehearsals, volunteer coordination and service planning, I had allowed my heart to become numb to the majesty of Emmanuel.

And for the follower of Christ, this is a tragedy.

Picture of reality

I’m a huge football fan. I especially love professional football. My Dallas Cowboys are having an absolutely fantastic year, even if it’s without Tony Romo, which makes me a little sad, but I’m not going to get into all of that right now.

One of my favorite parts of football is the pre-game ritual. This usually is when the team will circle up and a player, often a captain, will bounce to the center of the circle and yell at everybody to get them “fired up.”

One of my all-time favorite pre-game rituals is one the San Francisco 49ers used to do a few years back. During their pre-game circle, the “man in the center” would yell “Who’s got it better than us?” and the rest of the team would shout back to answer him with “Nobody!”

I love that. I’ve always thought that is an incredibly beautiful picture of the reality that we enjoy as believers. There are so many places in Scripture that illustrate this truth, but one only has to visit Ephesians 2 to be confronted with the immeasurable, glorious reality that the follower of Christ lives in. Our great hope, found in the person and work of Jesus Christ, affords us many gifts, and one of the richest gifts we receive through him is the unshakable joy of who we’ve become.

Our hope

When we were hopeless, God introduced himself as our hope. When we were lost in the dark, God introduces himself as the light of our world. When we were dead, God spoke into our tomb and raised us to life so we could walk out of it.

So, as we wade into the often-treacherous, stressful, anxiety-producing waters of this holiday season, may we wear faces that beam with an unshakable joy. May we not cease to share the reason for this great hope that we have. May our love toward one another answer any question of who we are and whose we are.

Because, who’s got it better than us? Nobody.

Jason Dunton is the contemporary worship arts pastor at First Baptist Church in Bryan, Texas, where he lives and loves with his wife, Joanna, daughter, Penelope, and English bulldog, Grubby.