Good News!

The Advent/Christmas season is a time for words. From “glad tidings of great joy,” to “…let us go to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place…,” to “Joy to the World!,” this time of year declares Good News of great joy for all the people.

Here’s the thing about words. After much repetition words can lose some of their capacity to communicate. They can become so domesticated we simply take them for granted. “Joy to the World” becomes another greeting card slogan rather than the astonishing proclamation that God changed everything with the birth of the baby Jesus.

Sometimes we need a visual to help jar our attention. And certainly, the Good News is a jarring announcement! Hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus the Psalmist wrote these words: “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it; for he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers….” Ps 24: 1,2.

“A picture is worth a thousand words,” which is why what we see is so important. Jesus said: “Why are you worried about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?...Consider, (look) that the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these….”

Jesus urged us to look at the world, but also consider—think—about what God has already done for us. The Good News is all around us. Proclamation is everywhere. God’s love for us is plainly visible. What we see makes a difference.

This year our family Christmas card includes a typical greeting: Merry Christmas, blessing, joy, peace, etc. But as you look at it, you’ll see the card is anything but typical. It’s a photograph taken by a young, up-and-coming artist. Christopher Garnache is the son of long-time friends Sally and George Garnache. Carol “commissioned” him to take a picture she could use in her business, but when we saw it, we both knew it was a fantastic proclamation of Good News: God’s love for the earth and all who dwell in it.

Christopher helps us to see, not only the beauty of the earth, but also the possibilities, creativity, opportunity and vision God is creating in each one of us. In Jesus Christ: all things are new; all things are possible; everything has changed. Joy to the world! Thanks be to God! Merry Christmas!

~Harrell