Humble joy to see so many acts of kindness this year, says Sheffield minister

Maybe that sums up our feelings about any talk of joy this year, a muffled and socially distanced hum.

And yet the Christian Faith declares this is a season to by joyful.

The Bible teaches us to be joyful always.

It is not referring to an emotion, instead joy in this context is a spiritual discipline that brings a deep sense of wholeness and restores our hope that God is with us and that the present troubles we travel through are not our destination.

The spiritual blessing of joy can bring inner contentment in the worst of storms.

So, how can we know this joy?

Take each letter and that spells out how we can know it. Jesus, Others, Yourself.

Christmas is a celebration that God loved the world so much that He gave us His son Jesus.

Joy is found in the love given to us in the life, death and resurrection of the Emmanuel – God with us.

The love that we find in Jesus leads us to know His compassion for those in need and a motivation for us to help others.

Over this last year of lockdown, it has been such a humble joy to see so many acts of kindness shown to those in need.

And that desire to help others is going to be needed even more in the coming year. And what about yourself? “For God so loved YOU, that He gave His only Son”.

The way that you can love others, is first to know just how precious and loved you are.

The message of the birth of Jesus is that even if you were the only person on Earth who did not know the love of God, Jesus would still have come to reveal that to you.

And that thought is something I dwell on this Christmas and it fills my heart with joy.

Happy Christmas everyone.

The Reverend Jonathan Haigh is a minister at Victoria Hall Methodist Church, Sheffield city centre, and Greenhill Methodist Church – see greenhillmethodistchurch.com

His next column will appear in The Star in January 2021.