“We write these words to you so to fulfill our joy” (1 John 1.4).
The writings of the Early Christians are not handed down to us from leather bound books or carefully tended scrolls. These words—of the Gospels and letters—are written down on fragments, pieces of copies that were passed from hand to hand, folded and refolded, dropped, lost, hidden, and found.
Yet every one of those words was written, originally, out of joy. They were penned because of the experience of a certain person who had encountered the Risen Jesus and was attempting, in their own way, to communicate that experience. They were attempting to capture something so far beyond words with the only words they had.
And because of careful scholarship throughout the centuries, those words have come into our hands. They’re in books, in apps, and on screens. They are sung and read in tongues as strange to us as ours would be to those first century authors.
Some of those fragments tell the stories of these twelve days of Christmas, which pass far faster than they take to arrive. They are the root of the celebration that reminds us that God loved so very much that They came to take part in this strange experience of being human. And through that memory, we are challenged anew to see those around us and ourselves as those blessed by the touch of the Divine.
I hope that the words here share some of the joy I try daily to cultivate. In putting them down they keep before me the words from a hymn that ask why should we humans be so sad when our Redeemer has made us glad.
And as this year comes to its close, my hope is my words and the first century words preserved on fragments remind you that time and life are fleeting and, like this season, pass faster and faster each year. As we come upon the time to make resolutions, be sure to resolve to live as you dream. Don’t put off the sights to see, the instrument you think of playing, or the words you are tempted to write. Before you know it, Christmas will have come around again.
Because, who knows, maybe you pass a stranger in another land, or play notes that drift out your window, or something you write survives as a scrap that someone finds. And in those moments someone may share your joy.
Jesus, may we live and share the joy we have found in you.