When was the last time you felt complete and utter joy?

Moments of complete joy are rare and exceptional by nature. The only moments that would even come close are moments such as the birth of a child. Many mothers recall the moment they gave birth as a moment of perfect transcendence, a moment when they truly felt happiness at an unimaginable level, as they held their newborn and numbered tiny fingers and toes and caught that translucent sparkle in their baby’s eyes. Children can experience pure and lasting joy in even simple moments like catching a baseball for the first time or riding a bike without training wheels for the first time. For the rest of us, however, those moments are hard to come by.

The angels sang of such a moment when Christ was born. The heavens resounded with the joy of God. The heavens erupted into pure glory as God’s own joy flowed from heaven to earth. But look at the shepherds. Do you think they were feeling the absolute joy of the moment? I don’t think so. They were struck dumb with terror. They fell on the ground, overcome by the fear of the unknown. It was horror that grabbed them not joy.

We can relate to that--extraordinary moments are extraordinary. They are out of the ordinary. They are breaks with expectation and normalcy. They push us to respond in ways we are not sure of or are equipped to deal with.

John makes the attempt in his letter to his congregation. He attempts to bring a moment of holiness to a completely ordinary group of human beings.

But it is hard to respond to someone passing through a moment of extraordinary feeling and power. No words seem to fit. No response seems to adequate to the moment.

One of the true blessings of being a pastor is to get to pass through extraordinary moments with other people. One of those times is performing weddings. I always offer the same counsel to couples during the rehearsal--do not worry about the moment when you will exchange your vows. It will be a powerful moment and you may very well be struck speechless by that moment. More than one bride or groom has found themselves unable to speak a word when the time came to utter their vows. I had one groom who became consumed by the giggles as he attempted to say his “I-dos.” He could not stop laughing. More than one person has found themselves flush with tears that render all speech into incoherent blubbering. It did not matter. They are still married when all is said and done. God knows what was said and meant, even if language completely failed.

That is the same sort of situation John enters as he addresses his congregation. He is trying to communicate what it was like to be with Christ--to sit with him, to hear him, to touch him, to experience being in the presence of Christ. He knows full well that he will never succeed. That was an experience no one else would ever know or share save the other disciples. But he persists because it is simply essential. They have to know and comprehend the power of the moment with Christ in the same way the shepherds had to over come their fear and go to Bethlehem. They have to know it because only then will they have any comprehension of the love revealed in Jesus Christ, love that flows directly from God.

This is the true gift of Christmas--it is the love of God for the world revealed to the world. In order to receive it, however, there must come an experience of that love in ordinary human life, since that is where the vast multitude of human beings have existed and will exist. John has to make the experience of sitting in Christ’s presence intelligible to people who will never share that experience.

Too monumental to attempt?

No.

My family got to attend a basketball game at the University of North Carolina in a veritable temple of basketball--the Dean Smith Center on campus. Inside, one is in a shrine to basketball. UNC played Nevada and it quickly became a rout, but midway through the second half, Carolina guard Bobby Frasor cut left, but his knee cut right. It was one of those sickening moments in a sports contest. We were way up in the stands, but could hear his knee pop. There was dead silence as he crumpled to the floor--25000 people completely quiet. Coach Roy Williams and the team doctor rushed to his side as we all watched in stunned silence. Then the student section began to chant Bobby’s name. There was a feeling of embrace as the crowd picked up the cheer. There was a moment of love. It was real and it was sincere as we all hoped for the best for Bobby Frasor.

We all have opportunities to do something like that. Every day come moments when we can actively care for someone else. We simply have to take the time to do so.

Soon 2007 will give way to 2008 and we will all be off and racing through another year. John asks us to stop and consider the gift of Christmas. John asks us to slow down and allow love to lead us through the transition into another busy and stacked moment in time. John asks us to remember love, to remember from whence comes the love we profess, and to allow ourselves the time and space to experience that love in the midst of our activity and bustle.

In this way our joy can be complete. We can fully allow Christ into our lives and to fill our moments, just as during an ordinary basketball game, we got see and experience a profound moment of care for another person.

This is what John offers us as we prepare to leave Christmas behind for another year. It is really a way to carry Christmas with us for a good time to come. What a wonderful opportunity.