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| Ministry Title |
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Spirituality through the Liturgical Seasons |
| Article Title |
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(3) Joy: Accepting the Lord’s invitation for his coming |
| Publish Date |
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12-Dec-2016 |
| Author |
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The Steering Committee of the HKSKH Church Policy Paper - The Working Group for Discipleship Training |
It is hard for us to imagine a Church without joy! The Church exists to proclaim good news of the coming of the Christ into our midst. Jesus Christ longs the Church, His bride, to be filled with joy. Without the joy, experienced through Him and so radiates from within, Christians would lose the vitality that drives them onward and could not witness joy in the Lord.
The third Sunday of Advent is also known as Gaudete Sunday (the day takes its name from the Latin word "Gaudete", meaning “rejoice”), a time of the season to remind believers that, in preparing ourselves to meet the coming of the Christ and the moment we meet, we should not follow Martha to be distracted by all the preparations and miss the better part. Indeed, one of the bad witnesses of Christians is to keep busy with church ministries and even to grumble and to lose the joy of being in close relationship with Christ. The joy of Christian witness is far more appealing than many ministries.
Jesus said, ‘ To what then will I compare the people of this generation,? …… We played the flute for you and you did not dance......’ (Luke 7:31-32) Jesus is inviting his believers to take the joyful days of the Kingdom of Heaven and rejoicing with Him in life.
Meditation:
- To recall your course of faith and review the experience of rejoicing in the Lord.
- Why do Church ministries bring negative feelings to some believers? Are their focus misplaced as Martha? Or, are there other reasons?
- Pray for yourself. May the Lord keep our hearts that we may hold /regain joy in Him, and serve gladly.