joyful tidings 2023

It takes deliberate effort to choose to be joyful, and this year I’ve had to take a hard stop to consider the title of my annual update “Joyful Tidings.” That is, do I truly bear the joyful tidings of a salvation in Jesus Christ that far exceeds my present circumstance? It has become apparent that I can be quite curmudgeonly, even cynical at times - a scrooge one might say in this season.

In reflecting further, I realize that I spend most of my day striving to exude the utmost positivity to so many others. It’s an exhausting front to have to keep as a school principal - to hold so much close to my chest while never showing my full cards.

In June I took my first real vacation since before the pandemic began. It was well needed on so many fronts, and one of my takeaways during that time is the humility of Christ “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:6-7). As we read further, the Apostle Paul’s exhortation is to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in [us], both to will and to work for his good pleasure (vv.12-13).”

Without joy I realize that humility is near impossible. And one of the most powerful ways to access joy is to be relationally connected. As believers, that foremost connection is in Christ. My joy is dim at the end of a long day trying to resolve problems and putting out constant fires. To turn that joy switch back on starts with connecting with the one who ultimately knows and sees.

One of songs that I have on repeat this Christmas is “Manger Throne” by Phil Wickham. While the humility of Christ is alluded to in the title alone, the opening verse hits home this point:

You could have stepped into creation
With fire for all to see
Brought every tribe and nation to their knees
Arriving with the host of heaven
In royal robe and crown
The rulers of the earth all bowing down

But You chose meekness over majesty
Wrapped Your power in humanity

How do we respond to this humility? The chorus declares the answer definitively:

Glory be to You alone
King who reigns from a manger throne
My life my praise everything I own
To Jesus the King on a manger throne

To him be all praise and everything we own. Merry Christmas!