For the complete Sunday readings click here.

What is the happiest moment of your life? Most people answer one of a couple answers. Some people say it was the first moment they met the love of their life. Others say it was their wedding day. And a lot of people say it was the birth of their children. Of course there are other answers, but many, if not most people, name one of these moments.

What do these moments have in common? They are all the start of a life long relationship. Whether it was a marriage relationship or meeting one’s child face to face, something about the beginning of our families that brings use immense and beautiful joy. When we look back, those moments are joyful in and of themselves and represent so man moments we have with those people afterward. Even when those relationships end, the great sorrow of their ending says something about happy they made us to begin with.

The readings this weekend point to that first moment of the beginning of a really joyful and important relationship. The reading from Isaiah and the words of John the Baptist hold up the coming of Jesus Christ, the savior of the world, as the epitome of the joyful introduction. Isaiah describes Jesus coming as being like a wedding day, like being released from prison, or like the first day of spring. Isaiah couldn’t say it more plainly than this, “I rejoice heartily in the LORD, in my God is the joy of my soul.”

In the ten or so days of advent, these readings remind us to look forward to Christmas 2014, like we would look forward to the happiest moments of our lives. More importantly, we are being invited to recognize that our relationship with Jesus, whether we’ve been at it 90 years or we’re just beginning, is the source of joy and happiness. Jesus being born in a manger and Jesus coming deeply into our hearts in 2014 are worth of overwhelming joy and happiness. Rejoice!

Live it:
Smile! Take a couple minutes to think about Jesus, your faith, or the coming of Christmas and smile wide.