Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns!
Let all their songs employ,
while fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy,
repeat, repeat the sounding joy.


    My sister, Kim, and her husband, Ben, had their second child last week. Luke Benjamin was born on Monday, December 17th, weighing in at 7 pounds 14 ounces and measuring 19 inches from head to toe. My mom called me to tell me the joyful news. “Hello, Aunty DanaLee, you have a nephew,” she said. Of course, I called my husband, Kirk, right away to tell him the news – “We have a nephew!” Later that day, Ben e-mailed me and a host of other family and friends. “Logan has a baby brother” were the words on the subject line. I forwarded his message to our cousins so they would know this joyful news. Finally, that night, I talked to Kim, and with her words she painted for me a picture of the joy on Ben’s face when he got to tell her that they now had not only a beautiful three-year-old daughter, but a son, as well.
    We began worship tonight by singing Joy to the World. It’s a favorite for many of us, I imagine. This year, this particular carol has settled deeply into my heart. And not even the whole song, but a single line in the second verse: Repeat the sounding joy. In telling the story about the birth of my nephew, I realize that this is what we do when babies are born. We repeat the sounding joy. We tell everyone who will listen our joyful news. It’s a boy! Baby and mom are both doing well! He looks just like his dad! It’s no different for Luke Benjamin today than it was over 2000 years ago when the baby named Jesus was born. In his case, angels and shepherds joined with Mary and Joseph to repeat the sounding joy. Each did it in his or her own way.
    First, an angel came to shepherds on night duty with their flock. “Do not be afraid,” the angel said in typical angel fashion. And then the angel repeated the sounding joy – no doubt heard directly from God Himself. “To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” As if those joyous, life saving words were not enough, a multitude of angels surrounded the one, breaking out in song, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”
    Next, it was the shepherds’ turn. Upon hearing the joyful news from the angels, they made their way to Bethlehem and found Mary, Joseph and Jesus just as the angels said they would. They repeated what the angels had told them about the child and amazed all who heard their message. As they left that night to go back to their work, they praised God for all they had seen and heard, repeating the sounding joy back up to the heavens from where it had come in the first place.
    Finally, we have Mary. What she has known from her first encounter with the angel, Gabriel. What the angel told Joseph in a dream. What she has known in her heart about this child she has carried is now confirmed by the most unlikely of characters – simple shepherds from a nearby field. She has heard the sounding joy and now repeats it herself – not out loud, but reflectively – in her heart. She knows her boy has been brought into this world for a very special purpose. The name Jesus literally means, “he saves”. But, can she imagine his life? Can she imagine his death and resurrection? Can she imagine that in the year 2007 we are still repeating the sounding joy about Jesus?
    That’s the work we have cut out for us, by the way. As Christian people – as people who believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior – as people who love God – we are to repeat the sounding joy. Not just at Christmas, but every day, throughout the year. There are countless ways to do this.
    We repeat the sounding joy together- as a community - every time we gather for worship. We repeat the sounding joy as we sing praises to God, as we bare ourselves to God in the confession and rejoice in the absolution, as we hear Scripture read to us, and as we gather together around God’s table to receive the bread and the wine – the body and blood – of Jesus.
    We also repeat the sounding joy as individuals – each in our own unique way. Every time you share your faith with someone else, telling them the effect that Jesus has had on your life, you repeat the sounding joy. Every time you share a breathtaking tale of being in nature, you repeat the sounding joy. Every time you share about an answered prayer, you repeat the sounding joy. Every time you find yourself grateful for something you’ve received and thank God for it, you repeat the sounding joy. Every time your gratitude makes way for you to reach out to someone else in love, you repeat the sounding joy.
    Joy to the world! The Lord is come! This, indeed, is good news for all the people! This Christmas and in all the days to come, may you be filled with joy to overflowing so that you can repeat the sounding joy – as part of this community and in your own, unique way. Amen.