Joy doesn’t happen in a vacuum. We experience joy because we understand all of the other human emotions. They aren’t all joy, that’s for sure. We experience everything from rage to depression to exhaustion. And usually true joy, has a connection to these other emotions. To know joy, we have to understand the broader emotional context- the context of our lives give the depth needed for joy, which goes beyond fleeting happiness or delight.

I serve a church in the Washington DC area, and 2025 has been difficult in so many ways. We are searching for those complex moments of joy that come in the midst of suffering. Earlier this year, when the US government was closing The US Agency for International Development (USAID), I stood outside with other supporters to help folks know that we appreciated their work and witnessed their termination. I didn’t think I knew anybody who had been fired from USAID. I ended up knowing two that day, a neighbor and a former parishioner. As my former parishioner walked out of the building for the last time, carrying the contents of his desk, he recognized me in the crowd. He ran over and his face was filled with joy. It was the joy of community, the joy of being seen and known and loved in the midst of a terrible situation. I saw him and I was there to support him. He knew that and it gave him a moment of joy. Joy doesn’t happen in a vacuum.

Those moments of deep joy are often against the backdrop of strain, suffering or injustice. That’s why I love this year’s WomanPreach! theme, “More Than a Prologue,” because it recognizes that the joy of Christmas also doesn’t happen in a vacuum. The context of that first Christmas enriches our understanding of Christ’s birth and helps us experience our own joy. When I think of the context and complexity around joy in the Christmas narratives, I especially think of Mary’s visit to Elizabeth in Luke 1. Mary, pregnant and unwed, was in a difficult situation. She may have even fled her own community to conceal her pregnancy. She needed counsel, friendship, and family. She needed a way to bear the complexities of the moment and all that was to come.

Her cousin, Elizabeth, greeted Mary:

Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy.”

Mary was not likely feeling happy or grateful as she came into Elizabeth’s presence, but her cousin’s love helped her find the joy in her situation. Elizabeth provided that support and recognition, solidarity in a difficult time. Elizabeth’s support helped Mary to find her own joy and sing a song of hope and liberation for her people. Joy doesn’t happen in a vacuum.

The Jewish people at the time of Jesus were suffering under an oppressive system of interlocking injustice with many religious authorities supporting the political Roman occupation. That is more than a prologue for Jesus’ birth and for Mary’s joyful song.

As we look for own joy this season, Mary and Elizabeth can be our guides, helping us to share joy in solidarity, community and family. We can find these themes in modern day Christmas celebrations and especially in the family movie, A Muppet Christmas Carol. The plot of the movie sticks pretty close to the original Charles Dickens’ classic with Ebeneezer Scrooge undergoing personal transformation as he takes in the world around him. Jim Henson’s muppets add to that meaning with their typical slapstick humor and with beautiful songs.

One of the most poignant moments for Scrooge, as he travels with the Ghost of Christmas Present, is seeing the joy at the Christmas table of his employee, Bob Cratchett and his son, Tiny Tim. Though their celebration is meager, the family finds joy with each other. Tiny Tim’s suffering is the context for the joy in his words “God bless us everyone.” Then the movie expands those words into a beautiful song called “Bless Us All.” The song reminds us that joy doesn’t happen in a vacuum. To experience it, we need to help each other find it. We need to witness and support one another in the most difficult times. We need to welcome the loving support of God, who in Christ, bears all things. As Tiny Tim’s song prays,

“Bless us all with playful years
With noisy games and joyful tears
We reach for you and we stand tall
And in our prayers and dreams
We ask you bless us all”

The joy of Christ’s birth was part of a complex story that included Mary’s own suffering, Elizabeth’s support, and the liberation of a whole community. The joy of Tiny Tim is part of a complex story with his own physical pain and the economic injustices around him. Both Mary in the Biblical narrative and Tiny Tim in The Muppet Christmas Carol found ways to sing praises and blessings to God. Their joy is not in a vacuum and that’s what makes it real joy.

As we seek God’s joy again this season, straining through the pain of our lives and the systemic injustices around us, let us remember the joy is not in a vacuum, that God’s gift to us in Christ is one of solidarity and light in the darkness. Let us seek true joy together, holding one another through the tears, and praying with Tiny Tim “in our prayers and dreams we ask you bless us all.”

Joy Doesn’t Happen in a Vacuum

Together and Good