Joy to the World, the Lord is come

Today is the third Sunday in Advent, also known as Gaudete Sunday or the Sunday of Rejoicing which marks the midpoint of preparations for Christmas. Each of the four Sundays in Advent has a theme -Hope, Faith, Joy and Peace, in that order. The theme for the third Sunday in Advent signifies the joy Christians experience about the first coming of Jesus Christ.
Of the four themes, primary emphasis is placed on Hope because however bleak the environment we live in, weakness of our faith, tenuous understanding of God’s mysterious ways and the miserable daily circumstances of our lives, the promise of God holds and will always hold. God has not abandoned His creation, especially His people, to Satan and evil men.

Just as God sent his Son to the world two thousand years ago to bring the Good News, Christians must keep the faith and hope that one day the Lord will send his begotten son, once again, with great power and majesty to usher in God’s eternal Kingdom.

In many Churches today, the invocation will be taken from Isaiah 40 verse 6 which reads as follows: “A voice says, Cry out. And I said, ‘What shall I cry?’ All men are like grass and their glory is like the flowers of the field.” This ancient message is still relevant and self-evident, especially for vainglorious people who think they are so indispensable that our beloved country would collapse and fall apart without them. I tell you, nobody can fool all people always.
The prophecy continues: “The grass withers and the flowers fall because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”

The message of Advent comes out clearly in hymns, such as the popular hymn, “Joy to the world, the Lord is come” and another one whose first line reads, “O Come, thou long-awaited Jesus, born to set thy people free”. The second stanza says, “Israel’s strength and consolation, hope of all the earth thou art; dear desire of every nation, joy of every longing.”
Back to the theme of the third Sunday in Advent - according to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, the word joy means “a feeling of great happiness” and is synonymous with delight. In Christian doctrine joy has an additional meaning as well.

Counting every trial as joy
Joy is one of the “fruits of the Spirit” which are listed in St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians chapter 5:22. The nine fruits of the Holy Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self-control.
Of joy, Apostle James writes: “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials.” James 1:2. Trial in Greek means, “to examine or test for the purpose of proving or revealing something about the thing tested.” The Bible, especially the New Testament was originally written in Greek.

2018 has been a difficult year for Uganda, to put it mildly. The trials and tribulations Ugandans have faced, endured and suffered at the hands of a brutal, corrupt and desperate regime have produced perseverance and resilience among our people who are more than ever determined to struggle peacefully and relentlessly to bring an end to the tyranny which has been imposed on our country, by force and deception, for over 30 years. The trials have prepared wananchi for a new beginning.

As prophet Isaiah said, God has not abandoned His people to oppressors and sinful men. The Lord our God is watching and will at the appropriate time take decisive action to end injustice, torture and violence in our land and usher a new era of justice, peace and prosperity for all in this land.
Ugandans must, therefore, not give up hope for a better tomorrow. On the contrary, they must keep hope alive for a just, joyful, peaceful and prosperous country. Make no mistake, Uganda will soon rise and shine again. Joy to the world, the Lord is come.