Theological Status: COMPROMISED (Worldly/Sloppy)
Biblical Parallel(Archetype): Pergamum
❓ What do these grades mean?
🔍 Biblical Discernment: The 7 Church Parallels
The Cold Orthodox Parallel
Ephesus
Teaching that upholds doctrinal precision yet parallels the loss of the "first love"—the vital, motivating power of the Gospel (Rev 2:4).
The Formalist Parallels
Pergamum
Teaching that parallels churches tolerating the "doctrine of Balaam" through cultural accommodation (Rev 2:14), characterized by weak boundaries, sloppy theology, and worldly compromise.
Why strictly "Mark & Avoid"?
We do not issue this rating to attack the speaker, but to protect the listener. This ministry's overall teaching trend consistently deviates from sound doctrine. As per Romans 16:17, we identify these patterns so believers can guard their hearts.
We do not issue this rating to attack the speaker, but to protect the listener. This ministry's overall teaching trend consistently deviates from sound doctrine. As per Romans 16:17, we identify these patterns so believers can guard their hearts.
🧐 Overview
Sermon Summary: Discovering joy isn't about avoiding life's storms but finding God's presence through Christ's sacrifice, even in the messiest moments.
Big Idea: True joy is not the absence of trouble but the quiet, resilient presence of God in the midst of suffering, revealed in the incarnation and sustained by the Holy Spirit, enabling believers to be agents of divine light even in life’s darkest moments. [00:15:35 ▶️ 📄]
Pastoral Analysis: This sermon effectively highlights the reality of suffering and the call to be agents of grace. However, it misses a crucial connection between God's presence and Christ's atoning work, which risks presenting a gospel that separates sanctification from redemption. Strengthening this link will deepen the congregation's understanding of how Christ's sacrifice empowers us to endure and serve.
Biblical Parallel(Archetype): Pergamum — The sermon presents God's presence without anchoring to Christ's atoning work, reflecting a tolerance of incomplete gospel truths similar to the challenges faced by the church in Pergamum.
🎨 The Visual Metaphor
The candle represents Christ's presence—unextinguished by suffering, not because the storm has ceased, but because divine grace sustains even in brokenness. The water, glass, and storm symbolize life’s chaotic suffering, yet the flame’s quiet persistence reflects the Holy Spirit’s quiet, resilient work in believers amid suffering.
📖 How they Handle Scripture & Jesus
- Primary Text: Luke 2:8-14
- Usage Classification: Incomplete Gospel Presentation
- Text-to-Talk Ratio: Moderate
- Pulpit Decorum: ✅ PASS - No significant issues with language or conduct noted
✝️ Christological Focus: Weak
"Sermon emphasizes divine presence without linking to Christ's finished work on the cross"
Scripture Saturation: Verses Read: 7 | Referenced: 10 | Alluded: 10
Passages Read Aloud:
-
Luke 2:8-14
[00:13:19 ▶️ 📄]
"They had set night watches over their sheep, and suddenly God's angels stood among them, and God's glory blazed around them. And they were terrified. And the angel said, Don't be afraid. I'm here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody worldwide. A Savior has been born in David's town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. That's what you're going to look for. A baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger. At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God's praises. Glory to God in the heavenly heights. Peace to all men and women on earth who please him."
Key References: John 14:16-17, John 16:7-15, Philippians 4:4-7, Romans 8:38-39, John 1:5, Isaiah 9:2, Matthew 1:23, Psalm 30:5, 2 Corinthians 4:6-7, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
🎙️ Sermon Content & Delivery
Word Count: 3,749 words
📌 Key Topics Addressed
-
Joy vs. Happiness
[00:15:31 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor distinguishes happiness as situational and temporary from joy as rooted, resilient, and divinely sourced — joy being the presence of God even in suffering. -
Divine Presence in Suffering
[00:16:08 ▶️ 📄]
> God does not bypass pain but enters it; joy is found not in the removal of darkness but in the light of God’s presence within it. -
The Holy Spirit as Inner Joy
[00:16:29 ▶️ 📄]
> The joy announced by the angels at Christ’s birth is now mediated through the indwelling Holy Spirit, which provides peace and resilience beyond emotional cheer. -
Congregational Ministry as Angelic Action
[00:29:35 ▶️ 📄]
> Members of the congregation are called 'angels' — not supernatural beings, but human agents who embody God’s presence through personal, tangible acts of love.
🖼️ Illustrations & Stories
-
Sermon Illustration
[00:06:42 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor recounts a week of personal crises: sewage smell in the office, standing water with live electrical cords, a candle shattering in her hand, and unfulfilled prayers for miracles — all while preparing for Christmas Eve. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:11:31 ▶️ 📄]
> A video analogy of stepping in dog poop and reacting in four different emotional ways (anxious, angry, defeated, neutral) to illustrate that life’s 'poop' is inevitable, but our response determines our inner state. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:22:15 ▶️ 📄]
> The story of Kate Baller, a Duke professor who faced stage four cancer, postpartum depression, a critically ill newborn, her father’s rapid dementia, and COVID isolation — yet found joy not in outcomes but in God’s presence. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:28:17 ▶️ 📄]
> The Ding Dong Ditch ministry at West, where congregants personally deliver gifts to neighbors in need, often meeting hidden, profound needs beyond what is documented.
🚀 Calls to Action (Application)
-
Pastoral Charge
[00:05:00 ▶️ 📄]
> Attend the next Sunday service where the Grinch will join in a dialogue message. -
Pastoral Charge
[00:23:12 ▶️ 📄]
> Listen to Kate Baller’s podcast on finding joy amid suffering (link to be shared). -
Pastoral Charge
[00:29:38 ▶️ 📄]
> Look for and be an 'angel' — a personal, tangible agent of grace — in the lives of others, especially during times of darkness.
🧭 Biblical Alignment Dashboard
Overall Verdict: Compromised / Weak
| Category | Status | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Gospel Presentation | ❌ FAIL | The sermon presents joy through God's presence without anchoring it to Christ's atoning work on the cross. |
| Soteriology | ❌ FAIL | Sanctification is disconnected from Christ's redemptive work, undermining the core of salvation. |
| Bibliology | ⚪ N/A | No scriptural interpretation issues identified. |
| Hermeneutic | ✅ PASS | No errors in hermeneutical approach detected. |
| Theology Proper | ✅ PASS | Correct references to God's presence and Holy Spirit without doctrinal error. |
| Sacramentology | ⚪ N/A | Sacraments not addressed in sermon. |
| Confessional Depth | ❌ FAIL | Lacks robust engagement with foundational gospel truths |
⚙️ The Gospel Engine (Confessional Distinctives)
❌ The Law And Wrath: Not observed in the sermon.
❌ Total Depravity And Inability: Not observed in the sermon.
❌ Active Obedience Of Christ: Not observed in the sermon.
❌ The Cross And Atonement: Not observed in the sermon.
⚠️ Theological Concerns
🟠 Christless Sanctification (The Error of Separating Sanctification from Christ's Atoning Work)
Root Cause: A departure from the biblical teaching that our holiness is rooted in Christ's finished work on the cross
"True joy is not the absence of trouble but the quiet, resilient presence of God in the midst of suffering, revealed in the incarnation and sustained by the Holy Spirit, enabling believers to be agents of divine light even in life’s darkest moments." [00:15:35 ▶️ 📄]
Correction: Sanctification flows from union with Christ through faith in His atoning sacrifice (Romans 6:1-11; Galatians 2:20). Joy in suffering is rooted in the hope of the cross, not merely God's presence.
📜 Full Sermon Transcript (Audit)
Use the 📄 icons next to quotes above to automatically jump to their location in this raw transcript.
[00:00:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch.
[00:00:07] You really are a heel.
[00:00:11] You're as cuddly as a cactus.
[00:00:13] You're as charming as an eel, Mr. Grinch.
[00:00:19] You're a bad banana with a greasy black peel.
[00:00:32] You're a monster, Mr. Grinch.
[00:00:36] Your heart's an empty hole.
[00:00:41] Your brain is full of spiders.
[00:00:43] You've got garlic in your soul, Mr. Grinch.
[00:00:49] I wouldn't touch you with a 39 and a half foot pole.
[00:00:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Good morning and welcome to West.
[00:00:59] My name is Andrea Smith.
[00:01:00] I have the privilege of being the pastor here and we are so glad that if you're here at Lake Norman High School, you have braved the ever-decreasing temperatures
[00:01:10] This morning to come to worship, I think it's going to be like 10 degrees colder when you leave than it was when you arrived.
[00:01:15] If you're worshiping with us online, we extend a very special and warm welcome to you.
[00:01:20] Today is a little different.
[00:01:22] It's what we call a no huddles day.
[00:01:24] But since it's Advent, since it's the season of Advent, we're going to do a little short message here at the beginning.
[00:01:30] And then you're going to break out of our holy huddle, sitting in our seats and go out in the comments area.
[00:01:36] We had over 40 families that we did gifts for this year for Ding Dong Ditch and that's when folks need a little extra love during the Christmas season so you're gonna practice your wrapping skills and you're gonna go out there and wrap presents in about 30 minutes so we are or shorter we're really grateful that you're here doing that and if you're at home
[00:01:58] During that time, I just invite you to think about one nice thing you can do for somebody this week beyond yourself.
[00:02:05] Just do something kind for someone.
[00:02:08] And maybe somebody that works in retail.
[00:02:11] Be extra kind to them as we go into the last week, the craziness of this season.
[00:02:18] If you're worshiping with us for the first time, we send a very special and warm welcome to you.
[00:02:24] We invite you to follow us on social media.
[00:02:41] Like our Facebook page.
[00:02:42] See what's coming.
[00:02:43] There's a West Weekly episode.
[00:02:45] Every week that tells you all the different things that are going on and our social media catalyst does a phenomenal job at letting you know what's coming up so you can totally find out and keep up with things there.
[00:02:56] So we invite you to do that.
[00:02:58] We have two Christmas Eve services coming up in just a few short days and they are going to be at 5.
[00:03:06] and seven at five it's a Christmas Eve experience for children so they've got some really fun and exciting activities that will be going on in the Commons area if you have family if you have friends that have children this would be a great time to introduce them to West the service will be non-threatening and hopefully folks that are not in tune or want to go to church they could come here on Christmas Eve and feel welcomed
[00:03:32] and Accepted.
[00:03:33] That's what we've always heard on Christmas Eve.
[00:03:35] We'll have a fun little game.
[00:03:37] I noticed one church, Lane sent me a text.
[00:03:39] She's our children's catalyst.
[00:03:41] Sent me a text earlier.
[00:03:42] She's like, such and such a church is having like eight Christmas Eve services.
[00:03:47] And I thought we had a lot at Williamson's Chapel when I was the associate there.
[00:03:50] We had four, a three, five, no, five, seven, nine, and eleven.
[00:03:55] And so that was exhausting.
[00:03:56] I'm like, how in the world would you have eight?
[00:03:58] but they're like 15 minutes each and so I'm not maybe it's it's just different than what we're gonna do what you can expect here on Christmas Eve is a service like you would experience on Sunday morning with some great music we have a fun game a meaningful I hope message and then we'll have candlelight communion at the very end and then you can go home and celebrate with your families so we have two options five and seven I hope you'll make it a point to do that and then the Sunday after Christmas we are online only we have so many volunteers and
[00:04:28] We're working on a very special service for you that won't take a long time, but hopefully you'll find meaningful and relevant.
[00:04:50] We are in the middle of, and we will finish it up on Christmas Eve, Am I a Grinch If?
[00:04:56] And next Sunday we're going to do something really fun.
[00:04:58] The Grinch is actually going to worship with us.
[00:05:00] So I invite you to come next Sunday and we're going to have a dialogue message with me and the Grinch.
[00:05:06] So you don't want to miss that.
[00:05:07] But maybe you feel Grinch-like periodically.
[00:05:12] I personally like today I'm like God why is it that these things unfold the way that they do because if I ever could feel like a Grinch it is today great things are happening and so I do believe in the way that I understand God that when God is at work and great things are happening it does seem like there's opposite forces some want to call it the devil I call it evil but there's things that are happening that just keep pushing up against all the good
[00:05:40] So, Soul Creations is this non-profit arm of West that's a part of Level Up Together.
[00:05:47] It is run by volunteers and the staff and it has, much like the Jewish people were not expecting Jesus to show up like he did, the staff and I were not expecting Soul Creations to show up this Christmas season like it has.
[00:06:05] It has been
[00:06:06] All of a sudden, we've gone a year and a half and never had an online order from our website.
[00:06:15] And then all of a sudden, now it's like every other day, Soul Creations has a new order.
[00:06:20] And I look at them with great fear.
[00:06:22] I'm like, what is getting ready to happen?
[00:06:25] What could they possibly want to order and are we going to have it?
[00:06:29] So I pray every time I open my email.
[00:06:31] So yesterday I found myself at the office and I'm like, okay, I'm just going to crank out a few candles while I'm studying for the Christmas Eve message and it'll just be quiet and all this kind of stuff.
[00:06:42] And there was this smell of raw sewage.
[00:06:46] Dawn and Lane had mentioned to me, I was out of town a few days trying to just sort of get my life and my head in the right space to get ready for the next 10 days.
[00:06:55] And they texted me, hey, just wanted to let you know there's a passing scent of sewage that comes and goes in the office.
[00:07:04] And I'm like, maybe it's not a big deal.
[00:07:06] You know, that's not what you say when somebody tells you that there's a raw sewage smell.
[00:07:11] And I'm like, maybe it's just because nobody's been in the office, you know, other than one day, blah, blah, blah.
[00:07:15] Well, when I got there yesterday, it was overwhelming.
[00:07:17] I'm like, all right.
[00:07:18] So, I texted a friend that does great work for West, and I'm like, hey, do you mind taking a look at this?
[00:07:25] No, not at all.
[00:07:26] So, got all my stuff done, was so excited.
[00:07:28] It was like 11 o'clock, going to go home, and actually put lights on our tree.
[00:07:32] The tree has been there for weeks.
[00:07:34] Tom was gracious enough to get it.
[00:07:36] It has no lights, no ornaments, no nothing.
[00:07:38] And I was ready to just only have a tree.
[00:07:41] And he mentioned, could it please have some lights?
[00:07:44] And that's my role.
[00:07:45] And I'm like, sure.
[00:07:46] And so I got ready to go home and I was going to put some stuff under the sink in the back.
[00:07:54] And standing water.
[00:07:56] and I'm like great and I don't mean a little and then there's electrical cords under there that are plugged in and they were in the standing water and I'm not an electrician or a plumber but I feel like that's not a good plan to have electrical cords immersed
[00:08:11] and Water and so started working on that so that took another couple of hours get to the office this morning dealing with lots of illness and lots of different ways with different people and and so they were out of pocket and then it just feels like if I touch it it's going to break I picked up a candle yesterday and as soon as I picked it up it shattered in my hand I'm like all right this is not working out for me
[00:08:37] and so then as I was reading over my notes yesterday afternoon am I a Grinch if I don't feel joy at Christmas that's what we're talking about today I'm like well I could be the poster child
[00:08:47] Have you ever seen a Hallmark Christmas movie?
[00:08:51] Some folks have, some folks haven't.
[00:08:55] Some people are obsessed with Hallmark Christmas movies.
[00:08:57] They like stalk how they're going to be released and I think this year they released 23 different ones which is fascinating that you can even come up with that many different ones because the plot
[00:09:08] is always the same.
[00:09:09] I saw some TikToks a few weeks ago of some folks that he shows up at the door and and he announces his arrival and they're like future making of a Hallmark movie and that is exactly correct like and it just happens over and over and over again.
[00:09:26] It's the same plot you know someone in distress someone shows up and then there's you know a
[00:09:32] There's a climactic point where there's a conflict.
[00:09:35] The conflict is resolved.
[00:09:36] And I have not watched one, which I've only watched one, so I can't really testify to this.
[00:09:41] But I assume they all work out in the end.
[00:09:45] Do they?
[00:09:46] Will you?
[00:09:47] Yeah, okay.
[00:09:48] All right, good.
[00:09:49] So if you're worshiping online, the in-person people just gave me a shout and a clap that yes, they do all work out in the end.
[00:09:57] Life does not work that way.
[00:10:00] And so this morning as we talk about in our series, Am I a Grinch if I don't have joy at Christmas time?
[00:10:08] So many folks are dealing with so many different things and like life is not always pretty.
[00:10:15] and especially at Christmas loneliness seems to abound and feelings of depression and hopelessness and so my hope for you this morning is that in just these few minutes I can share with you a few things to think about and perhaps an answer that the self-help podcast and the books that you can buy on Amazon or the bookstore are not going to give you the answers to
[00:10:43] In prep for today's message, I listen to lots of different self-help folks, and it seems like everybody has a podcast around how to find joy at Christmas when life is not joyful.
[00:10:54] And I've noticed that there's this one thing that they all say, go within.
[00:10:59] Take the time, go deep within.
[00:11:02] But they never take that next step, or at least the ones that I've listened to haven't, until I found one that I'm going to share with you at the end of the message today.
[00:11:11] But go within to what?
[00:11:13] So go within to meditate, etc.
[00:11:16] But as followers of the one that came a couple of thousand years ago and showed us where we can go within to, that's what I'd like for us to hold on to this morning.
[00:11:27] I invite you to take a look at this quick clip.
[00:11:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Imagine that I'm walking along, I'm walking along, I step in a pile of dog poop and I think, oh my gosh, I'm going to get to live and then all of these amazing women, they're going to see me and they're going to think that I stink, but I took a shower and what if it ruins my shoes?
[00:11:42] These shoes are new.
[00:11:44] How am I feeling?
[00:11:48] Anxious, right?
[00:11:49] Okay, now imagine that I'm walking along, I'm walking along, I step in that pile of dog poop and this time I think, that stupid son of a, they shouldn't be allowed to have a dog if they're not going to clean up after it.
[00:11:59] How am I feeling now?
[00:12:01] Angry.
[00:12:03] Walking along, walking along, step in a pile of dog poop and I think, I'm so stupid.
[00:12:09] No one else would do this.
[00:12:10] I deserve it.
[00:12:11] Today's going to suck.
[00:12:13] How am I feeling now?
[00:12:16] You got quiet then.
[00:12:17] Maybe I'm feeling down, right?
[00:12:19] Defeated, discouraged.
[00:12:21] Last one, last one.
[00:12:22] Walking along, step in the poop and I think, that stinks.
[00:12:25] Oh well, it's really not that big of a deal.
[00:12:26] I'll just wipe it off and go on my business.
[00:12:28] How am I feeling now?
[00:12:32] Most people say fine, which technically isn't a feeling.
[00:12:34] Maybe I feel neutral or unfazed, carefree.
[00:12:38] Notice I'm not happy.
[00:12:39] I wasn't like, woohoo, poo.
[00:12:43] But my point here is I stepped in poop either way it goes.
[00:12:47] I had four very different reactions, depending on what my mind did with that situation.
[00:12:54] So the take-home point is it's not about the poo.
[00:12:57] Life is full of poo.
[00:12:58] It's about what you do with it.
[00:13:03] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
So it's about what we do with it.
[00:13:08] There's a secret that is revealed to us in Scripture.
[00:13:11] It's a part of the Christmas story.
[00:13:13] Perhaps you've heard this, perhaps not, but there were shepherds camping in the neighborhood.
[00:13:19] This is as told in the Gospel of Luke.
[00:13:22] They had set night watches over their sheep, and suddenly God's angels stood among them, and God's glory blazed around them.
[00:13:32] And they were terrified.
[00:13:34] And the angel said, Don't be afraid.
[00:13:37] I'm here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody worldwide.
[00:13:44] A Savior has been born in David's town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master.
[00:13:49] That's what you're going to look for.
[00:13:53] A baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger.
[00:13:58] At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God's praises.
[00:14:04] Glory to God in the heavenly heights.
[00:14:06] Peace to all men and women on earth who please him.
[00:14:11] The angel choir, as they withdrew into heaven, the shepherds talked it over.
[00:14:15] Let's go to Bethlehem as fast as we can and see for ourselves what God has revealed
[00:14:22] It was a joyful event.
[00:14:26] It was a thing that happened, that joy.
[00:14:29] And the shepherd said, hey, let's go.
[00:14:31] Let's go find this thing that has happened and let us experience it.
[00:14:40] Life is full of poo.
[00:14:42] That could be like everybody's mantra.
[00:14:46] But how we look at it and how we think about it and how we process it, that's up to us.
[00:14:58] And that's one of the hardest, hardest lessons to learn in life as followers of Christ or not as followers of Christ.
[00:15:07] That one's tough.
[00:15:08] So I want you to take a look at this slide.
[00:15:11] Joy shows up most often
[00:15:14] in places where happiness makes no sense.
[00:15:21] Joy shows up most often in places where happiness makes no sense.
[00:15:29] We've talked about it before.
[00:15:31] There's such a distinguishing characteristic between joy and happiness.
[00:15:35] Happiness is something that is situational.
[00:15:38] Joy is what the angels were talking to the shepherds about, like, hey, this event, this thing,
[00:15:44] has happened it is a joyful experience event that is going to change the world and the shepherds went to see and went to embrace it and it changed everything joy isn't the absence of trouble it is the presence of God in the trouble
[00:16:08] So all these self-help podcasts and books and things that I've listened to, they talk about meditating and going within, but as a follower of Christ, we can understand so that that event that happened a couple thousand years ago that brought joy and brought that understanding of joy and that experience of joy into our world,
[00:16:29] that presence after it lived its life of 30 plus years and changed the trajectory of so many people once that physical presence of that experience that came embodied in a baby once it left it left us this amazing gift of this thing called the Holy Spirit the presence of the divine that lives in each of us and that is our joy
[00:16:58] And that is our peace.
[00:17:02] Odds are you've seen cheerleaders.
[00:17:05] There's this Netflix or Hulu, not sure which series shows it, but it's the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders.
[00:17:12] And I know we have some Cowboys fans here, but it's the dance team or the cheerleaders and how they, and it's my guilty pleasure to watch meaningless TV like this, but like it's their tryouts and then what their life is like as a part of the Dallas cheerleaders.
[00:17:32] Now there's something about that experience with those cheerleaders.
[00:17:36] It's never a quiet or a silent or somber experience.
[00:17:43] It's loud.
[00:17:45] So I want us to understand that there is a difference, okay, between cheer and joy.
[00:17:52] Take a look.
[00:17:54] Cheer is loud, performative, seasonal, and dependent on circumstances.
[00:18:00] It's what we manufacture, it's what Hallmark sells, and it is absolutely exhausting.
[00:18:07] Ever tried to be cheerful when you're not?
[00:18:15] I will not lie and say that I did not have to spend a lot of time in prayer this morning like okay God sewage standing water and I had prayed that miracles were going to happen with the water lines in the back because you can't pour candles which we have another order for from the governor's office which is like the coolest thing ever they want 50 more candles you can't pour them with no water
[00:18:41] And so I had prayed that miracles happened with the water lines overnight and that this morning when I came in and turned the water back on to that back sink that it was just gonna have healed itself and I'll let you know that it didn't.
[00:18:55] And so then our person, the guru that fixes all things, you know, came and even Dave, our worship production director, he was helping.
[00:19:04] I mean, it was the whole thing.
[00:19:06] And I'm like, and you want me to go talk about joy?
[00:19:11] What if I don't have any?
[00:19:14] And I'm like, what a hypocritical thing.
[00:19:17] Because I do.
[00:19:17] I don't have any cheer.
[00:19:18] There's zero cheer right now.
[00:19:22] But you know what?
[00:19:24] That's such the beautiful thing about this gift is that when there's not cheer and when there's not all the performative aspects of our life when we don't have to be on or when things are so bad because work stinks or school is hard
[00:19:41] or we didn't get the grade that we wanted or our exams were just weighing heavy or the girl or the guy or the human that we want to be in a relationship they do not want us back or the diagnosis from the doctor or the health it seems to be an illusion or the loss of a loved one when those things happen cheer is not forthcoming but joy can be
[00:20:09] So take a look at what joy is.
[00:20:14] Quiet and resilient.
[00:20:19] Rooted and sustainable.
[00:20:24] Joy is what we receive.
[00:20:27] And it's what God gives.
[00:20:30] And this is my favorite part of this.
[00:20:33] It is the deep gladness
[00:20:36] of knowing who God is regardless of what life is doing.
[00:20:41] It is knowing who God is regardless of what life is giving or doing.
[00:20:51] It is that space within.
[00:20:55] So all the self-help people, they've got it right.
[00:20:57] Like, you just go within.
[00:20:59] But the good news is we can go into this place of hope
[00:21:07] and Love because that's God as embodied through that baby.
[00:21:16] God doesn't bypass our pain and God does not avoid the darkness.
[00:21:22] God walks into it.
[00:21:26] Favorite part of Christmas Eve when we talk about how the light permeates the darkness.
[00:21:36] The other day I was listening to something and it said you'd never see the stars if it weren't for the darkness.
[00:21:44] That's powerful and stars are beautiful.
[00:21:48] It's one of my favorite parts of going to Uganda because they don't have all the ambient light and all that stuff.
[00:21:53] I mean pretty much really anywhere near where we are in Uganda and you walk outside and you look up at the sky and you just see the beauty
[00:22:05] Amidst the Darkness.
[00:22:07] It's amazing.
[00:22:10] God is always present in our darkness.
[00:22:15] If you've not heard of Kate Baller, I invite you to look up her podcast.
[00:22:21] She also has a book
[00:22:24] and she is a historian at Duke University.
[00:22:29] She had just gotten her dream job at Duke as a professor and gotten published and young, just had her first child and was diagnosed with stage four cancer, either stomach or colon, I can't remember which one.
[00:22:47] She wrote this book, Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies That I've Been Told.
[00:22:54] It is an amazing and a powerful book.
[00:22:57] She has a podcast and I listen to it regularly and she had one that talked about how you find joy in the lack of a hallmark Christmas.
[00:23:12] And on this particular podcast, I'll send a link out tomorrow to it and invite you to listen to it, but she had a childhood actor who was also starred in some other programs, but this woman's career began in the Mickey Mouse Club with Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake, and she's had this, you know, amazing life.
[00:23:33] And she grows up and she starts getting cast in other shows and her career continues on and then she has a baby.
[00:23:43] And something that people don't talk about a lot, postpartum depression took over her life and she found herself having suicidal ideation.
[00:23:55] and she finally confessed that to others and she got help for that and then had her second child and as they were nearing the end of the pregnancy she found out that it had congenital heart defects and that if the baby lived after being born he would require multiple heart surgeries and that they didn't know
[00:24:23] If he would live after being born and then after her son Bennett was born she immediately finds out or sorry when she found out about the heart defect within the same week
[00:24:43] She finds out that her dad has a rare form of dementia, an aggressive form that would most likely take his life in a record short amount of time.
[00:24:56] And then COVID happened.
[00:24:59] And so she couldn't go see her dad.
[00:25:06] Her son who was born ended up having emergency open heart surgery immediately upon being born and then several weeks later would have to have another and then another so when she finally got to where she could leave her son she'd been told she had about six weeks to have a space where she could see her father and by the time she could go see her dad COVID was in full swing.
[00:25:35] and she felt like she was losing everything.
[00:25:38] The podcast is powerful and I invite you to listen to it this week but I wanted to share with you this quote by Nikki Deloach.
[00:25:49] I learned that hope isn't about everything turning out okay.
[00:25:54] It's about knowing you're not alone when it doesn't.
[00:26:02] One of the powerful parts of Christmas stories and honestly one of the most powerful lessons I ever learned about theology when I started learning what the words really meant was the presence of angels.
[00:26:21] I always saw angels were these figures with the long flowy white dresses and the pretty wings but if you look
[00:26:33] At the translation, it simply means messengers from God.
[00:26:41] So who knows what form those angels took?
[00:26:49] When you don't have any joy because things seem to bite, just look around.
[00:26:58] because the presence is in the miracles of the people that show up time and time again.
[00:27:04] That's the joy of an event that happened a couple of thousand years ago and that joy that lies within and that will show up in the darkness with the presence of light and light of people.
[00:27:25] Tom laughs, or not at me, but with me.
[00:27:30] He calls it the crackly voice when I'm preaching.
[00:27:34] Because sometimes, because I mean what I say so much and so passionately, my emotion, which I have enough for a whole room full of people, will rise to the surface.
[00:27:49] And this is one of those times.
[00:27:52] Because you are those angels.
[00:27:55] Like, for the Ding Dong Ditch people, I have the privilege of knowing some of the back story.
[00:28:03] And the needs are always so much more than what's on paper.
[00:28:10] And you just show up.
[00:28:12] You just show up.
[00:28:17] On Monday, I got a phone call from Lane, and she's like, hey, someone reached out and said they didn't, you know, get a name, but they wanted to do something, and what do you think about?
[00:28:27] And so we brainstormed, and like, this particular angel, like, took that need and met the need exponentially.
[00:28:37] And then when I walked in the West office the other week, and there's a brand new bike sitting there, I'm like, oh my God.
[00:28:48] or Racetracks for little kids that don't have them.
[00:28:54] And the thing that I love about Ding Dong Ditch, and thank you to the leaders who make this happen, it's personal.
[00:29:03] At West we believe in doing personal ministry.
[00:29:05] We don't just give money to where we don't know the people.
[00:29:10] And so the people that are nominated, someone in this space, digitally or in person, has a connection with each one of them.
[00:29:22] They have a person that loves them enough to make sure that they have a little extra love at Christmas.
[00:29:33] These people are angels.
[00:29:35] You are angels.
[00:29:38] So the next time you're in the middle of electrical cords submerged under water, or the smell of raw sewage seeping out from the bathroom which causes you to cancel the Christmas party on Tuesday, remember that in the middle of the smell and the ick, that joy lives within.
[00:30:06] And that if we'll pause long enough to look in the darkness for the light, it always, always shows up.
[00:30:16] We just sometimes have to look a little harder than we'd like.
[00:30:22] Thanks for being agents of joy.
[00:30:25] Online people, thank you for being a part of the community.
[00:30:30] And I'm sorry you don't get to see the presence, but I know you're here in spirit.
[00:30:38] Let us pray.
[00:30:39] Gracious God the gifts that are outside may they be for each of those folks.
[00:30:47] Reminders that in whatever darkness they faced or are facing there are glimmers of light and hope.
[00:31:00] God thank you for being the one that showed us how to break
[00:31:05] Out of the darkness and hold on to that quiet unassuming light that holds all things together and pushes us to live only in the moment and not let the chaos of life overwhelm us.
[00:31:25] Thank you for the shepherds.
[00:31:28] who were so willing in the middle of their own journey to break out of the norm and go find that gift.
[00:31:39] May we be agents of the gift in all that we do.
[00:31:45] In Christ's name, Amen.
[00:31:48] I invite you to go and go wrap presents and pray for the people that are going to receive them.
[00:31:55] Lane's outside and our leaders Tammy and others are outside to give instructions and I look forward to seeing you next Sunday.
[00:32:04] Go in peace.
You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch.
[00:00:07] You really are a heel.
[00:00:11] You're as cuddly as a cactus.
[00:00:13] You're as charming as an eel, Mr. Grinch.
[00:00:19] You're a bad banana with a greasy black peel.
[00:00:32] You're a monster, Mr. Grinch.
[00:00:36] Your heart's an empty hole.
[00:00:41] Your brain is full of spiders.
[00:00:43] You've got garlic in your soul, Mr. Grinch.
[00:00:49] I wouldn't touch you with a 39 and a half foot pole.
[00:00:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Good morning and welcome to West.
[00:00:59] My name is Andrea Smith.
[00:01:00] I have the privilege of being the pastor here and we are so glad that if you're here at Lake Norman High School, you have braved the ever-decreasing temperatures
[00:01:10] This morning to come to worship, I think it's going to be like 10 degrees colder when you leave than it was when you arrived.
[00:01:15] If you're worshiping with us online, we extend a very special and warm welcome to you.
[00:01:20] Today is a little different.
[00:01:22] It's what we call a no huddles day.
[00:01:24] But since it's Advent, since it's the season of Advent, we're going to do a little short message here at the beginning.
[00:01:30] And then you're going to break out of our holy huddle, sitting in our seats and go out in the comments area.
[00:01:36] We had over 40 families that we did gifts for this year for Ding Dong Ditch and that's when folks need a little extra love during the Christmas season so you're gonna practice your wrapping skills and you're gonna go out there and wrap presents in about 30 minutes so we are or shorter we're really grateful that you're here doing that and if you're at home
[00:01:58] During that time, I just invite you to think about one nice thing you can do for somebody this week beyond yourself.
[00:02:05] Just do something kind for someone.
[00:02:08] And maybe somebody that works in retail.
[00:02:11] Be extra kind to them as we go into the last week, the craziness of this season.
[00:02:18] If you're worshiping with us for the first time, we send a very special and warm welcome to you.
[00:02:24] We invite you to follow us on social media.
[00:02:41] Like our Facebook page.
[00:02:42] See what's coming.
[00:02:43] There's a West Weekly episode.
[00:02:45] Every week that tells you all the different things that are going on and our social media catalyst does a phenomenal job at letting you know what's coming up so you can totally find out and keep up with things there.
[00:02:56] So we invite you to do that.
[00:02:58] We have two Christmas Eve services coming up in just a few short days and they are going to be at 5.
[00:03:06] and seven at five it's a Christmas Eve experience for children so they've got some really fun and exciting activities that will be going on in the Commons area if you have family if you have friends that have children this would be a great time to introduce them to West the service will be non-threatening and hopefully folks that are not in tune or want to go to church they could come here on Christmas Eve and feel welcomed
[00:03:32] and Accepted.
[00:03:33] That's what we've always heard on Christmas Eve.
[00:03:35] We'll have a fun little game.
[00:03:37] I noticed one church, Lane sent me a text.
[00:03:39] She's our children's catalyst.
[00:03:41] Sent me a text earlier.
[00:03:42] She's like, such and such a church is having like eight Christmas Eve services.
[00:03:47] And I thought we had a lot at Williamson's Chapel when I was the associate there.
[00:03:50] We had four, a three, five, no, five, seven, nine, and eleven.
[00:03:55] And so that was exhausting.
[00:03:56] I'm like, how in the world would you have eight?
[00:03:58] but they're like 15 minutes each and so I'm not maybe it's it's just different than what we're gonna do what you can expect here on Christmas Eve is a service like you would experience on Sunday morning with some great music we have a fun game a meaningful I hope message and then we'll have candlelight communion at the very end and then you can go home and celebrate with your families so we have two options five and seven I hope you'll make it a point to do that and then the Sunday after Christmas we are online only we have so many volunteers and
[00:04:28] We're working on a very special service for you that won't take a long time, but hopefully you'll find meaningful and relevant.
[00:04:50] We are in the middle of, and we will finish it up on Christmas Eve, Am I a Grinch If?
[00:04:56] And next Sunday we're going to do something really fun.
[00:04:58] The Grinch is actually going to worship with us.
[00:05:00] So I invite you to come next Sunday and we're going to have a dialogue message with me and the Grinch.
[00:05:06] So you don't want to miss that.
[00:05:07] But maybe you feel Grinch-like periodically.
[00:05:12] I personally like today I'm like God why is it that these things unfold the way that they do because if I ever could feel like a Grinch it is today great things are happening and so I do believe in the way that I understand God that when God is at work and great things are happening it does seem like there's opposite forces some want to call it the devil I call it evil but there's things that are happening that just keep pushing up against all the good
[00:05:40] So, Soul Creations is this non-profit arm of West that's a part of Level Up Together.
[00:05:47] It is run by volunteers and the staff and it has, much like the Jewish people were not expecting Jesus to show up like he did, the staff and I were not expecting Soul Creations to show up this Christmas season like it has.
[00:06:05] It has been
[00:06:06] All of a sudden, we've gone a year and a half and never had an online order from our website.
[00:06:15] And then all of a sudden, now it's like every other day, Soul Creations has a new order.
[00:06:20] And I look at them with great fear.
[00:06:22] I'm like, what is getting ready to happen?
[00:06:25] What could they possibly want to order and are we going to have it?
[00:06:29] So I pray every time I open my email.
[00:06:31] So yesterday I found myself at the office and I'm like, okay, I'm just going to crank out a few candles while I'm studying for the Christmas Eve message and it'll just be quiet and all this kind of stuff.
[00:06:42] And there was this smell of raw sewage.
[00:06:46] Dawn and Lane had mentioned to me, I was out of town a few days trying to just sort of get my life and my head in the right space to get ready for the next 10 days.
[00:06:55] And they texted me, hey, just wanted to let you know there's a passing scent of sewage that comes and goes in the office.
[00:07:04] And I'm like, maybe it's not a big deal.
[00:07:06] You know, that's not what you say when somebody tells you that there's a raw sewage smell.
[00:07:11] And I'm like, maybe it's just because nobody's been in the office, you know, other than one day, blah, blah, blah.
[00:07:15] Well, when I got there yesterday, it was overwhelming.
[00:07:17] I'm like, all right.
[00:07:18] So, I texted a friend that does great work for West, and I'm like, hey, do you mind taking a look at this?
[00:07:25] No, not at all.
[00:07:26] So, got all my stuff done, was so excited.
[00:07:28] It was like 11 o'clock, going to go home, and actually put lights on our tree.
[00:07:32] The tree has been there for weeks.
[00:07:34] Tom was gracious enough to get it.
[00:07:36] It has no lights, no ornaments, no nothing.
[00:07:38] And I was ready to just only have a tree.
[00:07:41] And he mentioned, could it please have some lights?
[00:07:44] And that's my role.
[00:07:45] And I'm like, sure.
[00:07:46] And so I got ready to go home and I was going to put some stuff under the sink in the back.
[00:07:54] And standing water.
[00:07:56] and I'm like great and I don't mean a little and then there's electrical cords under there that are plugged in and they were in the standing water and I'm not an electrician or a plumber but I feel like that's not a good plan to have electrical cords immersed
[00:08:11] and Water and so started working on that so that took another couple of hours get to the office this morning dealing with lots of illness and lots of different ways with different people and and so they were out of pocket and then it just feels like if I touch it it's going to break I picked up a candle yesterday and as soon as I picked it up it shattered in my hand I'm like all right this is not working out for me
[00:08:37] and so then as I was reading over my notes yesterday afternoon am I a Grinch if I don't feel joy at Christmas that's what we're talking about today I'm like well I could be the poster child
[00:08:47] Have you ever seen a Hallmark Christmas movie?
[00:08:51] Some folks have, some folks haven't.
[00:08:55] Some people are obsessed with Hallmark Christmas movies.
[00:08:57] They like stalk how they're going to be released and I think this year they released 23 different ones which is fascinating that you can even come up with that many different ones because the plot
[00:09:08] is always the same.
[00:09:09] I saw some TikToks a few weeks ago of some folks that he shows up at the door and and he announces his arrival and they're like future making of a Hallmark movie and that is exactly correct like and it just happens over and over and over again.
[00:09:26] It's the same plot you know someone in distress someone shows up and then there's you know a
[00:09:32] There's a climactic point where there's a conflict.
[00:09:35] The conflict is resolved.
[00:09:36] And I have not watched one, which I've only watched one, so I can't really testify to this.
[00:09:41] But I assume they all work out in the end.
[00:09:45] Do they?
[00:09:46] Will you?
[00:09:47] Yeah, okay.
[00:09:48] All right, good.
[00:09:49] So if you're worshiping online, the in-person people just gave me a shout and a clap that yes, they do all work out in the end.
[00:09:57] Life does not work that way.
[00:10:00] And so this morning as we talk about in our series, Am I a Grinch if I don't have joy at Christmas time?
[00:10:08] So many folks are dealing with so many different things and like life is not always pretty.
[00:10:15] and especially at Christmas loneliness seems to abound and feelings of depression and hopelessness and so my hope for you this morning is that in just these few minutes I can share with you a few things to think about and perhaps an answer that the self-help podcast and the books that you can buy on Amazon or the bookstore are not going to give you the answers to
[00:10:43] In prep for today's message, I listen to lots of different self-help folks, and it seems like everybody has a podcast around how to find joy at Christmas when life is not joyful.
[00:10:54] And I've noticed that there's this one thing that they all say, go within.
[00:10:59] Take the time, go deep within.
[00:11:02] But they never take that next step, or at least the ones that I've listened to haven't, until I found one that I'm going to share with you at the end of the message today.
[00:11:11] But go within to what?
[00:11:13] So go within to meditate, etc.
[00:11:16] But as followers of the one that came a couple of thousand years ago and showed us where we can go within to, that's what I'd like for us to hold on to this morning.
[00:11:27] I invite you to take a look at this quick clip.
[00:11:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Imagine that I'm walking along, I'm walking along, I step in a pile of dog poop and I think, oh my gosh, I'm going to get to live and then all of these amazing women, they're going to see me and they're going to think that I stink, but I took a shower and what if it ruins my shoes?
[00:11:42] These shoes are new.
[00:11:44] How am I feeling?
[00:11:48] Anxious, right?
[00:11:49] Okay, now imagine that I'm walking along, I'm walking along, I step in that pile of dog poop and this time I think, that stupid son of a, they shouldn't be allowed to have a dog if they're not going to clean up after it.
[00:11:59] How am I feeling now?
[00:12:01] Angry.
[00:12:03] Walking along, walking along, step in a pile of dog poop and I think, I'm so stupid.
[00:12:09] No one else would do this.
[00:12:10] I deserve it.
[00:12:11] Today's going to suck.
[00:12:13] How am I feeling now?
[00:12:16] You got quiet then.
[00:12:17] Maybe I'm feeling down, right?
[00:12:19] Defeated, discouraged.
[00:12:21] Last one, last one.
[00:12:22] Walking along, step in the poop and I think, that stinks.
[00:12:25] Oh well, it's really not that big of a deal.
[00:12:26] I'll just wipe it off and go on my business.
[00:12:28] How am I feeling now?
[00:12:32] Most people say fine, which technically isn't a feeling.
[00:12:34] Maybe I feel neutral or unfazed, carefree.
[00:12:38] Notice I'm not happy.
[00:12:39] I wasn't like, woohoo, poo.
[00:12:43] But my point here is I stepped in poop either way it goes.
[00:12:47] I had four very different reactions, depending on what my mind did with that situation.
[00:12:54] So the take-home point is it's not about the poo.
[00:12:57] Life is full of poo.
[00:12:58] It's about what you do with it.
[00:13:03] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
So it's about what we do with it.
[00:13:08] There's a secret that is revealed to us in Scripture.
[00:13:11] It's a part of the Christmas story.
[00:13:13] Perhaps you've heard this, perhaps not, but there were shepherds camping in the neighborhood.
[00:13:19] This is as told in the Gospel of Luke.
[00:13:22] They had set night watches over their sheep, and suddenly God's angels stood among them, and God's glory blazed around them.
[00:13:32] And they were terrified.
[00:13:34] And the angel said, Don't be afraid.
[00:13:37] I'm here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody worldwide.
[00:13:44] A Savior has been born in David's town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master.
[00:13:49] That's what you're going to look for.
[00:13:53] A baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger.
[00:13:58] At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God's praises.
[00:14:04] Glory to God in the heavenly heights.
[00:14:06] Peace to all men and women on earth who please him.
[00:14:11] The angel choir, as they withdrew into heaven, the shepherds talked it over.
[00:14:15] Let's go to Bethlehem as fast as we can and see for ourselves what God has revealed
[00:14:22] It was a joyful event.
[00:14:26] It was a thing that happened, that joy.
[00:14:29] And the shepherd said, hey, let's go.
[00:14:31] Let's go find this thing that has happened and let us experience it.
[00:14:40] Life is full of poo.
[00:14:42] That could be like everybody's mantra.
[00:14:46] But how we look at it and how we think about it and how we process it, that's up to us.
[00:14:58] And that's one of the hardest, hardest lessons to learn in life as followers of Christ or not as followers of Christ.
[00:15:07] That one's tough.
[00:15:08] So I want you to take a look at this slide.
[00:15:11] Joy shows up most often
[00:15:14] in places where happiness makes no sense.
[00:15:21] Joy shows up most often in places where happiness makes no sense.
[00:15:29] We've talked about it before.
[00:15:31] There's such a distinguishing characteristic between joy and happiness.
[00:15:35] Happiness is something that is situational.
[00:15:38] Joy is what the angels were talking to the shepherds about, like, hey, this event, this thing,
[00:15:44] has happened it is a joyful experience event that is going to change the world and the shepherds went to see and went to embrace it and it changed everything joy isn't the absence of trouble it is the presence of God in the trouble
[00:16:08] So all these self-help podcasts and books and things that I've listened to, they talk about meditating and going within, but as a follower of Christ, we can understand so that that event that happened a couple thousand years ago that brought joy and brought that understanding of joy and that experience of joy into our world,
[00:16:29] that presence after it lived its life of 30 plus years and changed the trajectory of so many people once that physical presence of that experience that came embodied in a baby once it left it left us this amazing gift of this thing called the Holy Spirit the presence of the divine that lives in each of us and that is our joy
[00:16:58] And that is our peace.
[00:17:02] Odds are you've seen cheerleaders.
[00:17:05] There's this Netflix or Hulu, not sure which series shows it, but it's the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders.
[00:17:12] And I know we have some Cowboys fans here, but it's the dance team or the cheerleaders and how they, and it's my guilty pleasure to watch meaningless TV like this, but like it's their tryouts and then what their life is like as a part of the Dallas cheerleaders.
[00:17:32] Now there's something about that experience with those cheerleaders.
[00:17:36] It's never a quiet or a silent or somber experience.
[00:17:43] It's loud.
[00:17:45] So I want us to understand that there is a difference, okay, between cheer and joy.
[00:17:52] Take a look.
[00:17:54] Cheer is loud, performative, seasonal, and dependent on circumstances.
[00:18:00] It's what we manufacture, it's what Hallmark sells, and it is absolutely exhausting.
[00:18:07] Ever tried to be cheerful when you're not?
[00:18:15] I will not lie and say that I did not have to spend a lot of time in prayer this morning like okay God sewage standing water and I had prayed that miracles were going to happen with the water lines in the back because you can't pour candles which we have another order for from the governor's office which is like the coolest thing ever they want 50 more candles you can't pour them with no water
[00:18:41] And so I had prayed that miracles happened with the water lines overnight and that this morning when I came in and turned the water back on to that back sink that it was just gonna have healed itself and I'll let you know that it didn't.
[00:18:55] And so then our person, the guru that fixes all things, you know, came and even Dave, our worship production director, he was helping.
[00:19:04] I mean, it was the whole thing.
[00:19:06] And I'm like, and you want me to go talk about joy?
[00:19:11] What if I don't have any?
[00:19:14] And I'm like, what a hypocritical thing.
[00:19:17] Because I do.
[00:19:17] I don't have any cheer.
[00:19:18] There's zero cheer right now.
[00:19:22] But you know what?
[00:19:24] That's such the beautiful thing about this gift is that when there's not cheer and when there's not all the performative aspects of our life when we don't have to be on or when things are so bad because work stinks or school is hard
[00:19:41] or we didn't get the grade that we wanted or our exams were just weighing heavy or the girl or the guy or the human that we want to be in a relationship they do not want us back or the diagnosis from the doctor or the health it seems to be an illusion or the loss of a loved one when those things happen cheer is not forthcoming but joy can be
[00:20:09] So take a look at what joy is.
[00:20:14] Quiet and resilient.
[00:20:19] Rooted and sustainable.
[00:20:24] Joy is what we receive.
[00:20:27] And it's what God gives.
[00:20:30] And this is my favorite part of this.
[00:20:33] It is the deep gladness
[00:20:36] of knowing who God is regardless of what life is doing.
[00:20:41] It is knowing who God is regardless of what life is giving or doing.
[00:20:51] It is that space within.
[00:20:55] So all the self-help people, they've got it right.
[00:20:57] Like, you just go within.
[00:20:59] But the good news is we can go into this place of hope
[00:21:07] and Love because that's God as embodied through that baby.
[00:21:16] God doesn't bypass our pain and God does not avoid the darkness.
[00:21:22] God walks into it.
[00:21:26] Favorite part of Christmas Eve when we talk about how the light permeates the darkness.
[00:21:36] The other day I was listening to something and it said you'd never see the stars if it weren't for the darkness.
[00:21:44] That's powerful and stars are beautiful.
[00:21:48] It's one of my favorite parts of going to Uganda because they don't have all the ambient light and all that stuff.
[00:21:53] I mean pretty much really anywhere near where we are in Uganda and you walk outside and you look up at the sky and you just see the beauty
[00:22:05] Amidst the Darkness.
[00:22:07] It's amazing.
[00:22:10] God is always present in our darkness.
[00:22:15] If you've not heard of Kate Baller, I invite you to look up her podcast.
[00:22:21] She also has a book
[00:22:24] and she is a historian at Duke University.
[00:22:29] She had just gotten her dream job at Duke as a professor and gotten published and young, just had her first child and was diagnosed with stage four cancer, either stomach or colon, I can't remember which one.
[00:22:47] She wrote this book, Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies That I've Been Told.
[00:22:54] It is an amazing and a powerful book.
[00:22:57] She has a podcast and I listen to it regularly and she had one that talked about how you find joy in the lack of a hallmark Christmas.
[00:23:12] And on this particular podcast, I'll send a link out tomorrow to it and invite you to listen to it, but she had a childhood actor who was also starred in some other programs, but this woman's career began in the Mickey Mouse Club with Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake, and she's had this, you know, amazing life.
[00:23:33] And she grows up and she starts getting cast in other shows and her career continues on and then she has a baby.
[00:23:43] And something that people don't talk about a lot, postpartum depression took over her life and she found herself having suicidal ideation.
[00:23:55] and she finally confessed that to others and she got help for that and then had her second child and as they were nearing the end of the pregnancy she found out that it had congenital heart defects and that if the baby lived after being born he would require multiple heart surgeries and that they didn't know
[00:24:23] If he would live after being born and then after her son Bennett was born she immediately finds out or sorry when she found out about the heart defect within the same week
[00:24:43] She finds out that her dad has a rare form of dementia, an aggressive form that would most likely take his life in a record short amount of time.
[00:24:56] And then COVID happened.
[00:24:59] And so she couldn't go see her dad.
[00:25:06] Her son who was born ended up having emergency open heart surgery immediately upon being born and then several weeks later would have to have another and then another so when she finally got to where she could leave her son she'd been told she had about six weeks to have a space where she could see her father and by the time she could go see her dad COVID was in full swing.
[00:25:35] and she felt like she was losing everything.
[00:25:38] The podcast is powerful and I invite you to listen to it this week but I wanted to share with you this quote by Nikki Deloach.
[00:25:49] I learned that hope isn't about everything turning out okay.
[00:25:54] It's about knowing you're not alone when it doesn't.
[00:26:02] One of the powerful parts of Christmas stories and honestly one of the most powerful lessons I ever learned about theology when I started learning what the words really meant was the presence of angels.
[00:26:21] I always saw angels were these figures with the long flowy white dresses and the pretty wings but if you look
[00:26:33] At the translation, it simply means messengers from God.
[00:26:41] So who knows what form those angels took?
[00:26:49] When you don't have any joy because things seem to bite, just look around.
[00:26:58] because the presence is in the miracles of the people that show up time and time again.
[00:27:04] That's the joy of an event that happened a couple of thousand years ago and that joy that lies within and that will show up in the darkness with the presence of light and light of people.
[00:27:25] Tom laughs, or not at me, but with me.
[00:27:30] He calls it the crackly voice when I'm preaching.
[00:27:34] Because sometimes, because I mean what I say so much and so passionately, my emotion, which I have enough for a whole room full of people, will rise to the surface.
[00:27:49] And this is one of those times.
[00:27:52] Because you are those angels.
[00:27:55] Like, for the Ding Dong Ditch people, I have the privilege of knowing some of the back story.
[00:28:03] And the needs are always so much more than what's on paper.
[00:28:10] And you just show up.
[00:28:12] You just show up.
[00:28:17] On Monday, I got a phone call from Lane, and she's like, hey, someone reached out and said they didn't, you know, get a name, but they wanted to do something, and what do you think about?
[00:28:27] And so we brainstormed, and like, this particular angel, like, took that need and met the need exponentially.
[00:28:37] And then when I walked in the West office the other week, and there's a brand new bike sitting there, I'm like, oh my God.
[00:28:48] or Racetracks for little kids that don't have them.
[00:28:54] And the thing that I love about Ding Dong Ditch, and thank you to the leaders who make this happen, it's personal.
[00:29:03] At West we believe in doing personal ministry.
[00:29:05] We don't just give money to where we don't know the people.
[00:29:10] And so the people that are nominated, someone in this space, digitally or in person, has a connection with each one of them.
[00:29:22] They have a person that loves them enough to make sure that they have a little extra love at Christmas.
[00:29:33] These people are angels.
[00:29:35] You are angels.
[00:29:38] So the next time you're in the middle of electrical cords submerged under water, or the smell of raw sewage seeping out from the bathroom which causes you to cancel the Christmas party on Tuesday, remember that in the middle of the smell and the ick, that joy lives within.
[00:30:06] And that if we'll pause long enough to look in the darkness for the light, it always, always shows up.
[00:30:16] We just sometimes have to look a little harder than we'd like.
[00:30:22] Thanks for being agents of joy.
[00:30:25] Online people, thank you for being a part of the community.
[00:30:30] And I'm sorry you don't get to see the presence, but I know you're here in spirit.
[00:30:38] Let us pray.
[00:30:39] Gracious God the gifts that are outside may they be for each of those folks.
[00:30:47] Reminders that in whatever darkness they faced or are facing there are glimmers of light and hope.
[00:31:00] God thank you for being the one that showed us how to break
[00:31:05] Out of the darkness and hold on to that quiet unassuming light that holds all things together and pushes us to live only in the moment and not let the chaos of life overwhelm us.
[00:31:25] Thank you for the shepherds.
[00:31:28] who were so willing in the middle of their own journey to break out of the norm and go find that gift.
[00:31:39] May we be agents of the gift in all that we do.
[00:31:45] In Christ's name, Amen.
[00:31:48] I invite you to go and go wrap presents and pray for the people that are going to receive them.
[00:31:55] Lane's outside and our leaders Tammy and others are outside to give instructions and I look forward to seeing you next Sunday.
[00:32:04] Go in peace.
