As we come to the Third Sunday of Advent, we turn toward joy. Not the surface-level kind that depends on everything going right, but the deep, steady joy that grows when we realize God is with us right in the middle of our real lives.
This week’s Gospel lesson (Matthew 1:18–24) brings us into the tender, complicated beginning of Jesus’ birth story. Mary faces an unexpected pregnancy with uncertainty and courage. Joseph wrestles with what love and righteousness look like when the future feels unclear. And into that mix of confusion and hope comes a promise we still cling to today: Emmanuel—God with us.
To help us slow down enough to actually receive that promise, our Advent series is pairing each week’s scripture with a piece of sacred art. Art has a way of opening our hearts differently than words alone. It invites us to stop, to breathe, and to see more than what’s on the surface.
Earlier this year, I had a chance to experience that in a meaningful way. In May, while in Los Angeles for the Racial Resilience Cohort with Methodist Theological School in Ohio, some of our group visited the Getty Art Museum together. We spent the afternoon wandering quietly through galleries – pausing, reflecting, sometimes standing shoulder to shoulder in front of a painting without saying a word. I found myself especially drawn to the sacred pieces. There was something powerful about taking in those images with others who were also wrestling with faith, justice, healing, and hope. Those moments of shared stillness reminded me how art can become a prayer and how it can slow us down just enough for God to get our attention.
That’s part of why we’re bringing sacred art into Advent this year. Each piece we highlight isn’t meant to give us all the answers but to help us notice God’s presence in new ways. This week, we’re reflecting on Francisco Goya’s St. Joseph’s Dream. It’s a simple painting, yet it invites us into Joseph’s moment of vulnerability, the place where fear meets faith and God speaks a word of reassurance. In many ways, it mirrors our own lives. We, too, have moments when we’re unsure, when we’re weighing decisions, when we’re longing for direction. And yet God meets us there with guidance, courage, and grace.
That’s where joy begins. Not when everything is easy, but when we remember we don’t walk alone.
As we enter these final days before Christmas, I invite you to take a moment to pause. Whether with this week’s artwork, Sanctified Art Devotion, with Scripture, or simply in the quiet of your own heart. May joy rise within you. Let it remind you that Emmanuel is not just the name given centuries ago, but a living promise still unfolding today.
Come, Lord Jesus. Bring your joy to the places we need it most.
Peace,
Pastor Kate