Christmas Eve December 24, 2025
“Today I Will Choose Joy” Luke 2:8-14
Rev. John R. Larson Ascension Lutheran Church Littleton, Colorado
I was over at RiverPointe, the 13-story senior living facility at Prince and Belleview 2 weeks ago. One of our folks lives there. As I was leaving their apartment, I walked past apartment number 408 and saw this note outside the door: “Today I will choose joy.” I don’t know who lives there. I don’t know their circumstances. But I like their attitude or philosophy. I think it would do me well if I did that. It just might help some of you grumps, as well. “Today I will choose joy.”
But it isn’t that simple, is it? There are many barriers to living a life of joy. Life can take away our joy. People can take away our joy. Circumstances can rob us of joy, as well.
In the Perspective section of The Denver Post from Thanksgiving time (November 23, 2025) an article about grieving families and fractured families caught my interest. I know that many families don’t get along. I know that siblings, in some families, no longer talk to each other. I know that parents and children can be silent to one another. But I didn’t realize how much of an epidemic the problem is. In a poll taken just last year, 50% of U.S. adults are currently estranged from at least one close relation, and among those, 35% are estranged from an immediate family member such as a parent or a sibling.
This is the time for peace and joy and happiness. This is the time for family. But not for all. 50% estranged from a close relation? “Today I will choose joy?” Back in my heyday there was a musical group named “Three Dog Night” and they had a hit song that came out in 1969 titled, “One is the Loneliest Number.” That can be true. For some, maybe for you, you’ve been humming that song since 1969.
Joy can also be stolen by our worries. “Will they like the gift I got them? Will the meal come out okay? Can I really get my house clean by noon tomorrow? Where will I hide all the extra junk that is just lying around? (My tip to you – put stuff in the closet – they will never look there.)
But you know what this day is? It is Christmas Eve. Tomorrow is Christmas Day. And Christmas has to do with joy. But is it possible?
There were quite a few obstacles to joy on that first Christmas. Let me read a few verses from Luke 2,
“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, ‘Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:8-11 King James Version)
Initially the shepherds didn’t choose joy. For a while they were anxious and fearful. They were startled. As they were tending sheep, a light from an angel took their breath away. The old King James says, “And the glory of the Lord shone round about them.” Later, the angel is joined by “a multitude of the heavenly host”. “Today I will choose joy?” I don’t think so.
It was the same with Mary and Joseph. The angel told Joseph that his wife was pregnant, but he knew he wasn’t the father. The angel told Mary that she was going to give birth to the Son of God. Impossible!! The news of this, initially, didn’t bring Mary or Joseph joy.
God put them into a most difficult situation. But He wasn’t done with this conversation. Listen: “Fear not: for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy.” Great joy!! Joy is not just a feeling or an emotion. Joy is not just a smile or a dance. This joy is that God has come into our lives and into the lives of all those in this world. Joy comes through Jesus. I pray that you know this is your head and that in faith you have it in your life.
Joy is elusive for many people, maybe most people. In that Post article a 2024 Boise State report says that 61% of Americans experience sadness or loneliness during the holiday season and 37% would prefer to skip the holidays entirely.
So, if joy is so hard to get and keep, especially on these days, it is fitting that we would listen to God who wants to bring us joy. These are some of the ways a lasting joy comes to us:
“Unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior.” What is a Savior? Why would a Savior need to come? What does a Savior do? Well – we all sin. We all screw up. We all do things that are wrong, selfish, hurtful. That causes problems in our souls. That separates us from God and from others. On the day of judgment, standing before God, we would have no defense for our misdeeds.
God, who is in love with you and me, sent Jesus, a Savior here, on Christmas, to bring to us salvation from the effect of our sin. When Joseph was told about the birth of Jesus he also received these instructions, “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21) The name Jesus means, “God saves.” Are you tired of guilt? Tired of the burden of past mistakes? Want a clean conscience? Jesus came to bring that to you. He took your sins and paid their penalty when He went to the cross. That is joy. That is peace. That is hope. Today I will choose joy. Jesus took my sins. He gives eternal life. I believe it.
“Unto you”. I used to live in a small town. People knew each other. They waved as they drove past each other on the roads. Going to the store meant much longer trips because in just about every aisle you ran into someone you knew. Now I live in a big city. Most of the people I see I don’t know and they don’t know me.
But our God is personal. He knows us. And His work for us is personal. “For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior.” He knows us and cares for us. The hairs on our heads are numbered.
Do you enjoy giving gifts to others? Do you feel good when you give? When you get to put a smile on someone’s face you know you did right. God’s gifts of eternal salvation, forgiveness of sins and joy are for everyone. He doesn’t want to exclude a single person. Christmas is not the season of selfishness but for extravagance to others. “For, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.” Everybody. All people.
Why can we, on this day, and every day, experience a lasting joy? Why? Because of the one who came from heaven that night. His name is more than Jesus. It is “Immanuel – God with us.” That little baby is God in the flesh. We are never alone. We are never left to battle the hardest moments of life alone. With some grit we can say that we have a gift from God – joy.
Today I choose joy. Why? Because God always keeps His promises. Always. He said He would send the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One – and He did. Do you know how that hymn, “Joy to the World begins? “Joy to the world, the Lord has come!!”
Do you know what someone will say to you in the coming weeks? They will say, “This Christmas sure had a lot of joy. I wish we could have that now.” I think we can. Maybe we won’t have the crowds and the special events and the meals and some of the other things that we have had this past month, but we have the truth that Jesus is our Savior, Immanuel – God with us, that His gifts are personal and universal – for us and for all. We have the truth that God will keep His word and we can trust all that He says.
You know how the story began – the shepherds were terrified at the sight of the angels. But that is not how the story ends. It ends with joy. “The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which was just as they had been told.” (Luke 2:20) Jesus changed their story. Jesus changes our story, as well.
Merry Christmas. Today we will choose joy because God chose us. Amen!!
