Joy to the world!

LOUISVILLE — What does it mean to find comfort and hope in the seasons of Advent and Christmas and then Epiphany?

For their answer, the Rev. Lee Catoe and Simon Doong, the hosts of “A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast,” turned to the Rev. Dr. Robert Boak Slocum, the author of a book of meditations called “Joy to the World! Devotions for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany.” Listen to their engaging and timely 56-minute conversation here.

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Short videos featuring excerpts from Slocum’s book are here, here, here, here, here and here.

“I see Advent as probably the most countercultural of seasons,” Slocum told the hosts. “In a time when the wider culture is saying do more, spend more, gear up, have the perfect party and find the perfect gift,” churches can instead embrace the pause that Advent offers, “this time to go a little slower, reflect and make room — which is right out of Scriptures.”

In his meditations, Slocum uses personal stories to help provide connections for the reader. He once served a downtown congregation in a small town where the city's Christmas parade was scheduled at the same time one Saturday evening as the church's Advent worship service. “We had included quiet in our liturgy,” Slocum said, but church youth were part of the marching band set to play their way down the street, and attention was being drawn during the service both inside the sanctuary and outside.

“To me, that typifies what all of us are facing at this time,” Slocum said. “People ask, ‘what’s wrong? Don’t you want to share the celebration?’ You want to keep a foot in both camps, so to speak.”

“The big band Christmas parade was gone in two minutes, and then back inside the church the quiet was still there,” he said,  “and we were able to celebrate our expectation and anticipation with devotion, with stillness and with love.”

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Ultimately, “it’s about the sharing of the community we have, the life we have together, and, most importantly, the life that’s coming into our lives,” Slocum said. “Not everything will be perfect, but it can be something that’s even better: something that points to real values, real hope, real new life that we can know in our hearts.”

“In a time of gift-giving, I find some of the most important gifts we receive are gifts we can give,” Slocum said. “If you want to know the love of God, be loving. If you want to know the generosity of God, be generous. If you want to know the forgiveness of God, forgive graciously.”

Many people of faith make generous donations to their local food bank during Advent and Christmas, “but in the middle of February it’s getting pretty thin again,” Slocum said. “Maybe we commit to a way of giving where Christmas becomes the catalyst, the spark that ignites us for the year, and not just for that particular season.”

Epiphany is when “we are reminded of God with us,” he said. In the adult education class he leads, Slocum likes to start the time together with an invitation: has anyone had an epiphany of faith? Has anyone found God present in their lives? Has anyone had any questions arise about faith? “Amazing things come out,” he said, “when people are given permission to talk about these things.”

In Jesus, God shows up amidst a brutal Roman occupation, Slocum pointed out. “God shows up everywhere, but especially in places of need and imperfection,” he said. But too often we get the order wrong: “We’ve got to make it perfect and then God will show up,” he said. “Instead, it’s God shows up in the midst of imperfection and helps us to move in the direction of greater perfection. God comes to us just as we are but won’t leave us just as we were. Rather, God helps us to move forward.”

Of all of C.S. Lewis’ helpful books, Slocum said he's drawn to “A Grief Observed,” where the author, who married late in life, shares his deep grief over his wife’s death. “In a way I find it to be his most authentic work,” Slocum said. “He’s the most open and he’s reaching out and finding a place of greater peace, although it still hurts.”

As we live through difficult times such as the present, “we find God present in ways we could not have imagined before,” he said. “We give up on the perfection we created and become open to a perfection that’s beyond us that we’re meant to share, and that’s the life and love of God with us, Emmanuel. The reality of that is something we can discover daily.”

Peace is more than “a nice warm feeling inside,” Slocum said. “It’s about putting things back where they should be — in good order, in balance, restoring relationship with God and with each other. There’s a transformation that takes place.” In the “chaos of the world around us, I hope we can be instruments of reconciliation, instruments to finding connection” because “what draws us together is more powerful than whatever pulls us apart.”

“I think that’s what we celebrate” during this season, he said.

“If we really get it, we make room for it and we respond back,” Slocum said. “That responding back will take place not just on Christmas Day or until we take down the tree. It will be the way we live in the months and years that follow.”

After thanking Slocum for joining their podcast, the hosts discussed what they’d just heard.

“I feel better about sitting in the stillness and the quiet that Advent invites us into,” Doong said. “I appreciate the reminder that waiting is part of the process.”

“The holidays can bring up a lot of emotion,” Catoe said. “This conversation gives us permission to let go of” the “need to please everybody.”

“The incarnation is one thing our faith stresses,” Catoe said, “that God dwelt among us in a way that makes us even closer to the Divine.”

New episodes of “A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast” drop every Thursday. Listen to previous editions here.