"I bring you good news of great joy for all people: to you is born this day...a Savior,..."

Church doesn't get much more joyful than this; Christmas Day, and on a Sunday. All of today's scriptures speak of joy, as well as the hymns. "Joy To the World."

Joy can be a challenge in church. On most Sundays, church tends to overdo the imperative, filling the air with "should," "ought," and "must." Do this, don't do that. You come to church feeling fairly good about yourself, about the world; we'll fix that. After we have enumerated what's wrong with you and with the world, you leave church feeling worse than when you came. I have a friend, a psychotherapist who says, "Depression is an ecclesiogenic illness."  Church makes you depressed.

A group of students asked me to give a talk one evening …