“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 Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”
Luke 2:10–11 (KJV)
The angel does not announce that everything is resolved.
The angel says, Fear not.
Which tells us this:
Joy is not rooted in certainty.
Joy does not require stability.
Joy does not wait for full clarity.
Joy shows up in the middle of disruption and announces that God is still moving.
The shepherds were not looking for good news. They were doing ordinary work in an occupied land when heaven interrupted them with an announcement that reframed their future. This is the joy we speak of today not joy that denies discomfort or avoids the truth but joy that looks forward and trusts what God confirms even when our eyes cannot yet see.
A Posture of Readiness
We stand in a moment of reckoning. Christian faith gives us language for moments like this not to bypass loss or complexity but to hold tension without losing hope. Joy that looks forward does not deny how we feel. It fuels holy anticipation for what God will do next.
Anticipation is not the same as expectation. Expectation demands outcomes we can predict, manage, or control. Anticipation is a posture of readiness and preparation not demand. It prepares us to move faithfully without scripting the future.
Courage and Clarity
Joy that looks forward requires courage. It calls us into motion. It is not passive optimism but faithful forward momentum. This joy brings clarity not because the path is simple but because God is present in it. Emmanuel. God with us. Clarity that says I know who goes before me. I know who walks with me. I will take the next faithful step.
The angel announces joy while empire still stands. Power has not yet shifted. Oppression has not yet vanished. But joy arrives because God has entered the story in a new way. Joy looks forward not because everything is fixed but because God is faithful and already at work in what comes next.
As we journey through 2026, we do so with holy anticipation. Not grasping but knowing beyond knowing. Not controlling but humbly tending what has been entrusted to us. Ready. Preparing. Grounded. Confident because our ancestors have been here before. Joy has arrived, and it knows the way forward.
Bethany Johnson-Javois, MSW, is the president and CEO of the Deaconess Foundation.