The Earth is the Lord’s

Christmas is coming.

Here are some lines from the Christmas carol “Joy to the World”. These lyrics were written way back in 1719. That is such a long time ago, yet we still hear these words being sung now in modern times, year after year.

“Joy to the world, the Lord is come
Let Earth receive her King
Let every heart prepare Him room
And Heaven and nature sing
And Heaven and nature sing
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.”

Let’s have a little think about that line: “Let every heart prepare Him room”. That is old-style lingo, but in today’s modern English we would say: “Make room for God in your heart.”

Now that is a good statement, make room for God in your heart. God belongs in our hearts, so making room for God in our hearts makes a lot of sense. Our heart, our spirit, our inmost self has a God-shaped space that was designed for God to fill. That is why people say things about God ‘filling our hearts’. And if we prepare room for God in our hearts, He will indeed fill our hearts.

St John the Evangelist is the writer who tells us that God is Love. Having God, the God who is Love, fill our hearts is wonderful. There’s nothing quite like a heartful of God to fix a heart, especially a heart that might feel empty.

But of course, like everything that we let into our hearts, there is a risk. If we do let God into our hearts, there is the risk that God will lead us towards change.

What are the changes that God would make in our hearts if we were to prepare room and allow Him in? That question is answered by another writer. St Paul the Apostle is the one who says that we are to be characterised by tender-hearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

The lead up to Christmas is a great time for us to rethink and recalibrate. If we follow the advice of the writer of ‘Joy to the World’, we will prepare room in our heart for God. If we do that, God who is Love, will fill our hearts. If God fills our hearts with Himself and His Love, then being tender-hearted, merciful, kind, humble, gentle and patient will be a whole lot easier than without His Love.

Christmas is not only great fun, but it is a great time to rethink our values and to let every heart prepare Him room. So, parents and staff, for the sake of our children and students, let’s make sure that we prepare in our hearts room for God so that we have God’s love abundantly spilling over from our hearts into the hearts and lives of our youngsters.

david gleeson, principal