December 23, 2012 This is the final Sunday of Advent or the Week of Joy. Traditionally the final purple candle would be lit scripture would be read concerning the joy at Christmas and a song and prayer would complete the family devotion. Sitting around the dinner table with our immediate family has never been a formal, dignified nor solemn event. As our children were growing up the dinner table was the one place where there was free air time. Any subject that was on their mind that they wanted to talk about was good subject matter including those hard to handle subjects. I always had a little dread in my mind that someday “that subject” would come up. It did. We were enjoying our meal talking about this and that when our son from out of the blue asks, “What does gay mean?” After a momentary pause that seemed like fifteen minutes we began the explanation. My wife and I were confident that we had answered biblically and correctly. After our conversation he simply said, “Oh, my teacher was reading a story where the people were in gay clothing, and I didn’t know what she meant.” There is great unspeakable joy when you are with the people you love and care about. When I read Matthew’s account of how the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph after he found out that Mary was pregnant, I am convinced that this was a man who had moral fiber, magnificent faith, and much love for Mary. By law he could have had her stoned. He could have put her away and never married her. But because of the Word from God, he took her to be his wife and never knew her until after the birth of the Savior. I can only imagine the conversations around their table. For today reread Matthew 1:17-2:15 and think about the joy Joseph had because He simply trusted and obeyed the Lord. It’s something to think about.