{"id":4886,"date":"2013-01-04T07:00:01","date_gmt":"2013-01-04T13:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/?p=4886"},"modified":"2013-01-04T07:00:52","modified_gmt":"2013-01-04T13:00:52","slug":"joy-suckers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/joy-suckers\/","title":{"rendered":"Joy Suckers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/ID-10064229.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4887\" title=\"joy sucker\" src=\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/ID-10064229.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"264\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/ID-10064229.jpg 400w, https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/ID-10064229-300x198.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>And the angel said to them, \u201cDo not be afraid; <\/em><br \/>\n<em>for behold, I bring you good news of great joy, <\/em><br \/>\n<em>for today in the city of David there has been born to you a Savior who is Christ the Lord. Glory to God in the highest, <\/em><br \/>\n<em>and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.\u201d <\/em><br \/>\n<em>Luke 2: 10\u201311,14<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">Joy suckers. During the weeks before Christmas, the news was full of them.<br \/>\nPolio eradication workers in Pakistan killed by terrorists.<br \/>\nFire fighters in Webster, New York shot when they responded to a house fire call.<br \/>\nChildren and teachers gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">\u201cHow,\u201d the watching world asks, \u201ccould Christians rejoice over the birth of Jesus in times like these? Why did they feast and give gifts as though nothing happened?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">\u201cHow indeed?\u201d Christians wondered. \u201cHow can we celebrating light in the midst of such darkness? Shouldn&#8217;t we sit in the dark and grieve instead?\u201d And so our guilty thoughts began, along with doubt and fear and self-loathing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">Joy suckers, all of them.<br \/>\nWaiting to extract every bit of gladness from the hearts of God\u2019s people.<br \/>\nEager to settle on our shoulders a mantle of gloom and sadness.<br \/>\nReady to burden our hearts and bow our heads, so we succumb to dark despair.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">Two thousand years ago, into a world as black as ours seems today, God sent his Son as a light in the darkness. <em>And the joy suckers could not comprehend it.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">They could not comprehend that God would allow a baby born in a manger to become a man who would be killed for doing what was right.<br \/>\nThey could not comprehend that God would allow the healer of the sick to die at the hands of terrorists.<br \/>\nThey could not comprehend that the Father loved the world so much, He willingly experienced the heart-wrenching death of his own Son.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">But two thousand years ago, <em>the Lord of hosts understood it all.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">He understood that on Christmas Eve of 2012, the families of two fire fighters in Webster, New York would need the assurance of a God who knew what it felt like to die for doing the right thing.<br \/>\nHe understood that on December 19, 2012 the loved ones of nine dead health workers in Pakistan would need the comfort of the great physician slain by an angry mob.<br \/>\nHe understood that on December 14, 2012 the parents of twenty dead children would need a Savior who, like them, had anguished over the death of a child.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">The joy suckers couldn\u2019t comprehend such light, such love. But we, His broken children, can.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">The entrance of God\u2019s light and love into our darkness is why we feasted with our families,<br \/>\nwhy we gave and received gifts,<br \/>\nwhy we joined hands and sang carols. <em><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><em>Silent Night<br \/>\nJoy to the World<br \/>\nHark the Herald Angels Sing<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">Because, when we raised our faces to His light and sang,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><em>the darkness tried to hide. <\/em><br \/>\n<em>It trembled at His voice. <\/em><br \/>\n<em>How great is our God!<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">Sing with me,<br \/>\nJolene<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">photo credit: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.freedigitalphotos.net\/\">www.freedigitalphotos.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>And the angel said to them, \u201cDo not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy, for today in the city of David there has been born to you a Savior who is Christ the Lord. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[237,396,2006,2009,2007,2008,1995],"class_list":["post-4886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church-newsletter-column","tag-christmas","tag-evil","tag-fire-fighter-shooting","tag-good","tag-pakistan-health-workers","tag-polio","tag-sandy-hook"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Joy Suckers - Jolene Philo Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Joy Suckers - Jolene Philo Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"And the angel said to them, \u201cDo not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy, for today in the city of David there has been born to you a Savior who is Christ the Lord. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/joy-suckers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jolene Philo Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-01-04T13:00:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-04T13:00:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/ID-10064229.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jphilo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@homeagainpodcst\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@homeagainpodcst\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"jphilo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/joy-suckers\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/joy-suckers\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"jphilo\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/c4baf673fcd3485ec750b9d2a7780d91\"},\"headline\":\"Joy Suckers\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-01-04T13:00:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-04T13:00:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/joy-suckers\/\"},\"wordCount\":514,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/c4baf673fcd3485ec750b9d2a7780d91\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/joy-suckers\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/ID-10064229.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Christmas\",\"evil\",\"fire fighter shooting\",\"good\",\"Pakistan health workers\",\"polio\",\"Sandy Hook\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Church Newsletter Columns\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/joy-suckers\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/joy-suckers\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/joy-suckers\/\",\"name\":\"Joy Suckers - Jolene Philo Staging\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/joy-suckers\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/joy-suckers\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/ID-10064229.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-01-04T13:00:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-04T13:00:52+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/joy-suckers\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/joy-suckers\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/joy-suckers\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/ID-10064229.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/ID-10064229.jpg\",\"width\":\"400\",\"height\":\"264\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/joy-suckers\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Joy Suckers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/\",\"name\":\"Jolene Philo Staging\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/c4baf673fcd3485ec750b9d2a7780d91\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/c4baf673fcd3485ec750b9d2a7780d91\",\"name\":\"jphilo\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jolene-About-Headshot.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jolene-About-Headshot.jpg\",\"width\":515,\"height\":685,\"caption\":\"jphilo\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/author\/author\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Joy Suckers - Jolene Philo Staging","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Joy Suckers - Jolene Philo Staging","og_description":"And the angel said to them, \u201cDo not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy, for today in the city of David there has been born to you a Savior who is Christ the Lord. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He [&hellip;]","og_url":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/joy-suckers\/","og_site_name":"Jolene Philo Staging","article_published_time":"2013-01-04T13:00:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-01-04T13:00:52+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/ID-10064229.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"jphilo","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@homeagainpodcst","twitter_site":"@homeagainpodcst","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"jphilo","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/joy-suckers\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/joy-suckers\/"},"author":{"name":"jphilo","@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/c4baf673fcd3485ec750b9d2a7780d91"},"headline":"Joy Suckers","datePublished":"2013-01-04T13:00:01+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-04T13:00:52+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/joy-suckers\/"},"wordCount":514,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/c4baf673fcd3485ec750b9d2a7780d91"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/joy-suckers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/ID-10064229.jpg","keywords":["Christmas","evil","fire fighter shooting","good","Pakistan health workers","polio","Sandy Hook"],"articleSection":["Church Newsletter Columns"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/joy-suckers\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/joy-suckers\/","url":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/joy-suckers\/","name":"Joy Suckers - Jolene Philo Staging","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/joy-suckers\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/joy-suckers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/ID-10064229.jpg","datePublished":"2013-01-04T13:00:01+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-04T13:00:52+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/joy-suckers\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/joy-suckers\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/joy-suckers\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/ID-10064229.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/ID-10064229.jpg","width":"400","height":"264"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/joy-suckers\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Joy Suckers"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/#website","url":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/","name":"Jolene Philo Staging","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/c4baf673fcd3485ec750b9d2a7780d91"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/c4baf673fcd3485ec750b9d2a7780d91","name":"jphilo","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jolene-About-Headshot.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jolene-About-Headshot.jpg","width":515,"height":685,"caption":"jphilo"},"logo":{"@id":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/"],"url":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/author\/author\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4886"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4914,"href":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4886\/revisions\/4914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}