All-Seminary Chapel Reflects on The Light of Joy

Fuller's All-Seminary Chapel has its second Advent service :: 11/21/12

Continuing with the Advent season in Fuller’s All-Seminary Chapel service, Krystin Mast, executive assistant to the Provost and Senior Vice President, and Tamisha Tyler, a School of Theology student, shared reflections on The Light of Joy. 

Describing her place amidst her siblings, Tamisha Tyler said she was the “quiet, weird, nerd girl.” She would spend her time reading in a corner, where she was barely noticed. 

“It was very hard growing up like that without someone to talk to, “ she said. 

On receiving a journal from her mother, she had a crucial turning point in her life. She said writing became her therapy, where she expressed her joys, frustrations and questions. 

“Writing for me, in a sense, became my first language,” said Tyler.  

But it was also the place she met God. She began writing God letters with questions regarding her life and her place in her family, and also asking whether or not she could get tickets to the ‘N Sync concert. She began to come out of her shell, and realized her writing wasn’t just something that got her through rough times, but a gift she cherished deeply. She went from writing letters to poems, and from poems to stories, then plays, then academic papers. 

“And if I survive this quarter and actually make it to homiletics, I’ll move from papers to sermons,” she said. 

Although she’s not sure if she could have gotten through the hard times without her writing, she admitted she might not have found her writing if she didn’t experience the hard times. 

“Suffering often causes us to see joy in places we overlook,” said Tyler. “I pray that the birth and the life of Christ will allow us to realize that ever-present joy has made itself known to us in this way.” 

Reflecting on the story of the Christ child in the book of John, Krystin Mast referenced the adage that if you do good things, God will bless you.

“Until he doesn’t,” she said. 

She spoke of Job’s sufferings, and abuse and hardship in the world that just doesn’t make sense. The faithful die of cancer, and missionaries are killed in car crashes. She said a strictly causal view would argue they deserved to die, but in reality, life is more complex. 

“Sometimes light enters the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome the light,” said Mast, “and in the midst of abuse comes a person who is willing to speak and to stand up for the victim.” 

She said that although there is pain, mourning, and chaos, there are those who have been given the power to become children of God, and in these things shine the glory of God. 

The All-Seminary Chapel will have its last Advent service November 28, and celebrate Christmas with the Fuller Vocal Ensemble December 5.