on the Third Sunday in Advent...
Sunday, December 14, 2008
From the Book of Isaiah, Chapter 61: The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, From the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 3: 1As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, 16John answered all of them by saying, ‘I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17His winnowing-fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’ 18 So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people. From Paul's Letter to the Philippians, Chapter 4: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. "Signposts to Joy" A
Sermon Preached by at the First Congregational Church of Stoughton United Church of Christ
It is the Sunday of Joy, and we hear a lot about “joy” and “rejoicing” this time of year. Our favorite Christmas carols proclaim “Joy to the World,” and “O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,” and “Joyful, all ye nations, rise.” But leading up to Christmas, we too often hear the word “joy” confused with happiness. Retailers want us to “feel the joy” of buying1. Ticket sellers want us to “feel the joy” of the holidays by seeing a Christmas show2. An online software company invites us to “feel the joy of Christmas Eve” with its Christmas light screensaver.3 Now, buying or receiving stuff may indeed make you happy. Seeing a show may make you happy. Even the glow of soft light from your computer may make you happy. But they will not bring you joy. They will not fulfill the longing in your heart. The word “happiness” comes from the Middle English word for luck or chance – as in haphazard or happenstance. Happiness comes from earthly, external things. Advertisers want us to think we can satisfy the yearning in our hearts with a fancier car or a bigger house or the latest hi-tech gizmo. But the good feeling we get from them is fleeting, for it is not grounded in the eternal, and things won’t fill the God-shaped hole in our hearts. If we allow the culture to tell us what is “supposed” to make us happy, it will get in our way of discovering what is real and meaningful. Joy, true joy comes from God, and from being in right relationship with God, who plants it deep within our innermost beings. “Joy is the soul’s response when our immortal longings touch their source… God.”4 And at this time of year, God calls us away from the all the commercialism, all the business of the Christmas season, and back to the roots of the Christmas story. In this morning’s Call of the Prophet, Isaiah invites us to be glad and rejoice in what God is creating, and he says, “The spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me.” We, too, need to say that and know it – that “the spirit of the Lord” is on each one of us. In our epistle lesson, the Apostle Paul tells the Philippians to “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, Rejoice.” Rejoice always? Impossibly unrealistic, hopelessly optimistic we might say, until we learn that Paul wrote these words from a prison cell. This former persecutor of Christians ended up being persecuted himself for his Christian beliefs. While in jail awaiting trial and a possible death sentence, he wrote a letter of encouragement to the church he had established in the city of Philippi. In the midst of his adversity, he writes to his fellow Christians, “Have no anxiety about anything, but... with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which passes all human understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians is called the “epistle of joy,” for despite being stripped, beaten and flogged for his faith, despite being locked up in a lonely prison cell, despite facing possible death, Paul finds reason to celebrate everywhere he turns, and he infuses his short letter with joy. How might we find some of this joy that Paul proclaims? In our Gospel lesson from Luke, John the Baptist points to the source of our joy: "..he who is mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie…” For Christians, Jesus is the way to joy. Indeed, the early Christians were called “followers of the Way,” and Jesus’ way is a pilgrimage into the heart of God. For each of us who yearns for that joy, for each of us who is willing to embark on the Christian journey toward God, there are signposts5 to help us find our way. You have heard me speak of them before as “marks of discipleship,”6 and through them, we can find our way to God. They are the signposts of weekly worship, of daily prayer, of reading the bible, of generous giving, of serving others, and nurturing spiritual relationships with other Christians. They are activities which point us toward God; they are ways of being Christian which enable us to live better and more faithfully in God, and they are called “practices.” That is an appropriate term, because these practices, these marks of discipleship, are not activities to be done just for a short time. Being a Christian is a process of faith – it takes practice – and these marks of discipleship are lifetime endeavors. They need to be done over and over again – practiced – for them to become a way of life. Consider for a minute your relationship with God. Have you come to worship, listened to the sermons, sung the hymns, and maybe even served the church in some capacity – but your spiritual hunger has not been satisfied? Do you wonder sometimes if you are growing in faith, or if having faith in God will even make a difference in your life? In our post-Christian, secular, pluralist 21st culture, it is easy to become skeptical or apathetic, and those are consequences of losing our way. The first response of souls in lethargy is always skepticism. We wonder: can I really experience something more in my spiritual life? Does Jesus really have an answer to that deep hunger I feel? There is a way, and the signposts along the way -- the six marks of discipleships -- can direct us toward God. “The marks are not ends in themselves; instead, by practicing them, we develop lives that reflect our immortal longings and open us up” to the Divine7. “The invitation to practice these marks is an invitation to see more clearly and claim more strongly the work of God.”8 The signposts mark the pathway of spiritual growth, and through them, our apathy can turn to spiritual energy, the emptiness in our hearts can be filled, and our skepticism can turn to joy. The signposts are habits of the soul that open us to the wonder and mystery of God’s active presence in our lives; they keep our attention focused on the things of God. No matter where you are on your Christian walk, there is room to grow in discipleship through worship, prayer, scripture, giving, serving, and spiritual friendships. We don’t have to do them perfectly, and we don’t need to know all the answers. We only need willing spirits and open hearts. Still need a reason to practice these six marks? Think about the One whose birth we await. Jesus prayed, quoted scripture, and nurtured others through his spirit-filled giving, his self-less serving, and his loving relationships. And these signposts will lead us to the true joy of Christmas – not the earthly, fleeting happiness of getting and having, but the joy that comes from knowing God through the One born in Bethlehem. Amen.
|
|
|
| 1 www.lacaraccessories.com/index.php |
The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.