A Sense of Self

Matthew 4:1-17
My how time flies! Rev. Kent Siladi* last week in his sermon was quick to point out that in the Gospel of Matthew, the narrative of Jesus’ early years is scant with detail.  He’s born in sleepy Bethlehem, he fled with his parents as an infant and lived in Egypt as refugees, he returns and grows up in Nazareth, comes to the Jordan River about thirty years later to be baptized by his cousin John That’s a whole lot of living in just three short weeks.  It’s like fast-forwarding a DVD 8 or 10 Xs on your DVD player to get to the good part.  But we need to rewind just a minute. 

Last week was an important one for Jesus as far as the Biblical narrative in Matthew goes.  His baptism is critical because it is here that God reveals Jesus’ true identity.  “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matt 3:17)  Now Jesus and every one around him know who he is.  They may not know the complexities and responsibilities of what being the Son of God means, but there is no mistake in this theophany that Jesus is the son of God, beloved and loved, set apart from all the rest to proclaim God’s kingdom here on earth. 

But all to soon the waters of his baptism dry and he was whisked away into the wilderness.  Doesn’t appear that he was able to bask in that glory for long. Today’s story reveals even more about the character and identity of Jesus as Son of God.  Today we find Jesus in the wasteland, the hot and dry forbidden wilderness just east of the Jordan.

Stanley Spencer

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”

But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”

Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”  Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:“Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.”

From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

WOW!  Sounds like a Scripture Bee, a competition doesn’t it?  Who can quote the most accurate scripture? The devil quotes scripture and Jesus one ups him.  It almost sound like a comedic riff from the old BBC series ‘Monty Python and the Flying Circus’.  We might be lead to think this story is about resisting temptation and apply it to our lives.  But I believe that it is more about Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the way in which he embodies resistance.

HaSatan, the Satan arrives in the wilderness too, alongside of Jesus.  How convenient of him!  And the testing begins.  If you are the son of God, or maybe since you are the son of God, how about turning these hard rocks into some delicious and warm bread?  You know you’re hungry.  You see the devil is challenging Jesus identity.  He tries to instill doubt into Jesus head.  He comes across as Jesus’ friend, so offering a bite to eat to a famished Jesus was the most natural and first thing that a friend, I mean, the Devil could conjure up.

Why Jesus you could turn all of these stones into plenty of loaves and alleviate hunger throughout the world!  Think about it.  Knowing Jesus’ heart and his penchant toward social and economic justice this would have pleased him and his God.  But Jesus’ character remains strong.  He does not give in to this rascal and become resolute in proclaiming that the word of God is what you need to sustain your life.

Then, from the wilderness Jesus was whisked to Jerusalem to the pinnacle of the temple.  Hundreds of people would have been milling around the temple, the temple is a large place and it was THE place to be.  Standing on the pinnacle Jesus would have been in sight of thousands of Jerusalemites and the devil says to Jesus, ‘If you really are the Son of God, or since you are the son of God like you claim to be, go ahead, jump, throw yourself to the wind!  There’s nothing to worry about, angels will come to your rescue and ever so gently catch you.’ 

But the devil was no publicity agent and Jesus didn’t need a life defying, dare devil stunt to prove anything.  Jesus said, ‘Don’t test God’. ’  Jesus is now leaning way deep into his identity as the son of God.  The second quick fix that Satan offered was halted, but he had one more up his devilish sleeve.

The final test was concerning his power and authority.  ‘Jesus,’ the devil calls out, ‘you can have it all; all the kingdoms of the world will be yours, all you have to do is to worship me.’  Now honestly, this was a good offer.  I’m sure there were plenty of people, Jesus too, who wished the end and destruction of the Roman occupation of first century Palestine.  To live as an oppressed people only breeds despair and anger; a sense of helplessness that perpetuates itself from one generation to the next. 

Jesus had a chance to change all that just by dropping to his knees and worshipping HaSatan.  But NO!  Jesus states, ‘I worship God and serve only God.   The testing is over and Jesus sense of self, as the Son of God the most high is solidified.  Now he is ready for his ministry.

We don’t know to what depth that the human Jesus had been tempted; there were no witnesses in Matthew’s Gospel account.  We do know that he was tested mightily and that he chose God.  He placed complete obedience and dependence on God at a time when he could have taken the path of least resistance and gotten so much more.  This was a test of his character and indeed he passed.  He truly was the Son of God.

I wonder how we would have faired if we were in Jesus position.  I mean in one sense Jesus had it easy.  He knew exactly what he was dealing with.  The Devil!  There was no guesswork involved.  Evil stood up against him and it was recognizable.  And we know that during his lifetime his character was tested over and over again which brought him to the cross and ultimately his resurrection.  He embodied resistance.  He did not waiver.  His heart and eyes were always on God bringing justice and compassion, the kingdom to earth.

Being face to face with the devil is a test of our character too although I would venture to say that our temptations, our devils, the tests of our character are not so obvious.  They are ambiguous which is why it is difficult for us.  At every turning point these tests can twist us away from God and weaken our own Christian identity and character.  We can lose our sense of self, a sense of who we are fundamentally as a child of God. 

But the good news is that we don’t have to bear these tests alone.  We are all in the same boat.  The person sitting next to you faces similar trials each day like you.  Not one of us here will live a life that doesn’t come face to face with temptation.  That’s a given.  And sometimes you will be strong and sometimes your character will falter and your sense of self will get lost. I know…it’s the same for me.  That’s the nature of our humanity. 

But the even better news is that our sense of self as a child of God cannot ever get lost.

And what does that mean?  It means that always and forever you are a child of God in whatever actions you take or decisions you make.  Named and claimed in the womb God pointed to you and said, you are mine! Understand that your sense of self will never be lost no matter what happens to you because of that.  It means that Jesus identity revealed as the Son of God has resisted the powers of evil and has redeemed you forever. 

Amen.

*Rev. Kent Siladi is the Conference Minister for the Connecticut Conference of the United Church of Christ.

Like it or Not

Matthew 2:13-23

After the Scripture is read in higher liturgical churches the liturgist will often say, “The Word of the Lord” to which the congregation responds, “Thanks be to God”.  It seems a bit rote to me but it works for many.  Today the better response for after Scripture would be, “Like it or Not”.  “The Word of the Lord”, “Like it or Not” because today’s scripture is anything but pleasant to think about much less reflect upon and talk about together.  Without the feminist take on it this scripture is what Phyllis Trible, Old Testament scholar, would call a ‘Text of Terror’. 

·      Like it or not the Bible doesn’t comment on human behavior by putting on rose-colored glasses, rather it talks about what is true of human behavior.

·      Like it or not the Bible shows us the destructive potential of human nature. 

·      Like it or not the Bible illustrates for us that sometimes there are no easy answers, or any answers at all that are adequate enough to satisfy our longing and understanding of the meaning of this life.

·      Like it or not the Bible might disappoint us sometimes, but God however does not.

Our reading today is of the flight of the holy family into Egypt aka the slaughter of the innocents and it has three elements: the escape; the massacre of infants; and the return from Egypt, each one worthy of a sermon on its own.  But we need to look at these three elements in context with one another to understand just where God is and how we might make some sort of meaning of this story.

So hear now today’s scripture reading from the Gospel of Matthew:

The Escape to Egypt

Now after they (the magi) had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”

The Massacre of the Infants

When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:

“A voice was heard in Ramah,

wailing and loud lamentation,

Rachel weeping for her children;

she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”

The Return from Egypt

When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazorean.”

“The Word of the Lord”  “Like it or Not!”

Three dreams later and a lot of picking up stakes Mary, Joseph and little Jesus finally find themselves in Nazareth where he would spend a large portion of his childhood.  But their journey from sleepy Bethlehem to Nazareth was circuitously dangerous and long.  Not by any means a straight route.

And those dreams!  Oh these dreams!  I can only imagine that Joseph would have developed a sleep phobia or some sort of sleep disorder.  I’d be awfully afraid to put my head down at night for fear of yet another angel appearing and what he would say to me.  Yet it was through these vivid dreams that the holy family was saved each and every time.

I find it curious also that here they are, in the land of promise, the land of milk and honey that their ancestors searched and settled in and then they are told to go back to a place where their ancestors were once slaves.  They were told to leave a place of comfort and safety and go to Egypt, a place that historically was not a safe haven for their forebears.  Yet it was in this land that the holy family found refuge and a hiding place from a very fearful Herod and his maniacal decree.

And then, once back in the Jerusalem district they still weren’t safe because we know that hatred begets hatred and Archelaus, one of Herod’s three sons, was now the king in charge of Judea.  Joseph lies down for some sleep and again is warned to head northeast, to the region of Galilee where another one of Herod’s sons who must have gotten a better gene from his mother and didn’t seek to kill Jesus ruled.  And so they did.  Jesus’ infant years were anything but peaceful and the Bible is anything but consistent.

In September we began the narrative lectionary year with the story of Noah and that terrible flood. We continued with the calling of Abraham and Sarah out of their comfort zone and off into parts unknown.  She laughed at the thought of children and yet she gave birth to Isaac.  We’ve examined Esau’s stolen birthright by Jacob and Joseph being sold into slavery and being thrown into prison.  We’ve studied together the giving of the commandments, David and Bathsheba, and Solomon’s wisdom. 

If you remember, all of these narratives had aspects of them that were gnarly but yet showed us God’s reliable presence.  Now we are spending time in the Gospel of Matthew and we begin with another gnarly and highly dangerous story.

Herod was a mean and nasty man.  He was power hungry and corrupt.  As Lord Acton has famously said, “Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely”.  We can see throughout his life that Herod was fearful and ruthless.  He was also an assassin who killed two of his own sons, a couple of his 14 wives, and many other innocents along the way. Is it no wonder that he would want someone, anyone dead who threatened his kingship, his messiah-ship with a small ‘m’.

But if you think that the killing of the innocents is some long ago story, think again. Not much has changed in the human behavior department.  We still hunger for power and are filled with fear.  We still live with isolation and injustice in our lives.  We still live according to our own desires and not the divine desire of God.

We only have think as far back as December 2014 and remember the storming of a Pakistani school where innocent children were killed, or back to May when we heard of the abduction of 200 school girls in Nigeria, and further back to December of 2012 in Newtown, our own backyard where this ‘killings of the innocents’ played itself out once again.  We could have written this Biblical narrative ourselves.  While we may or may not know the motives of the perpetrators there are really no words that can explain by any intelligent reason why these things happen.  But they do and like Rachel in Ramah all we can do is weep tears of sorrow.

Jesus’ birth didn’t quite eradicate sin as we like to think. He was born in deplorable conditions.  Sought after to be killed.  Traveled by camel to a former unsafe place and lived there as a refugee.  And then, was executed at the hands of the Romans.  I think that the promise of the incarnation is not that our difficulties will cease to exist; that we will live charmed lives if we follow Jesus.

The promise of the incarnation is that God is in the middle of it all doing something different if we choose to see it.  We see God as a protector when the angels whisper to Joseph to flee the dangers in Israel for Egypt.  We see God as deliverer when we see that the holy family has safely arrived in Nazareth.  We see God as creator because a new beginning has been given to Mary and Joseph.  This text allows me to see a God who is involved in every way in the lives of God’s beloved, our lives.  And isn’t that what we all year for?

There is despair around us but the light of God show us different roads to travel and alternative ways to live and to cast a vision for the future.  And this is the word of God!

Like it or not!

Amen.

A Star, Some Seekers and a Savior

Matthew 2:1-12

Beauty of Astronomical Events

 A couple of years ago my daughter gave me a new tripod for Christmas.  I was living in New Haven at the time.  So I went over to the Green at dusk one day about 4:30 pm.  The tree downtown was resplendent with color that year and huge too!  I took a few shots and then I turned around to see what else there was to photograph until it got a little darker. 

To my complete surprise the moon was rising over the Wachovia Bank building from the east.  It was not a full moon, but almost. It was stunning and I took lots of photos of it.  I have a small photo of it at home which is such a wonderful reminder of living in New Haven.  The next night which was New Year’s Eve was the full ‘blue’ moon with a partial lunar eclipse, which was, astronomically speaking quite an event and happens, well, every now and again.  Hence the saying, “once on a blue moon”. 

Many people have a fascination with the sky and its astronomical delights.  All you have to do is go to an observatory when there is a special astronomical event happening like a comet or a meteor shower and the place will be crowded with people seeking a peak at the night skies and the beauty and mystery that it contains.  I think observing the skies is the human fascination with something so far out of our own atmosphere and realm.  We all know that there is something much greater out there than ourselves and we seek to see what’s out there…who’s out there.

Story of the Epiphany

For the Magi in Matthew’s account of the Epiphany, they saw a beautiful star, one much brighter than all the rest of the stars that season, which illuminated the deepest and darkest sky.  And they followed it.  They packed their camels with food and water for the journey and set out with their caravan over many nights.  And after some serious obstacles, they finally arrived in Bethlehem.  My friends, this is far from a simple story that gets glommed into the pageant on Christmas Eve.

It’s about some foreigners, perhaps magicians, astrologers, or sage old men, maybe even of ‘kingly’ status who, upon seeing this unusually bright object that moved through the sky with the fluidity of a bird in flight in the winter’s night, set out seeking a new born infant, a king.  That westward journey was long perhaps a year, maybe two from Mesopotamia to Judea.  The terrain was not the most hospitable either. 

And when these outsiders, Gentiles in every way and in all manner, arrive in Jerusalem they stop to ask Herod, the tyrant king where they could find Jesus, the little one who had been born king of the Jews.  It’s unsure why they stopped for directions because the star had guided them so far and had gotten them to Jerusalem.  Why wouldn’t the star just have continued a little further south to Bethlehem without this stop?   It’s clear however that their path to the manger was not direct.  But the star did not disappoint and finally got them to that particular place.

And King of the Jews?  Curious.  Herod was king of the Jewish people as appointed by the Roman Imperial Empire and no one was going to dethrone him.  You see the political struggle that we find so palpable latter in the Gospel is already present.  Herod was afraid, and all Jerusalem with him.  He calls for his scribes, his inside people, and asks about this so-called, self-proclaimed king and where this was happening.   Much to his surprise, he finds out that this subversive activity was close to home in Bethlehem a mere five or six miles from the epicenter of Jerusalem.

Then, secretly, he tells the magi to go to Bethlehem because that’s where they would find this baby king and after they pay him homage let Herod know so he too could do the same.  Secrets never work, we know that.  Herod’s intentions were not pure.  He was not a man of integrity or trust.  In fact, already then, he wanted Jesus dead.  He realized that he had been tricked by those magi so he sent out a decree to kill all of the baby boys in and around Bethlehem.  The magi, who had been warned through their dreams, then returned to Mesopotamia by taking an entirely different route home. 

Seekers of Old

The magi were seekers.  They came from a very long distance because of a spiritual longing and curiosity.  They were not Jews but Gentiles, the first of the non-Jews to worship and pay homage to the Christ child, a recurrent message from Matthew’s Gospel.  Their path to the manger was anything but smooth and their trip home was a testimony to the way in which their lives had been changed in their seeking. “Seek and ye shall find!” Jesus says later in Matthew. (Mat 7:7) Jesus’ message of inclusion, hope and justice was found and now they were taking that message, what they had seen and experienced home to people in far-away places who needed to hear that message also.

Seeker Me

It was the day after Christmas that I went to an organ concert and international carol sing at the German Lutheran Church of Augusta Victoria in Jerusalem, a large and beautiful church on top of the Mount of Olives built by Kaiser Wilhelm II for his wife.  You may or may not know that I lived in Jerusalem for a year.   It was much more than a concert and sing along though.  For me the experience posed a question that I still continue to think about long after the reverberating sounds of ‘Silent Night’ in the cavernous church were finally silent.

Rev. Ulricke Wohlrab, co-pastor of the church with her husband, gave a very meaningful message before we started our sing along.  Her first words were, “What brings you here?  Of all places that you could be, what brings you here?   Holiday?  Family?   Friends?  Perhaps a star.   The magicians saw a star and followed it and found the Christ child.”  She told the simple story of the magi with the deepest of meaning and the deepest of questions, what brings you to the manger of Christ?  Of all the places that you could be spending your time, what is it about this birth, this place?  What are you seeking when you look inside that manger?  

I was profoundly moved by her words which brought tears to my eyes because there were times that I thought, what am I doing here?  What am I looking for?  What am I seeking to find so far away from home?  I had come to this Holy Place, Jerusalem looking and hoping for transformation.  And while it was transformative in all ways, I realized to seek is not a single event but the journey of your life twined with the Christ child’s life. 

What does it mean to Seek?

When you seek it is a continual trek into the ways in which Christ really does save you at different times in your life.  I was saved from confusion and loneliness that day at Augusta Victoria because my voice was joined together with others whose pathway to the manger was probably just as circuitous as mine had been.  But yet, we were all there, in that place and at that appointed time loving God and praising Jesus, the Savior.   

We all have a story to tell concerning our pathway to the manger and what we are seeking to find there once we have arrived. 

Some people have no idea about who lies there but are willing to kneel long enough so that God’s mystery can be revealed.

Some people have mistaken ideas of who the Christ child is but are willing to ask questions and wait long enough to hear the answers. 

Some people just come and kneel because they know that there is something of much grander substance outside of themselves. 

Some people come because they have no doubt that there was born in the City of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord, the one who transforms lives.

What are you seeking?  Why are you here today at the side of the manger?  In your seeking you will find and that is the most fundamental promise that God imparts to us in this story of intrigue and love.  In your seeking, you will find!

Amen.

A Christmas Eve Message

Luke 2:7

And she gave birth to her first born son and wrapped him in bands of cloth,

and laid him in a manger

Starry Night.  Does that ring a bell?  Starry Night, of course, is the name of one of Vincent Van Gogh’s most famous paintings.  Famous for its swirling yellow hued stars in the deep blue sky, a small village illumined by the crescent moon and a larger dark structure, this painting has captured the fascination of art lovers since 1889 when it was painted.  It has a transcendent quality to it.

Starry Night was also the theme of one of the Christmas trees that I viewed at the Knights of Columbus Museum in New Haven.  Each year they have a contest for local area school children from mostly all Catholic Schools.  They are invited to make ornaments and decorate a tree, which then is displayed and voted on by the museum staff and the people’s choice. 

Starry Night was my absolute favorite tree this year! Each ornament was a crèche with the background of Van Gogh’s Starry Night.  And there were lights and blue stars with swirly yellow smaller stars drawn on them and yellow paper flowers and garland…it was stunning.  And sweet because the tiny hands of children crafted each crèche ornament.

Every year a trip to the museum is on my list of ‘must dos’ at Christmas time.  Before baking (which, PS I don’t do anyway), before getting my tree or decking ye merry old parsonage halls I carve out time to visit this lovingly curated exhibit.  Most of the trees have a crèche theme because this exhibit accompanies another very beautiful and yearly museum exhibit of crèche’s from around the world.  

The crèche is the most enduring symbol and representation of that night in which Jesus was born.  We have no photos to remember this occasion by.  There were no tripods popping up or cameras snapping in the first few hours after Mary gave birth.  No iphones or selfies taken to remember that special occasion.  We only have words and our wildest and most beautiful imaginations to remember, to make sense of, to make real in our lives the birth of Christ, the incarnate love of God.

So at the very least in your crèche you have the woman Mary, mostly always seated and in a ‘virgin mary blue’ color robe, the man Joseph grey bearded and all standing beside her, a wooden, but not always wooden, stable because of course,  the ‘no vacancy’ sign were up all over Bethlehem town that night, and straw was strewn all over the ground because sheep, goats and other four footed animals aren’t the neatest of eaters.   And at the center of all of this is a banged up, gnawed on manger, an open trough, holding the animal’s fodder…and oh, yes, little Lord Jesus with his sweet heard lying on it. 

The crèche as we know it is emblazoned on the world’s collective memory.  But its endearing image is only one moment, frozen in time, unless we make it real.  Unless we find a way to engage the nativity, the birth of Jesus in our lives each day, then this iconic representation will be like all the rest of the human made crèches; they will be out for three weeks in December and then put back into the packing box with lots of tissue and Styrofoam peanuts and stored next to your nutcracker collection for the following year.  And what good is that?

I think it is no accident that the one who commanded Peter to ‘Feed my sheep”, the one who said, “I am the bread of life”, the one whose body becomes for us a meal, a feast of hope, transformation and love was born in a feeding trough.  Animals come to the trough to be fed; we do too. 

That’s why we are here tonight.  You thought your mother made you come!?  Think again.  You are hear because you too are hungry.  You too are in need of feed and nourishment for your living and provisions for your journey.  You are here because you want this story to be real, that a Savior really is born this day in the city of David.  Someone who will satiate your hunger and feed you.  You are here for your inner needs to be fed.

Because, let’s face it, the world just can’t do that for you.  You are hungry for something much greater than money can buy.  All you have to do is take a look at this despairing and absurd world around you.  Alienation and isolation produces children and cop killers.  Racism brings about division and injustice.  Natural disasters take out thousands of people at a time, moms and dads, grannies’ and grandpas’ all at once. Hatred begets hatred that terrorized the innocent.

All of humanity is starved and aching and we are in need of food that will soothe our weary souls.  We are hungry for love.  For peace. For justice.  For hope.  For cryin’ out loud, just a little happiness.  For God’s love.

I could go on and on, but after all this is Christmas Eve and all you need to know for tonight is that love has come down to us.  That God’s ineffable grace born this night is for us and not against us.  That your adversity and despair is embraced by the baby whose name is Jesus.  That no matter what your circumstances might be at this very moment you are redeemed, comforted and loved by the Christ in the manger.

Amen. 

The Challenge of Joy

Isaiah 61:1-4; 8-11

The three books of Isaiah beautifully bind together into one book that tells of God’s presence and the lives of the people of Zion or Israel.  It wasn’t an easy time in their mutual covenantal life together so they really did need a prophet, someone who could be the ‘go between’ if you will. 

Isaiah was their prophet!  First he warned them of God’s impending judgment, then in the second book he spoke words of comfort to God’s people while they were in exile in Babylon.  The third book addresses the dire situation that they found when the finally returned home to a devastated land.  And this is where we find ourselves today in our scripture.  We will hear in our passage today three voices that of Isaiah, God and the people.

Isaiah speaks from the aftermath of exile:

The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

because the Lord has anointed me;

he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,

to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives,

and release to the prisoners;

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,

and the day of vengeance of our God;

to comfort all who mourn;

to provide for those who mourn in Zion—

to give them a garland instead of ashes,

the oil of gladness instead of mourning,

the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.

They will be called oaks of righteousness,

the planting of the Lord, to display his glory.

They shall build up the ancient ruins,

they shall raise up the former devastations;

they shall repair the ruined cities,

the devastations of many generations….

And now the divine voice of God speaks:

For I the Lord love justice,

I hate robbery and wrongdoing;

I will faithfully give them their recompense,

and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.

Their descendants shall be known among the nations,

and their offspring among the peoples;

all who see them shall acknowledge

that they are a people whom the Lord has blessed.

And Zion’s joyful response:

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,

my whole being shall exult in my God;

for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation,

he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,

as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,

and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

For as the earth brings forth its shoots,

and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,

so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise

to spring up before all the nations.

From good news to joy, it doesn’t get any better than that!  Isaiah says that all who are oppressed from whatever bondage or slavery they were in will be set free and that they will be comforted in their newly found freedom.  God proclaims a passion for justice and then promises that they will be able to rebuild their homeland not only restoring those crumbled ancient buildings but once again who they were as a people, their heart and soul.  And of course Zion cannot help but ‘greatly rejoice’ in all of this. 

Herein lies the promise of scripture this third week of Advent, this week of pink candles and joy.  We are heard and God is present even in adversity, even in darkness, even when the winds threaten to blow away our very existence; in this we can find joy and rejoice.

But it’s challenging isn’t it?  Life today is really not all that much different than then but I think that our lives are more complicated so it’s possible that joy can be more of a challenge to find or even understand.  Systems continue to keep decent people down, relationships fall apart, folks find themselves imprisoned by more than just bars, tragedy befalls a community like Newtown, children are killed and lives are changed forever.  It’s hard to keep a ‘chins up’ attitude when so much threatens to destroy but this is exactly what we are challenged to do; to find and live into the joy that God intends for us because God is present and has heard our cries.

So maybe we need to have a different understanding of joy in this instant and face paced world. Joy is one of those elusive emotions that can be fleeting at times or it can be a soft undercurrent that is hardly recognizable.  It’s what we feel when our eyes gaze upon a magnificent sunset, or you are captivated by watching a sleeping infant, or you are assembled around your dinner table and are filled with happiness just because you are surrounded by people you love and who love you back.  Joy is a positive feeling not to be confused with being happy but an overwhelmingly satisfying emotion and for us based in faith.

Recently I saw a short video of noted theologians and professors talking about what joy was for them, it was entitled, “The Theology of Joy”.  Robert Emmons of the University of California, Davis believes that joy is the combination of happiness and gratitude; it is connection and relationship of a transcendent nature.[i]  It is so much more than being happy. It is being happy and being filled with deep gratitude to our eternal God for presence, sustenance and contentment.  We are never alone and herein we can feel joy.

Ellen Charry, theology professor at Princeton Theological Seminary believes that joy is to be content with your choices and the paths that you wish to pursue and those also that you decide not to pursue.  It is, she says, a deep-seated sense of well being with one’s self and with ones life.[ii]   You can and do often know joy when your life is in-sync.  It is contentment and accepting that you are right where you are supposed to be at this very moment in time.

Yet in the context of Advent joy is so much more.  Joy challenges us to go very deep into our souls in the midst of the darkest and coldest nights and find warmth and light.  And then to give thanks in that light.  At the heart of joy is believing and knowing that God is with you and by your side through tragedy, loss and darkness and then being ever so grateful.  It is a ‘resistance against despair’[iii].  It is deciding that, after considering all of the facts and circumstances, you choose to overcome the darkness, not let it overcome you.  It is choosing to believe in the inherent good of humanity because that is what brings you hope. Hope for the world. Hope for your life. Hope for this baby who is soon to come. 

Yes, joy to the world the Lord is come. Soon, very soon, God’s reminder of love, compassion and hope will be with us once again.  Once again we will no longer have to sit and wait in darkness that the light of the world has come.  Rejoice.

I leave you with a poem and blessing by artist, poet and pastor, Jan Richardson, “Blessing to Summon Rejoicing”

When your weeping

has watered

the earth.

When the storm

has been long

and the night

and the season

of your sorrowing.

When you have seemed

an exile

from your life

lost in the far country

a long way from where

your comfort lies.

When the sound

of splintering

and fracture

haunts you.

When despair

attends you.

When lack.

When trouble.

When fear.

When pain.

When empty.

When lonely.

When too much

of what depletes you

and not enough

of what restores

and rests you.

Then let there be

rejoicing.

Then let there be

dreaming.

Let there be

laughter in your mouth

and on your tongue

shouts of joy.

Let the seeds

soaked by tears

turn to grain,

to bread,

to feasting.

Let there be

coming home.[iv]

Amen.

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[i] “The Theology of Joy”, Yale Center for Faith and Culture, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/embed/MsNyWz0BWs4

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] Willie James Jennings, Professor of Theology, Duke Divinity School.

[iv] Jan Richardson. http://adventdoor.com/2011/12/11/advent-3-home-with-rejoicing/#sthash.C9el3giW.dpuf