Christmas Eve 2019 The Gift of Joy
Scripture References: Psalm 98, Rev. 21: 1-7
Well friends, we’ve made it to Christmas Eve. All of our shopping, eating, playing and praying has led to this moment, and I’m glad for the opportunity to celebrate this moment with you. For the past 4 weeks, we’ve been opening some of the most treasured gifts of Christmas, gifts that have been made possible by the coming of Jesus, our Messiah. We’ve unwrapped the gift of reconciliation, proclaiming the wonderful truth that Jesus restores our broken relationships with God. We’ve unwrapped the gift of being set free, believing that Jesus has the power to release us from our burdens. We’ve celebrated the vision of new kind of Kingdom Jesus inspires, and we’ve found comfort in the gift of God’s presence, who is closer to us than our very breath. But there is one more gift we need to unwrap, a gift that seems so timely and necessary every time I think of it: the gift of joy. Would you pray with me?
One of the traditions I love most about this season is the music. And really, the music during this season is beautiful, isn’t it? Now, I used to be an old Scrooge who insisted we not listen to Christmas music until AFTER Thanksgiving- I guess I wanted to protect the tradition of keeping this special music in its rightful season-but I’ve since changed my tune. And I think that’s because this music reveals our deepest longings for our world to be different. I don’t know about you, but there’s something that happens to my spirit when I hear Angels From the Realms of Glory or O Come All Ye Faithful. I guess I would call it a “lifting.” These old songs have turned my office into a sanctuary. They’ve ushered me into God’s presence and inspired sermons and prayers that I didn’t think would ever come. And these songs have provided light during dark days and long nights and hope in the midst of tender conversations filled with sadness and pain. And quite frankly, I like it that way and I’m looking forward to a time when it will always be that way.
I wonder if that type of hope or longing was going through the mind of Isaac Watts when he penned the words to the famous song Joy to the World. Tradition has it that Watts, who is known as the “Father of Christian hymnody”, was discouraged by the lack of joyful worship in the pews. He was weary of thoughtless, “going through the motions” singing that seemed to make very little difference to anybody! Tired of his complaining, Watts’ father told him to do something about it and write some new songs! So he did. And for the last 300 years, Joy to the World has helped generations of people celebrate the good news of what God has done in Christ. But maybe more importantly, this song has helped us prepare for what God plans to do again.
Of all the songs we sing during Christmas, Joy to the World stands apart from the rest byencouraging us to spend more time looking ahead than behind. It’s good to sing about the manger and the shepherds and Mary- and most of our carols do just that. But Joy to the World is different. Though Joy to the World does celebrate the coming of the King, there is no nativity scene. There’s no retelling of Luke’s Christmas story or John’s the “Word becoming flesh.” Instead, this 300-year old song invites us to pay attention to the ongoing work God set in motion on Christmas Day. And interestingly enough, Watts found his inspiration not in the Gospels, but in the Psalms, specifically Psalm 98.
We don’t know much about this Psalm, other than its content, but one thing is certain: it a song full of hope and longing for that day when all of creation will be made right. The psalm begins with an invitation- Sing to the Lord a new song, and all of creation is invited to sing, because God has done marvelous things! Musicians are called to make a joyful noise with their trumpets and horns. The “roaring seas’’ are called to join in, the floods are summoned to clap their hands, and the hills are given permission to rejoice. And it all points to a day when the Messiah will rule the world, once and for all, with truth and grace.
In many ways, this song represented the deepest yearnings for all of God’s people, but especially the people of Israel. Throughout their history, Israel had watched heroes come and heroes go. God would raise up mighty warriors who would lead the people to victory over enemy after enemy. But these leaders would die, and so would Israel’s position of authority and power. And before they knew it, Israel would find herself right back in unfavorable positions- sometimes in slavery, sometimes in the wilderness and sometimes in exile. Life was a constant tug-of-war for Israel, bouncing between slavery and freedom, bondage and deliverance, peace and persecution. Yet what kept Israel from giving up all hope was this promise of the coming of a true Savior.
Flash forward to the final book of the Bible- the epic Revelation recorded by John. It’s a vision of what one day will be- a beautiful vision. I’m certain that the writer of Psalm 98 would be a bit confused if he were to read this book, because as John pens this work, much of what the psalmist eagerly awaited has been fulfilled. The true messiah had come, born on Christmas Day. And his coming created quite the stir. He raised the dead, healed the sick and offered new life to people dead in their sins, and then just as quickly as he arrived, he was gone- dead on a cross, but resurrected. But to his surprise, the psalmist would find that John’s world looks eerily similar to his, even after the arrival of the messiah. The tug-of-war was still occurring. God’s people continued to face persecution. Israel still lacked a kingdom of her own. Egypt and Babylon weren’t the culprits anymore. Rome was the new ruthless powerhouse, and those who continued to follow the messiah often faced difficult times. I imagine the psalmist asking the question, “If the earth has received her king, why do things still look the same?”
That very same question continues to be asked by those inside and outside the church. When Jesus enters our lives, we have big expectations. We expect a Savior who will turn all of the wrongs of life right again; who will fix our marriages, heal us from diseases and help us find a good paying job. Yet all around us we continue to see marriages fall apart, and loved ones diagnosed with cancer, and nations ripped apart by heated disagreements. We still see the threat of nuclear war; we still fret about terrorism; we still lose far too many lives due to suicide and addiction. And contrary to the hope of Isaac Watts 300 years ago, sin and sorrow continue to grow, and thorns continue to infest the ground. And there’s still a curse as far as the eye can see. So what DID happen that night long ago in Bethlehem?
What happened in Bethlehem was a beginning. On that day, a new Kingdom was born, but not completed. But when that day comes, it will be beautiful. It will be a Kingdom where the old order, the old curse of sin and evil, gives way to the blessings that flow from God. It will be a kingdom where every tear will be wiped away, and where death and mourning and pain are no more, where the fields, floods, rocks, hills and plains will repeat the sounding joy of it all. That time inches closer every day, but that time is not yet. And that’s why we continue to open up this gift and sing.
We live in the time of “now, but not yet.” We are a threshold people, waiting in the reality of what is, and prayerfully waiting for the promise of what will be. Through the death of the one born on Christmas Day, the power of sin and death have been defeated…but sin and death have not yet been removed. And so we celebrate tonight and tomorrow, rightfully so, but never mindlessly. We celebrate with one eye on the Kingdom that is most definitely coming, and the other eye on today’s realities that continue cry out for redemption and healing- to see the lowly, the poor, the homeless, the dejected, the scared, and the lost. And to them, and maybe to us, we proclaim the good news- “This is not the way things will always be! The Messiah who came at Christmas is the Messiah who will come again.
I know that joy sometimes seems to be such an elusive gift. It can be hard to find joy when evil rears its ugly head. And it can be hard to find joy when our circumstances change without notice. But joy, true joy, bubbles up beyond the here and now, and joy appears over the horizons of our circumstances. Like an ancient writer pointing to a future day, joy is found in the promise of One who is trustworthy. And that promise is a Savior who vows to once again break into our world and proclaim, “Look, I am making all things new.” And that, friends, is a gift worth opening up every day. May you filled with the promises of Christ this Christmas and the joy that only He can bring. We’ve been singing about joy for 300 years. May we continue to sing it until He comes again. Merry Christmas. And may you be filled with joy tonight. Amen.
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