Joy

Text: Zephaniah 3:14-20

Focus: Joy

Function: To help people take the time to rejoice.

Form: Story telling

Intro: Over the next several years, at times, I may refer to two of my High School Friends, Dave and Steve. One is a self-proclaimed agnostic or atheist and the other is Roman Catholic, or sort of, I think. 
 

At least, he was agnostic until he heard a little bit about the Church of the Brethren and its implicit emphasis that we are called to love God by loving others and we take to heart the promises in the beatitudes, especially the one “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons and daughters of God.”

I think that is where he is at. I think. They know what I believe and for what I stand. So, I am assuming that if I asked him, it would feel like my friendship with him is based on my desire to convert him instead of genuine love and concern for him. And, I really love these two friends and would never violate their own sincere journey with my opinions.

I love these guys and I mention them to start this sermon about joy to state that both ethically and morally, they are really good people.

As a matter of fact, the one that describes himself as an atheist is one of the best and moral people that I know.

Now, I need to qualify his statement “atheist.”

He would probably feel better if I said Agnostic.

An agnostic is a person who says that they just don't know, there are to many competing ideas and thoughts out there for them to be absolutely convinced.

I can tell that he wants to believe in the kind of of New Testament Christianity that the Church of the Brethren represents. He is just not ready to commit and he doesn't worry to much about it since he was baptized as a Lutheran.

I think a lot about him at Christmas time because the tradition I was in was decidedly not an “High Church” with liturgy, robes, vestments, banners and etc. Consequently, I never practiced Advent, or Lent until well into my pastoral ministry in the Church of the Brethren and people started asking me, at least 4 years into my pastorate when we were going to celebrate these things and I, honestly, was not aware of the lectionary, a global commitment by the Church, to be faithful to all of the scriptures instead of the ones that make up our particular denominational feel.

So, I think of my High Church friend a lot during Christmas because on several occasions, I attended an 11:00 PM Christmas Eve Worship at his Lutheran Church.

Now, there was no incense, no one in a robe speaking Latin, or some of the other High Church things, but in spite of that part being missing, I found the worship service to be beautiful, full of joy, full of hope, full of love, and very peaceful. The music was incredible and the way that people gathered into that beautiful building and collectively, mainly inspired by the congregation and not the pastor, worshipped God.

It was an whole different world to me. The fact was, Christians exist in different forms than the one in which I was raised.

While talking with my friend on our vacation in October at Portland, Oregon, I got the feeling in some way, that he hoped, for my sake, that it was all true.

We did talk a lot about faith that week. He realized that I too, have the same doubts and questions that he has and yet, the one thing that I cannot overcome, is this deep abiding sense of mystery inside of me.

I believe that this sense of mystery is actually the presence of the Holy Spirit in my heart.

There is this longing for peace inside of us.

And, I see a direct link in this longing to two of our candles, or emphasis, during Advent. They are the two we are looking at this week and next.

Today: Joy. Next week: Peace

Joy is an emotion. Peace is an emotion as well as a state of being. That state of being can be interpersonal -between ourselves and our relatives, our neighbors, our city, our state and between nation states. However, it is also intrapersonal. Intrapersonal peace is peace we feel within ourselves. And unlike interpersonal peace, intrapersonal peace is also an emotion.

It can best be described in the sentence: “I am at peace with myself.”

But, I am getting into next weeks sermon.

So, let us look at the relationship between joy and peace. I believe that joy in many ways is the expression of interpersonal, or inner, peace.

Someone may be able to point out the fallacy of this statement, but no one has yet, and it seems to make sense to me: Joy is peace dancing and peace is joy at rest.

Next week, we will focus on intra-personal peace, the peace that Christ brings between enemies and people of different sorts. The peace that I experience with my agnostic/atheistic friend.

Joy.

Joy is the emotion and acting out of the hope realized when Jesus came.

Let me re read this morning scripture. Zephaniah 3:14-20

This is a prophecy, a declaration of God that was designed by God to encourage God's people during a time of hardship.

And I love the command in there, right at the beginning: Rejoice.

I think the joy of Christmas is the best emotion I feel.

I know, Christmas eve, after we share communion and while we are lighting the candles and we are singing “Silent Night,” we will indeed experience the emotion, the interpersonal component of peace.

It is like we obey God by being joyful and in that process, God brings us to peace.

And, the converse is true, when we let the peace of Christ rule our hearts, at times, joy just sort of bubbles out.

But there is a command to rejoice.

I think at times it is the mental decision to obey God by rejoicing that is a spiritual catalyst for peace.

I eschew the materialism of Christmas and how our economy is based on this religions holiday and the success of sales.

Greed has always entered religious faiths and that is sad.

But the real joy, the real peace, the real purpose of Christmas is not lost on us.

I think for me, seeing the Christmas lights is one of the better expressions of joy that we have.

At night, I look across the field at the parsonage, or while driving and it is as if the whole world stops during the month of December to rejoice at the love that God brought down to earth during that first Christmas.

For Kathy, those same Christmas lights bring about a sense of peace, because her fondest family bonding memories of her childhood are when they would get in the car and go looking for Christmas light displays.

Let joy fill your heart.

Because God became a man in Christ Jesus, God sees our pain and to our weaknesses, God is no stranger.

That, to me is a cause for joy.