Sermon: “Share Joy”
December 6th, 2020 Rev. Betsy Perkins
Scripture passage: Isaiah 61:1-11 First Baptist Church, Delavan WI
We hear again today from the message God gave to Isaiah. The reading is from Isaiah 61 – It is Isaiah speaking, and it is also Isaiah speaking on behalf of the coming Messiah, the One God would send to save the world. Jesus took these words given to Isaiah and spoke them as his own, in a worship service that inaugurated his ministry on earth. Isaiah’s words, Jesus’ words… (Read Isaiah 61:1-11)
This week we light the candle of Joy and we hear a joyful prophesy from Isaiah. The coming Messiah, the One sent from God, would be announcing good news that would bring great joy. Imagine for a moment those long lines of car we’ve seen on the news, lined up to get a box of food – thousands of people who never needed to go to a food pantries before – imagine them all being told that they didn’t need to worry anymore: food would be provided, the rent will be paid, the bills taken care of, no more will they have to choose between meals and medications, between child care and health care.
You see the people Isaiah is speaking to are in a bad spot. They are living as refugees, living in tents, captives in exile. They are scraping together meals from what they can gather. In those conditions disease was common and treatment was primitive. There were many mourning the loss of loved ones, taken away before their time. It was in that context that Isaiah shares the good news that God will be setting them free, bringing light, providing the soothing oil of joy. The people who profited off their misery would be called to account. What has been devastated and in ruins, will be restored. A few verses further Isaiah uses the image of a garden – one that has been made ready for spring. As winter came the garden dried up, it looks barren and bleak. But the soil stands ready, plants and seeds in hibernation, awaiting the promise of spring and of new life. Isaiah says, “So it is, the Lord God will bring righteousness and justice into full bloom, and plants of praise will be on display for the whole world.” Isaiah is saying joy is still there, joy has come, even while the garden looks bare.
It’s like Mary, who sang a song of joy at a time when she had every reason to be worried, afraid, ashamed of being pregnant before her wedding day. Yet she sang, “My soul glories the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” In the midst of a difficult time, she was filled with joy, just knowing who God was bringing into the world through her. We wonder, “Mary, did you know?” Mary’s song recorded in Luke 1, sung as the unborn Jesus leapt for joy within her, tells us that she did indeed know. She knew that the proud, the tyrants, the hoarders of God’s gifts, would be brought down and the poor, the humble, the ones who look to God with awe, would be gathered in and raised up. She knew that joy had come, that joy was hidden, but it was certain and it was growing.
It’s like Jesus himself, who began his ministry by using Isaiah’s words of promise, the words we just heard, to announce that he had come to fulfill God’s promise, to rescue, to set free, to comfort and to heal. Jesus spent his life planting seeds of joy in the lives of those who would receive it – the oil of joy opening the eyes of the blind, allowing the deaf to hear, making the lame leap and the dumb speak.
And then on the night when it looked like joy would be defeated, when the proud and powerful were arranging to murder him, when the disciples feared that their plans, their hopes, were crumbling, Jesus spoke to them again about joy. John tells us that in that upper room, in the midst of sharing the Passover meal, a meal celebrating God’s deliverance of His people in the past, Jesus talked about his coming death and resurrection. But the disciples were confused. John writes, “Jesus knew that they were dying to ask him what he meant, so Jesus said, “Are you trying to figure out among yourselves what I meant when I said, ‘In a day or so you’re not going to see me, but then in another day or so you will see me’? Then fix this firmly in your minds: you’re going to be in deep mourning while the godless world rejoices and throws a party. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. Like a woman giving birth to a child suffers the pain of labor, yet her anguish gives way to joy when she has brought a new baby into the world. So with you: now is your time of grief, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can steal your joy.” (Jn.16:19-22) Jesus said to his followers, “I have told you this so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, that your joy will overflow!” (Jn.15:11)
We are in a time of mourning. A devastating illness is taking thousands of lives each day. Signs of creation’s damage and decay are unmistakable in collapsing glaciers, in fires and storms. Livelihoods are lost, young women are exploited, children are hungry. Yet at Christmas we are reminded once again, as we look to Jesus, to a baby in a barn, that joy has come. Joy that we simply receive; joy that cannot be taken away.
Brenda told me about a friend of hers, who has now gone to glory, but during her life she lived by the motto ‘Don’t Postpone Joy’. Every day she wore a pin with those words on it. She gave those pins away to others. Brenda wears hers some days: ‘Don’t Postpone Joy’. So how can we receive joy this day? How can we share that joy with a world that needs it? Here are some simple ideas for receiving joy and sharing joy – you can probably come up with a bunch more.
Pause at sunset to look out the window and marvel at God’s artistry.
Sit down with a piece of fresh fruit – perhaps a grapefruit or a crisp apple – and savor each bite.
Send a friend a card that says, “Thank you for bringing joy to the world!”
Clean out a closet and donate the useful items you aren’t using to someone who will.
Shovel your neighbor’s sidewalk or steps. And while you’re at it lie down and make a snow angel.
Bake Christmas cookies and as you decorate each cookie with frosting or sprinkles, name the things that bring you joy. Then wrap up a few and drop them on someone’s door with a card that says, “Joy to the world and joy to you!”
Pay for the order of the person behind you in the drive-thru.
Donate blood.
Fill a box with food items to donate to a food pantry so someone knows they are not forgotten, they are cared for, there is hope, they too deserve joy.
Go online and make a donation to a charity that helps children – like UNICEF or the Tree House.
Look in the mirror and say to yourself, “I love you! God loves you!”
Drive around to look at Christmas lights.
Dance.
Don’t postpone joy. Receive joy. Share joy. For Joy has come!
I would like to share with you now a spoken word poem that brought me joy this week (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_lqgLFUkgY). It is titled, “For Unto Us – JOY” by Lo The Poet (Loren Alaman). It starts, “In the beginning was the song – and the song was God’s joy and God was joy.”
Closing Song: “Good Christian Friends, Rejoice”
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