Good morning, Friends! Thank you all for coming to worship today!
We’ve already had a lot going on. We’ve had the food collection for COAT. We lit the Advent wreath. We had special music and open worship. It’s only the first Sunday of December, but every week we’re getting closer to Christmas!
Advent is the season of joy. We know that Jesus is coming. We know that he’s almost here.
We’ve been looking forward to the whole season – the family times, the happy meals, the lights and the presents. We need to remember that the joy always comes from Jesus.
Our Scripture reading today probably isn’t one you expected. It doesn’t talk about shepherds and wise men. It doesn’t talk about parties and presents. It’s a letter, written to a group of small churches, sometime in the first century after Jesus. It doesn’t mention Christmas, but it’s as much a part of the Christmas message as any of the other readings we know.
From Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.
To God’s people who are scattered like foreigners.God the Father decided to choose you as his people, and his Spirit has made you holy.
I pray that God will be kind to you and will keep on giving you peace!
Praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! God is so good, and by raising Jesus from death, he has given us new life and a hope that lives on. God has something stored up for you in heaven, where it will never decay or be ruined or disappear.
You have faith in God, whose power will protect you until the last day. Then he will save you, just as he has always planned to do.
On that day you will be glad, even if you have to go through many hard trials for a while. Your faith will be like gold that has been tested in a fire. And these trials will prove that your faith is worth much more than gold that can be destroyed. They will show that you will be given praise and honor and glory when Jesus Christ returns.
You have never seen Jesus, and you don’t see him now. But still you love him and you have faith in him. No words can tell how joyful and happy you are to be saved. This is why you have faith.
The prophets told how God would treat you with undeserved grace, and they searched hard to find out more about the way you would be saved. The Spirit of Christ was in them and was telling them how Christ would suffer and would then be given great honor.
So they searched to find out exactly who Christ would be and when this would happen. But it was revealed to the prophets that they were serving you and not themselves.
They preached to you by the power of the Holy Spirit, who was sent from heaven. And their message was only for you, even though angels would like to know more about it.
– 1 Peter 1:1-12
Last week we talked about hope. Today we’re talking about joy. We sang about joy earlier. It was our first song this morning.
Do me a favor? Grab your hymn book, and turn again to hymn number 179. Read what it says in the first verse:
“Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her king!
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And heaven and nature sing!”
Joy is what the Christmas season is all about. Christ is here. The Lord is come! It’s time for us to receive Jesus, like we’d welcome somebody with a big parade. Or it’s like welcoming someone we love and honor to share in our own home, at our own supper table.
Or it’s like welcoming a great doctor or healer who not only won the greatest prize of all time for medicine, but who also makes house calls to our own home. A hero who’s also our friend. A ruler who knows every single person in his kingdom, and has time for every one of them.
“Let earth receive her king” – the earth itself wants to welcome Jesus. The animals, the forests, the oceans, the whole environment is rejoicing, because the Creator has come to be with us. Joy at Christmas means listening to the great singing voices around us every day in nature, and letting the joy well up in our hearts.
Make room for Christ in your hearts and minds. Clear away the rubbish. Clear away the fear. Don’t worry about whether you can be forgiven. Push everything else out of the way. Make room for Jesus! Make room for the Lord!
It’s amazing, if you read your Bible, how many times it talks about joy. When Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth, it says that as soon as Elizabeth heard her cousin’s voice, the baby in Elizabeth’s womb leaped for joy.
Some of you probably remember that first kick of the baby inside you. It might have startled you. It may have been uncomfortable, but you rejoiced, because it meant that your baby was alive, it was going to happen.
Or maybe you remember that when the angels came to speak to the shepherds, out watching their sheep that cold, winter night, the angel said, “I bring you news of great joy for all the people – a Savior is born! All that people will see will be a baby, wrapped up and lying in a manger. But you will know that this is the promised one of Israel.”
And after the angel spoke, suddenly there were thousands of angels, shouting and singing “Glory to God in the highest!” The angels were doing cartwheels up in Heaven. They couldn’t contain their joy.
When the wise men came to see Jesus, it says that they were overwhelmed with joy. They knew that the greatest king ever had been born, and he was there in front of them, and they were seeing him, with their own eyes.
Do you still have your hymn book open? Read the second verse:
“Joy to the world! The Savior reigns!
Let all their songs employ
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains,
Repeat the sounding joy. . .”
The Savior reigns. That means, that Jesus is Lord. Jesus has come, to bring God’s kingdom here on earth.
Maybe it’s not the kind of kingdom people expect. Jesus’ kingdom is about mercy, and forgiveness. Jesus’ kingdom is about welcoming people who are lost. The kingdom Jesus talks about isn’t someplace far away, in a distant city. It’s very close, as close as our hearts. And it’s a kingdom of joy, not fear. A kingdom of truth, not lies or empty promises.
We sing our Christmas songs. But the world is singing. As the song says, “fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains” are repeating – that means they’re echoing – our songs of joy and thanks and praise.
That’s a pretty amazing idea: the whole creation is singing. The stars are singing. The ocean waves. The mountains. The forests. The sand dunes. They’re all singing. And all the birds and creatures, the fish and fireflies, they’re all singing, every day.
Part of our job is to listen to the world, to listen to the song the world sings. We’re so full of our own noise. We don’t listen to the song of joy that the whole world sings.
Last verse:
“He rules the world with truth and grace
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness
And wonders of His love. . .”
The season is all about joy.
Do you remember what Jesus said, in the gospel of John? He said, “If you keep my commandments, you will live in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and live in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and so that your joy may be complete. . .” (John 15:10-11)
In the next chapter, Jesus said, “I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. . .” (John 16:22)
One of my favorite Christian writers, Madeleine L’Engle, says, “Joy is the infallible proof of the presence of God.” (A Ring of Endless Light)
Joy is not something we can pretend. It isn’t something we can force, if we aren’t feeling it. Please, don’t feel guilty or bad about yourself, if you aren’t feeling joyful. There are lots of bad and sad things going on in the world today.
But please, at least be open to it. Joy has a way of sneaking up and surprising us. Sometimes it shows up when we least expect it.
Just – be open to joy. Look for it, even in unlikely times and places. If you see someone who’s joyful, get near them, and try to feel why.
If you see someone who isn’t joyful, don’t walk away from them. Paul said to “Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. . .”
But he also said, “Love one another with mutual affection; honor others more than you do yourself. Never give up. Eagerly follow the Holy Spirit. Serve the Lord! Rejoice in hope. Be patient when you are suffering. Never stop praying. Take care of God’s needy people. Welcome strangers. . .” (Romans 12:15, 10-13)
Joy is what it’s all about. Advent is the season of joy.
The Lord is come! Joy to the world!