WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU RE EXPECTING JOY TEXT: Isaiah 35:1-10 There was a man who wanted to buy his mother a Christmas present, not just any old present, something nice, he wanted to get her something special, even a little exotic. So he went to a store and the salesman talked him into buying a bird, it was like a parrot. It could talk. In fact, it could speak four languages. They said it could be delivered; it would be there by Christmas. So on Christmas day he calls his mother and asks, Mom, did you get my gift? Was it delivered? And she says, Yes, I just got it. So he asks, How did you like it? And she says, I loved it. And then she says, It was delicious. And he says, Mom, did you eat that bird? That was a special bird. It could speak four languages. And his mother says, Well then, it should have said something. Advent, Christmas, is all about saying something, trying to get a message through. And no one has eaten the message or the messenger exactly, but it s not easy to get that message through, it s harder and harder. Shopping seems to be the message of Christmas. The only thing I don t like about Advent at Christ Church is trying to get to church sometimes, getting past the mall to get to church, and then trying to get out of the church parking lot to get home. All the commotion can drown out the real message. I have a friend who is a minister, and he once had trouble with his voice. In fact, his doctor told him not to speak, if he ever wanted to speak normally again he must not speak now, and it was for a few months. So that s what he did, he didn t speak. And during that time, not knowing whether he would ever speak again, he wondered, If I do speak again, what will I say? Knowing now how vulnerable the voice is, how fragile life is, if I can speak again, what will my message be, what is so important that it must be said?
So you don t worry, he did speak again, but it occurred to me that God goes through the same thing. God is trying to get a message through. Is that message getting through? And what is that message? Well so far during Advent we ve talked about Hope, not just having hope in the abstract, but being able to hope again when life turns sour. To have hope, and have that hope destroyed, but then to hope again. And we talked about Love, love has this tremendous capacity to heal and change things and transform our lives. And today, the message is Joy. And we can understand joy, like hope and love, on the surface. W. H. Auden, the poet and playwright wrote, Among those I admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those I love, I can: all of them make me laugh. Laughter is an important element to any good life. Not taking yourself too seriously, being willing to laugh when life doesn t go as planned. I used a lot of humor at my last church, and one man, every once in a while after worship, would say to me, That was the best happy hour I ve ever been to. Brenda will sometimes say to me when we re having a good time over something, I know why I married you, and every time I expect her to say it s because of my good looks. But she doesn t say that, she says, I know why I married you, because you make me laugh. Humor and laughter are healthy from everything I read and good for you. And there is a sense that a Christian should be filled with that kind of joy. There was a man I heard about who was a committed churchgoer, he was absolutely dedicated, but he was dour and bleak in his demeanor, very serious. And someone asked him, Are you a Christian? And the man said very seriously that yes, he was a Christian. And the other man said, Well then tell your face that you re a Christian. Recent studies show that joy is so powerful and 2
contagious that smiling at someone, even seeing a picture of someone smiling, gets that other person to smile back. Joy can be a witness of the Christian life. A real sense of joy, of course, goes deeper than what s on the surface. C. S. Lewis wrote that joy is the unfinished business of heaven, and what he meant by joy is a deep sense of delight and bliss and contentment. With true joy there is a connection to God. Do you remember that scene in Chariots of Fire. Eric Liddell, the runner, is saying to his sister, I believe God made me for a purpose, for China [he s going to be a missionary], but he also made me fast, and when I run I feel his pleasure. Something deep is happening. Handel wrote the Messiah in an astonishing 24 days. Can you imagine, the whole thing in 24 days? He didn t leave his house; he barely ate or slept. Someone came into the room as he was composing the Hallelujah Chorus, and tears were streaming down his face. He said, Whether I was in the body or out of the body when I wrote, I don t know, but I think I did see all heaven before me, and the great God himself. There s something wild and untamed here, and at the same time something connected and grounded and solid. I came across a quote I m not quite sure what to do with. The quote is, A wild person with a calm mind can create almost anything. A wild person with a calm mind can create almost anything. I love that, but I have no idea what it means. I have some idea what it means. A wild person, maybe in our context, a person who is willing to give himself or give herself wholly to God, to follow God, to let God work through you, no matter how wild it may be, where it may lead. A wild person with a calm mind, calm meaning to be persistent and deliberate and organized in doing the work God gives you to do. A wild person with a calm mind can create almost anything. 3
If there was ever a wild person with a calm mind it was Isaiah. Isaiah listens for God to speak, to tell him what to do, and then he does it. There s one place, Isaiah 20, where God tells him to take his clothes off and walk around Jerusalem naked, to demonstrate the shame and emptiness if you don t follow God. Here was one who would do anything to get his message across. It got me thinking what I might do to get my message across here at Christ Church (but first, I d like to lose about 20 pounds). And Isaiah is writing all this in the middle of a breakdown of the whole society, a calamity of untold proportions. First the Assyrians come and destroy, then the Babylonians. And it looks like it s all over for the people of Israel. Just as someone today can feel defeated by the circumstances of life. And yet Isaiah is telling the people that they will rejoice one day. His message, God s message, to the people of Israel, isn t doom and gloom, it is a message of joy. God s message to you and me is joy. Robert Louis Stevenson, in one of his beautiful short stories, tells how a ship is being tossed and turned by a terrible storm. The crew is all below deck, but one sailor, wanting to see what s going on, goes up to the foredeck to the pilot s wheel. The pilot has been tied to the mast so the fury of the storm doesn t sweep him overboard. But he has a confident grasp on the wheel in front of him, and when the frightened sailor appears, the pilot turns for just a moment and smiles. So the sailor returns to the fearful crew below and assures them everything is all right. I have seen the pilot s face, he says, and he was smiling. The reason for our joy, according to Isaiah, is that God is with us, the pilot is firmly in control, Jesus has come. It s as if God is saying at Christmas, I need to get my message through, and so I will send my son. 4
I heard about this young woman who decided to go to China as a missionary. She struggled with her decision. She felt God calling her, but still she worried, she wondered if she would be able to survive in China. It was constantly on her mind. One night she had a dream. In her dream she was walking to China. She was out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, all alone, in the dark, walking to China. And she looked down to see how she could possibly be doing this, and she saw that with every step she took a board or plank would arise from beneath the surface of the water. As she was walking it looked like there was nothing there, with each step she would surely sink into the ocean. But each time she took a step forward, always there was a board or plank that emerged to support her step, always. How many times have I wondered what the future might hold, what the next step might be, how many times have you, only to find that God is supporting us each step of the way? It may not be the plans we had for ourselves, it may be more difficult or dangerous than we ever imagined, but always there is strength and support from God, always. I remember this little piece of poetry I picked up from somewhere, that I hang onto sometimes: God will provide. It may be on the last day. It may be in the last hour. It may be at the last possible moment. But God will provide. And that is where we find our joy. A sermon by R. Duane Thompson Christ United Methodist Church Bethel Park, Pennsylvania December 12-13, 2015 5