Joy for the World
Psalm 98

Christmas shopping for my friends who are clergy is sometimes a difficult task, that is until I found out about this internet site called: Balmy Clergy Supply, which offers numerous gift ideas.

For example, I could buy them an Early Exit Alarm. Let me read you what the ad says,

“Tired of all those people leaving church before the end of the service? A simple laser projector at each door sends out a piercing alarm each time the beam is broken. This splendid device will encourage church members to remain dutifully seated until dismissed.”  

Or how about the Robot Pastor, “which can be used by churches as temporary replacements for vacationing or ill pastors.

“The Robot Pastor is programmed to deliver any of 487 sermons, and can scan the congregation and zap with a mild electric shock anyone who falls asleep or fails to put anything in the offering plates” 

Ooooooh… Tempting!

As we wind down to the last few days before Christmas, many of us may be getting caught up worrying about just the right present to give our loved ones.

On this Sunday, though, let us remind ourselves in the midst of the hustle and bustle, to be sure to celebrate the gift of Jesus Christ.

Joy to the World for the Lord has come! This isn’t just a Christmas carol, it’s a proclamation of faith for every day of the year.

Isaac Watts, the composer of many hymns, wrote Joy to the World after studying Psalm 98 (one of this morning scripture texts), which states “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth; make a loud noise and rejoice and sing praise.”

Watts saw it as his mission to make church music more meaningful to the common parishioner and worked hard to modernize and Christianize the Psalms he turned into hymns.

Joy was an important theme in many of his hymns.  And joy is also an important part of our daily walk with Jesus.

I used to object to Christmas decorations going up so early. But this year, I decided I wanted to remind myself of the joy of God – the joy of Christmas. So I welcomed it, for as one author wrote,

“Even though the celebration of Christmas is exploited for business profit and used for selfish purposes; even though the meaning of Christmas is often corrupted; in spite all this, we all feel the impulse at this time to think of others, to show love to others, to be there for others.

“This itself shows what the joy of anticipation is. It is the feeling of human solidarity, the exulting joy in one another, the certainty of mutual love.

“The brightness and fragrance of the living Christmas tree under which Christmas gifts are laid -- here is light and warmth, symbolizing life and love.”  

But sadly, Christmas can also be a very stressful time for many adults. For some it is a time of intense loneliness or crushing grief because of a loved one who is gone.

Even at its secular best, Christmas can mean parties to plan, gifts to buy, elaborate meals to cook, long trips to take, or out-of-town guests to host. Instead of bringing JOY, Christmas can often bring frustration and stress.

I heard a story about a woman who was doing her last-minute Christmas shopping at a crowded mall. She was tired of fighting the crowds.

She was tired of standing in lines. She was tired of fighting her way down long aisles looking for a gift that had sold out days before.

Her arms were full of bulky packages when the elevator door opened. It was full. The occupants of the elevator grudgingly tightened ranks to allow a small space for her and her gifts.

 As the doors closed she blurted out, “Whoever is responsible for this whole Christmas thing ought to be arrested, strung up, and shot!”

A few others nodded their heads or grunted in agreement.

Then, from somewhere in the back of the elevator came a single voice that said, “Don’t worry. They already crucified him.”

Folks, it helps to remember who is responsible for this whole Christmas thing. It is all about how God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son so that we might have eternal life. (John 3:16)

Unfortunately, many people leave Christ out of Christmas. Instead of looking to Jesus, people look for JOY anywhere and everywhere else.

People work hard to buy possessions that can make them happy.  They look for happiness in entertainment, hobbies, sports, passions, and various addictions

When you consider that happiness seems to be so many people’s main goal, it seems surprising that the Bible doesn’t talk much about happiness.

But the Bible does say a lot about something that is often confused with happiness. The Bible says a lot about JOY. And the kind of JOY the Bible talks about goes much deeper than mere happiness.

You see, happiness deals with what is happening. Happiness depends on circumstance. In fact, for most people happiness is nothing more than a temporary interruption to boredom.

Genuine joy, on the other hand does not depend on what’s happening. Joy is an inner sense of well-being that has nothing to do with circumstance. The kind of JOY the Bible describes can’t be found in possessions or entertainment.

Joy is an inside thing. It grows out of one’s relationship with one’s self, with those closest to you, with the universe, with God. It is that interior quality that brings joy. It comes from knowing that all will be well. Even if the “all will be well” is not in this earthly life.

In the early 1980’s a missionary, clearly nearing the end of her life due to illness, spent Christmas with her extended family.

At one of the gatherings, one of her little nieces crawled up into her lap and said: “Auntie, what does it feel like to know this is your last Christmas?”

All those who heard her gasped at the awkwardness. Of course she was just repeating what they earlier had all been wondering about among themselves.

The elderly woman wasn’t at all taken aback, however, and answered, “it is well, it is well, it is well.”

You can manufacture pleasures; you can purchase thrills, but joy comes as a gift. It is born of grace. It is God in you. It is God’s unlimited acceptance of you for who you are, precious to the creator God forever.

Timothy Hart Anderson told the story of some Salvadoran refugees. These are people on the edge, to be sure. They live in conditions most of us literally cannot imagine.

For one thing they are permanently homeless. Every time they settle into a place, the landowner or the local authorities or the federales come, sometimes I imagine with bulldozers, and displace them, driving them from their temporary settlements back into exile.

There is no room for them in the Inn, no room for them anywhere in El Salvador.

But these tough-minded travelers have an amazing coping strategy. Every time they are displaced they form three committees.

To help themselves resettle in a new place as quickly as possible, they form a construction committee, an education committee, and my personal favorite, a joy committee.

I love that idea, and not because the idea of a joy committee is so very Presbyterian. I love it because it’s so very true.

Whatever one’s station in life -- whether you’re a refugee or a businesswoman, a parent or a child, a doctor or a patient, single or in a relationship -- joy sometimes takes work.

But as those refugees know, joy is as fundamental to the life and health of a community as is housing, or knowledge.

I also like the idea because what it says to me is that, despite the hardships of life, joy is possible, even for refugees. And that’s good news because, live long enough, and you’re bound to spend some time in a refugee camp of sorts.

Sooner or later, sickness or tragedy or some unwelcome change hits us like a bulldozer, and like our Salvadoran sisters and brothers we find ourselves displaced, forcibly removed from the homeland we love, that place where everything makes sense and we feel safe and in control.

Which is why every church ought to have a joy committee, don’t you think? A group whose job it is to help us get resettled after the bulldozer comes through. A committee of veteran travelers who help us get our bearings when we unexpectedly find ourselves in a land that is new and foreign to us.

Now I need to be clear here. When I say “joy,” again, I’m not talking about happiness nor am I talking about a Pollyanna view that everything is going to be okay.

There are times when everything is just flat not going to be okay, when the bulldozer is coming and you can’t stop it.

Joy is what keeps the bulldozer from burying you. Joy is what’s born in you when you realize that in life and in death you belong to God, and there’s nothing in the world that can change that.

Joy is love’s identical twin, a force that doesn’t stop when life gets hard, a deep feeling we can’t always name or describe but can’t live without. That’s the joy I’m talking about.

And I believe that’s why the Good News begins and ends not with love, but with joy. Have you noticed that?

According to Luke, just hours before Jesus is born the angel of the Lord startles the shepherds and startles the world with this unprecedented announcement: “Behold I bring you -- What? -- I bring you good news of great joy.”

So begins the story of Jesus. Then some 24 chapters later, it ends with Jesus ascending into heaven, his part of ushering in God’s kingdom now complete.

Luke says that in that moment Jesus’ disciples worshiped him, and then returned to Jerusalem. How? With great joy.

Good news of great joy. It’s at the start of the story and at the end, and it lies at the heart of the story throughout.

God has provided, in the coming of a baby, the living water from whom we draw eternal joy. Jesus says in John 15:11: “I want my joy to be in you so that your joy may be complete.”

So what do I want for Christmas this year?  Please steer clear of items from the Balmy Clergy Supply Store …

However, I would like the gift of authentic joy, the joy that comes with believing in the words of the angels -- Be Not Afraid -- joy that comes with sharing with each one of you the message of Christ, the joy that comes from the heart of God.

“Joy to the World,” indeed! May the joy of the coming Messiah, the joy of God’s kindness and mercy, and the joy of Christ’s never ending love, be yours now and always. 

Amen.