Phil. 4:4-7, Zeph. 3:14-20 December 13, 2009 Sermon

 

Rejoicing is the link in our readings this morning. With all of the early decorations and endless Christmas music, I fear I become a bit of a Scrooge as I feel that we impose a feeling of holiday joy instead of inviting people into it. I don't like being told what or how I should feel. I trust those feelings when they emerge naturally. I went to Saralyn's Phi Beta Kappa banquet on Tuesday night, so I got to see a lot of parents bursting with pride at the academic achievements of their children. the prolonged applause for them wasn't forced, but an outgrowth of beaming esteem. I like to think of God often bursting with pride at our lives. 

 

Zephaniah's name may have the sense of God sheltering us.  Yes, we can be  in difficult times, but it does not always have to be that way. End times vision give purpose, a goal, a compass point to our travels. When your heart gets broken, you are engulfed by the sheer weight of pain. You cannot imagine that you will feel better again. You will. One day you will be able to rejoice again, to see the rainbow and not only the rain, again. Ministry needs a future orientation, beyond the brute tyranny of the way things are but imagine the way things could or should be. Is v. could be, what if. It is good not to live in the future, but the future does give us direction and energy to work toward its shape. Bonhoeffer said "the will of God is not a system of rules established at the outset, but a living will, the grace of God that is new every morning." 

 

I love this image of God rejoicing, even singing a song over us. think of it . God rejoices over you.  Is it classical or country, Mozart or Mellencamp? Does heaven sing Christmas carols? God rejoices over us when we are doing good, and for the sheer unique fact of your existence.I sometimes picture God as basically disappointed in me and the church in general, so I would picture God singling laments or the divine equivalent of a break up song. Does the music have words? What type of music is it?  So then, when does God sing the blues? Song lifts us beyond mere prose; the music lifts us to a different place. The translation in the next line is uncertain. The NIV has God to quiet us, like a mother soothing a hurt child, there, there, or is God quiet, silent, by no longer issuing condemnation, or even the quiet of people comfortable with each other? In the Greek translation it is renewing in God's love? How does that work? Does Advent serve to renew God's love? Maybe in our tired struggles to stay afloat instead of being overwhelmed, we get the strength we need when we no longer can do it all on our own.

 

In Phil. 4:4-7-the rejoice command fits the turn to a new phase in Advent and the lighting of the pink candle It's repeated. Can one rejoice in the midst of troubles? I don't know how that works, except that we continue to look for the good portions of life even in the midst of difficult times.  My sense is that Paul sees   prayer as giving us perspective that our troubles are not the only thing in our lives. As a virtue to deal with troubles, Paul recommends gentleness=magnanimity/generosity/ being considerate. Prayer works against against anxiety/worry-We certainly can hear those words in the face of the pressures of the season to try to make a perfect Christmas, or the best Christmas ever. Total well-being is the meaning of peace here. In all of life is in prayers, that includes thanksgiving,  So we can cover all of the holiday activity with prayer and see them as enacted prayers.