Psalm 16:11; Luke 2:8-11 December 13, 2009
The Third Sunday of Advent
“Where’s the Joy?”
Rev. Meagan M. Boozer
We’re halfway to Christmas in this month of December – the “most wonderful time of the year,” and lots of people are looking miserable. “How are you?” “Tired.” “How’s it going?” “Terrible.” “Hey! Merry Christmas!” “Bah Humbug.” Then there are the people who say the “right” words, but they forget to tell their face. They say “Merry Christmas” with the same intonation as they would say, “I don’t feel good.” Maybe that’s you – or me – depending on the day.
This past week, Chris Walters sent me the following story that I hope will make you smile and help to teach us God’s word today:
“My husband and I had been happily married (most of the time) for five years but hadn't been blessed with a baby. I decided to do some serious praying and promised God that if he would give us a child, I would be a perfect mother, love it with all my heart and raise it with His word as my guide. God answered my prayers and blessed us with a son. The next year God blessed us with another son. The following year, He blessed us with yet another son. The year after that we were blessed with a daughter. My husband thought we'd been blessed right into poverty. We now had four children, and the oldest was only four years old. I learned never to ask God for anything unless I meant it.
As a minister once told me, "If you pray for rain, make sure you carry an umbrella." I began reading a few verses of the Bible to the children each day as they lay in their cribs. I was off to a good start. God had entrusted me with four children and I didn't want to disappoint Him. I tried to be patient the day the children smashed two dozen eggs on the kitchen floor searching for baby chicks. I tried to be understanding... when they started a hotel for homeless frogs in the spare bedroom, although it took me nearly two hours to catch all twenty-three frogs . When my daughter poured ketchup all over herself and rolled up in a blanket to see how it felt to be a hot dog, I tried to see the humor rather than the mess. In spite of changing over twenty-five thousand diapers, never eating a hot meal and never sleeping for more than thirty minutes at a time, I still thank God daily for my children. While I couldn't keep my promise to be a perfect mother - I didn't even come close... I did keep my promise to raise them in the Word of God. I knew I was missing the mark just a little when I told my daughter we were going to church to worship God , and she wanted to bring a bar of soap along to "wash up" Jesus, too. Something was lost in the translation when I explained that God gave us everlasting life, and my son thought it was generous of God to give us his "last wife." My proudest moment came during the children's Christmas pageant. My daughter was playing Mary, two of my sons were shepherds and my youngest son was a wise man. This was their moment to shine. My five-year-old shepherd had practiced his line, "We found the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes." But he was nervous and said, "The baby was wrapped in wrinkled clothes." My four-year-old "Mary" said, "That's not 'wrinkled clothes,' silly. That's dirty, rotten clothes." A wrestling match broke out between Mary and the shepherd and was stopped by an angel, who bent her halo and lost her left wing. I slouched a little lower in my seat when Mary dropped the doll representing Baby Jesus, and it bounced down the aisle crying, "Mama-mama." Mary grabbed the doll, wrapped it back up and held it tightly as the wise men arrived. My other son stepped forward wearing a bathrobe and a paper crown, knelt at the manger and announced, "We are the three wise men , and we are bringing gifts of gold, common sense and fur." The congregation dissolved into laughter, and the pageant got a standing ovation. "I've never enjoyed a Christmas program as much as this one," laughed the pastor, wiping tears from his eyes.
"For the rest of my life, I'll never hear the Christmas story without thinking of gold, common sense and fur." "My children are my pride and my joy and my greatest blessing," I said as I dug through my purse for an aspirin.
• Jesus had no servants, yet they called Him Master.
• Had no degree, yet they called Him Teacher.
• Had no medicines, yet they called Him Healer.
• Had no army, yet kings feared Him.
• He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world.
• He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him.
• He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today.
• Feel honored to serve such a Leader who loves us.”
• And I (Meagan) add, serve with JOY the one who for the sake of the JOY that was set before him, endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and who has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)
Last week I read Psalm 16:6, “The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places,” teaching that the most pleasant place, that place of deep peace, is that place where we are close to the Lord, who is always close to us. We understand that, don’t we? You can be sitting beside someone, but feel completely removed from that person, right? Think about a time when you were arguing with your family on the way to church. Maybe someone didn’t get ready fast enough. So you come into the building with a lovely smile, but inside you are seething. You can sit beside that person the whole time in worship, but do you feel close to them? No! In fact, what you want to do is sit on the opposite side of the sanctuary from them!
God is right here with us as Immanuel. But, that doesn’t mean we are really with Him. Our relationship with God takes effort, just like our earthly relationships take effort to gain or maintain a sense of closeness. At the end of Psalm 16, King David wrote, “You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” In your presence there is fullness of joy . . .
How can we live in His presence, be filled with that joy in spite of everything that is going on in the world, in our homes, in our own hearts and minds?
David answered it: You show me the path of life. The path of life is that place where we can experience the presence of God and fullness of joy. The path of life.
Up until the last several weeks, most of the world thought that Tiger Woods was on some great path of life. But what we see on the outside can be hiding something quite the opposite on the inside. Does the path of life have anything to do with how much money we have? Where we live? How many children we have (or whether we have children at all)? Does the path of life have anything to do with whether we currently have a boyfriend or girlfriend, whether we won the game or lost it, whether we receive the Christmas gift we really want or not, whether we’re married or single or divorced, whether we’ve gotten into that ideal college, or been rejected from that job?
You show me the path of life. In Your presence there is fullness of joy.
When the angels visited the shepherds in the fields outside Bethlehem, the angel said, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.
• The good news of great JOY was that finally the light had come, the only light that could and would push back the darkness in our minds, our hearts, our souls forever.
• The good news of great JOY was not that the world was going to be all fixed up from then on;
• it was not that families would all get along great now;
• it was not that people would stop getting sick and dying now;
• it was not that everyone would stand around like at the end of the Grinch movie and holding hands, smiling and singing.
The good news of great JOY had to do with the presence of God: God incarnate: God choosing to be encased in a baby’s helpless body so that we would have to pick him up and hold him close to comfort him as he comforts us. What a wonderful miracle!
As we make intentional efforts to get and remain close to Jesus, he shows us the path of life. There is great joy in that journey, a deep joy that cannot be taken from us no matter what happens. Our Lord shows us what is right to do, he tells us how to live honestly with one another, he gives us courage to make important changes in our lives, he reveals how it is we must care for the least among us, he fills us so that we cannot help but share the good news of great JOY with others. But we have to do our part: we have to choose to be with Him and follow his lead. That’s what I hope to help us all do today.
Last week we brought our “gold” to the King. We brought money and toys to be given away during Sierra’s Toy Box this past Friday night. What a night! It was a very special time here in this building to build relationships with the people of our community.
Today, we’re going to offer “frankincense.” Incense in biblical days was something God wanted as part of worship. In Exodus 30, God gave instructions, “You shall make an altar on which to offer incense…Aaron shall offer fragrant incense on it; a regular incense offering before the Lord throughout your generations.” In Psalm 141, David wrote, “Let my prayer be counted as incense before you.” In Revelation 5, John saw the vision of “the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders who fell before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” Incense was used in worship as part of offering something pleasing to God. In the catholic tradition, incense is still used very heavily as part of their celebration of mass.
When the wisemen brought frankincense to Jesus, it was their way of saying, “We offer this incense to you as we offer ourselves to you, for we believe you are God with us.”
What can we give today that would be a pleasing offering to God – acknowledging that we are not as close to Him as we want to be, making another step on the path of life – trusting that as we do this – there is a greater measure of JOY that will be ours?
At first I thought we should write something to God, indicating something in our lives that we allow to steal our joy. Do you know what I mean? The disciples got all bent out of shape when the Samaritans wouldn’t welcome Jesus to their town. It didn’t bother Jesus. It bothered them. They allowed someone else’s behavior to steal their joy. Perhaps in your life, it is a particular person whom you allow to steal your joy, someone you can avoid, or someone you cannot avoid, but someone whom you allow to push your buttons and turn you into Mr. or Mrs. Grinch. Perhaps you are aware that your need to control everything steals your joy, or your pride, or jealousy, or anger. I thought that perhaps today we could write something on a card, giving to God that person, place, situation, or thing that we keep allowing to steal our joy. I thought we could write it, and offer it to God saying, “I’m not going to allow my joy to be stolen. I’m going to stay close to YOU, Lord – and like Jesus – be able to keep my peace, keep my joy, and keep walking on the path of life you set for me.” I thought that would be good for us to do today as we are halfway to Christmas day. But it didn’t “feel” right. Writing down what steals our joy was too “grinchy.”
At this most wonderful time of the year, common sense tells me that we must focus on the Giver of joy, we MUST focus on the good news of great joy. And so, here’s how we are going to offer our “frankincense,” our “common sense” to the King:
As the choir sings their anthem about the eternal joy of Jesus that is ours – we are going to pass out little white tags. On the tag, if you want to participate, I invite you to write an attribute or characteristic of GOD that really matters to you – something about God that brings you great joy – that brings a smile, a real smile to your face – like that pageant brought to its congregation’s collective face. You can find a list of some words in your bulletin. I’m sure there are some not listed that come to your mind.
What is it about God this year, or this day, or this hour that brings joy to your soul? Write it down, and as part of our time of offering today, you will have the opportunity to come and hang it on the tree as a pleasing offering to the Lord. He came to us, let us move in closer to him, and bring him a gift of thanksgiving as we walk the path of life that brings fullness of joy. Amen.
The Third Sunday of Advent
“Where’s the Joy?”
Rev. Meagan M. Boozer
We’re halfway to Christmas in this month of December – the “most wonderful time of the year,” and lots of people are looking miserable. “How are you?” “Tired.” “How’s it going?” “Terrible.” “Hey! Merry Christmas!” “Bah Humbug.” Then there are the people who say the “right” words, but they forget to tell their face. They say “Merry Christmas” with the same intonation as they would say, “I don’t feel good.” Maybe that’s you – or me – depending on the day.
This past week, Chris Walters sent me the following story that I hope will make you smile and help to teach us God’s word today:
“My husband and I had been happily married (most of the time) for five years but hadn't been blessed with a baby. I decided to do some serious praying and promised God that if he would give us a child, I would be a perfect mother, love it with all my heart and raise it with His word as my guide. God answered my prayers and blessed us with a son. The next year God blessed us with another son. The following year, He blessed us with yet another son. The year after that we were blessed with a daughter. My husband thought we'd been blessed right into poverty. We now had four children, and the oldest was only four years old. I learned never to ask God for anything unless I meant it.
As a minister once told me, "If you pray for rain, make sure you carry an umbrella." I began reading a few verses of the Bible to the children each day as they lay in their cribs. I was off to a good start. God had entrusted me with four children and I didn't want to disappoint Him. I tried to be patient the day the children smashed two dozen eggs on the kitchen floor searching for baby chicks. I tried to be understanding... when they started a hotel for homeless frogs in the spare bedroom, although it took me nearly two hours to catch all twenty-three frogs . When my daughter poured ketchup all over herself and rolled up in a blanket to see how it felt to be a hot dog, I tried to see the humor rather than the mess. In spite of changing over twenty-five thousand diapers, never eating a hot meal and never sleeping for more than thirty minutes at a time, I still thank God daily for my children. While I couldn't keep my promise to be a perfect mother - I didn't even come close... I did keep my promise to raise them in the Word of God. I knew I was missing the mark just a little when I told my daughter we were going to church to worship God , and she wanted to bring a bar of soap along to "wash up" Jesus, too. Something was lost in the translation when I explained that God gave us everlasting life, and my son thought it was generous of God to give us his "last wife." My proudest moment came during the children's Christmas pageant. My daughter was playing Mary, two of my sons were shepherds and my youngest son was a wise man. This was their moment to shine. My five-year-old shepherd had practiced his line, "We found the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes." But he was nervous and said, "The baby was wrapped in wrinkled clothes." My four-year-old "Mary" said, "That's not 'wrinkled clothes,' silly. That's dirty, rotten clothes." A wrestling match broke out between Mary and the shepherd and was stopped by an angel, who bent her halo and lost her left wing. I slouched a little lower in my seat when Mary dropped the doll representing Baby Jesus, and it bounced down the aisle crying, "Mama-mama." Mary grabbed the doll, wrapped it back up and held it tightly as the wise men arrived. My other son stepped forward wearing a bathrobe and a paper crown, knelt at the manger and announced, "We are the three wise men , and we are bringing gifts of gold, common sense and fur." The congregation dissolved into laughter, and the pageant got a standing ovation. "I've never enjoyed a Christmas program as much as this one," laughed the pastor, wiping tears from his eyes.
"For the rest of my life, I'll never hear the Christmas story without thinking of gold, common sense and fur." "My children are my pride and my joy and my greatest blessing," I said as I dug through my purse for an aspirin.
• Jesus had no servants, yet they called Him Master.
• Had no degree, yet they called Him Teacher.
• Had no medicines, yet they called Him Healer.
• Had no army, yet kings feared Him.
• He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world.
• He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him.
• He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today.
• Feel honored to serve such a Leader who loves us.”
• And I (Meagan) add, serve with JOY the one who for the sake of the JOY that was set before him, endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and who has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)
Last week I read Psalm 16:6, “The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places,” teaching that the most pleasant place, that place of deep peace, is that place where we are close to the Lord, who is always close to us. We understand that, don’t we? You can be sitting beside someone, but feel completely removed from that person, right? Think about a time when you were arguing with your family on the way to church. Maybe someone didn’t get ready fast enough. So you come into the building with a lovely smile, but inside you are seething. You can sit beside that person the whole time in worship, but do you feel close to them? No! In fact, what you want to do is sit on the opposite side of the sanctuary from them!
God is right here with us as Immanuel. But, that doesn’t mean we are really with Him. Our relationship with God takes effort, just like our earthly relationships take effort to gain or maintain a sense of closeness. At the end of Psalm 16, King David wrote, “You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” In your presence there is fullness of joy . . .
How can we live in His presence, be filled with that joy in spite of everything that is going on in the world, in our homes, in our own hearts and minds?
David answered it: You show me the path of life. The path of life is that place where we can experience the presence of God and fullness of joy. The path of life.
Up until the last several weeks, most of the world thought that Tiger Woods was on some great path of life. But what we see on the outside can be hiding something quite the opposite on the inside. Does the path of life have anything to do with how much money we have? Where we live? How many children we have (or whether we have children at all)? Does the path of life have anything to do with whether we currently have a boyfriend or girlfriend, whether we won the game or lost it, whether we receive the Christmas gift we really want or not, whether we’re married or single or divorced, whether we’ve gotten into that ideal college, or been rejected from that job?
You show me the path of life. In Your presence there is fullness of joy.
When the angels visited the shepherds in the fields outside Bethlehem, the angel said, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.
• The good news of great JOY was that finally the light had come, the only light that could and would push back the darkness in our minds, our hearts, our souls forever.
• The good news of great JOY was not that the world was going to be all fixed up from then on;
• it was not that families would all get along great now;
• it was not that people would stop getting sick and dying now;
• it was not that everyone would stand around like at the end of the Grinch movie and holding hands, smiling and singing.
The good news of great JOY had to do with the presence of God: God incarnate: God choosing to be encased in a baby’s helpless body so that we would have to pick him up and hold him close to comfort him as he comforts us. What a wonderful miracle!
As we make intentional efforts to get and remain close to Jesus, he shows us the path of life. There is great joy in that journey, a deep joy that cannot be taken from us no matter what happens. Our Lord shows us what is right to do, he tells us how to live honestly with one another, he gives us courage to make important changes in our lives, he reveals how it is we must care for the least among us, he fills us so that we cannot help but share the good news of great JOY with others. But we have to do our part: we have to choose to be with Him and follow his lead. That’s what I hope to help us all do today.
Last week we brought our “gold” to the King. We brought money and toys to be given away during Sierra’s Toy Box this past Friday night. What a night! It was a very special time here in this building to build relationships with the people of our community.
Today, we’re going to offer “frankincense.” Incense in biblical days was something God wanted as part of worship. In Exodus 30, God gave instructions, “You shall make an altar on which to offer incense…Aaron shall offer fragrant incense on it; a regular incense offering before the Lord throughout your generations.” In Psalm 141, David wrote, “Let my prayer be counted as incense before you.” In Revelation 5, John saw the vision of “the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders who fell before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” Incense was used in worship as part of offering something pleasing to God. In the catholic tradition, incense is still used very heavily as part of their celebration of mass.
When the wisemen brought frankincense to Jesus, it was their way of saying, “We offer this incense to you as we offer ourselves to you, for we believe you are God with us.”
What can we give today that would be a pleasing offering to God – acknowledging that we are not as close to Him as we want to be, making another step on the path of life – trusting that as we do this – there is a greater measure of JOY that will be ours?
At first I thought we should write something to God, indicating something in our lives that we allow to steal our joy. Do you know what I mean? The disciples got all bent out of shape when the Samaritans wouldn’t welcome Jesus to their town. It didn’t bother Jesus. It bothered them. They allowed someone else’s behavior to steal their joy. Perhaps in your life, it is a particular person whom you allow to steal your joy, someone you can avoid, or someone you cannot avoid, but someone whom you allow to push your buttons and turn you into Mr. or Mrs. Grinch. Perhaps you are aware that your need to control everything steals your joy, or your pride, or jealousy, or anger. I thought that perhaps today we could write something on a card, giving to God that person, place, situation, or thing that we keep allowing to steal our joy. I thought we could write it, and offer it to God saying, “I’m not going to allow my joy to be stolen. I’m going to stay close to YOU, Lord – and like Jesus – be able to keep my peace, keep my joy, and keep walking on the path of life you set for me.” I thought that would be good for us to do today as we are halfway to Christmas day. But it didn’t “feel” right. Writing down what steals our joy was too “grinchy.”
At this most wonderful time of the year, common sense tells me that we must focus on the Giver of joy, we MUST focus on the good news of great joy. And so, here’s how we are going to offer our “frankincense,” our “common sense” to the King:
As the choir sings their anthem about the eternal joy of Jesus that is ours – we are going to pass out little white tags. On the tag, if you want to participate, I invite you to write an attribute or characteristic of GOD that really matters to you – something about God that brings you great joy – that brings a smile, a real smile to your face – like that pageant brought to its congregation’s collective face. You can find a list of some words in your bulletin. I’m sure there are some not listed that come to your mind.
What is it about God this year, or this day, or this hour that brings joy to your soul? Write it down, and as part of our time of offering today, you will have the opportunity to come and hang it on the tree as a pleasing offering to the Lord. He came to us, let us move in closer to him, and bring him a gift of thanksgiving as we walk the path of life that brings fullness of joy. Amen.
