"Joy" - Philippians 4:4-7; Psalm 126
A Sermon by Alex Evans, Pastor
Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA
Sunday, December 13, 2020
Texts: Philippians 4:4-7; Psalm 126
“Joy”
You heard the words from the lighting of the Advent Wreath today. We find joy in many places! Small things we do on our own. Big things we might do together. As people of faith, we seek to be shaped by JOY. Today we light the third candle in Advent – the candle of Joy.
We also have those familiar words from Philippians – our first lesson today - “Rejoice in the Lord, always. Again, I say rejoice!”
But, . . . I must confess, . . . it can be difficult in these days to find joy – real joy. While we do have much to celebrate, life has been too different, and too difficult to feel surrounded by joy. Life has been so full of discouraging news and limitations to feel like great rejoicing. What about you?
We are made for Christian worship – the coming together for fellowship, for genuine community connections, for singing and sharing faith – and we continue to be separated and apart from one another.
We are encouraged and strengthened by personal interactions, by sharing love and care with one another, genuine hugs and support – and we can have none of that in these days of a worsening pandemic and social distancing.
And as the pandemic keeps kicking us, we know more and more people who are sick and suffering – people in our church family, or near us, who have the virus. We know more and more who are losing life and loved ones. And the coming weeks and months may well be even worse for us – as the data shows.
Then, the current Covid-19 crisis only makes more difficult the regular or other heartaches that we confront. Some of us are covered up with other challenges. Some of us keep going to chemo treatments. We have lingering concerns that keep us awake at night. In these already difficult days, our worries may be worsening. Our sense of despair may be deepening.
This Advent, when the liturgical color is blue, we may actually feel that way: blue! – blue from exhaustion, blue from separation for each other, blue from the pandemic and the other challenging issues of life.
Can we really light the candle of joy in all sincerity?
We have another text from Scripture today, a passage that may be especially helpful in shaping us and encouraging us as people of JOY. If you have a Bible nearby, I invite you to look at these words as I read them. Listen now to the words of Psalm 126 – it is short and sweet:
1When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.
2Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”
3The Lord has done great things for us, and we rejoiced.
4Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like the watercourses in the Negeb.
5May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy.
6Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.
This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
This short psalm begins with some reflections on the past. It ends with a look toward the future. And in the very center of this psalm is this line – about the present: “The Lord has done great things for us, and we rejoiced.”
Here is an important reminder – for me and for all of us in these blue days: joy intends to be a consequence of faithfulness and discipleship. Joy comes when we open our hearts to God – even in the tough times, and maybe especially in the tough times. And the refrain is worth repeating, and memorizing: “the Lord has done great things for us, and we rejoiced.”
This psalm is so short that we do not know the specifics of this referenced “rejoicing.” But those words, “the Lord has done great things,” intend to trigger our memories.
What were the great things? Well, on nearly every page of the Bible, we can find them – great things that God does to restore, love, help, care for God’s people. There is the early story of the interminable period of slavery for God’s people in Egypt under the shadows of the pyramids and the lash of harsh masters. And then suddenly, and without warning, Moses leads the people to freedom. One day they were making bricks out of straw and the next day they are running up the slopes out of the Red Sea, shouting, “I will sing to the Lord, for God has done marvelous things.” The Lord has done great things – we rejoiced!
We turn a few pages of the Bible and we have the story of David in years of wilderness guerilla warfare with the Philistines, then there is guilt and murder and adultery. But God fortifies David and David’s reign. God promises that God’s people will be established forever. The refrain echoes still: “he shall be called, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” The “Lord has done great things, and we rejoiced.”
Turn a few more pages of the Bible and we have the story of Babylonian captivity. Israel experienced the worse that can come to any of us – rape in the streets, cannibalism in the kitchens, a forced 600-mile walk through the desert with taunting mockeries from the captors. And then, incredibly, as we often read and sing in these Advent days, “Comfort, comfort, O my people, . . .the warfare is ended, iniquity is pardoned, . . . fear not, I am with you, or be not dismayed.” The Lord has done great things. It leads to rejoicing. (E. Peterson, A Long Obedience, p. 94)
We are always called to be people who remember God – and we rejoice!
Then the psalm shifts to a plea . . . and to the future. “Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like the watercourses of the Negeb. May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy!”
The “watercourses of the Negeb” is a fantastic image. The Negeb is a vast desert in southern Israel. It is a desperate place – dry and vast, vast and dry. The “watercourses of the Negeb” are a network of ditches cut into the soil by wind and rain erosion. For most of the year, they are baked dry under the heat and sun. But a sudden rain makes them ablaze with blossoms. The water runs through the watercourses . . . and life emerges! Beauty emerges. Joy emerges. (PICTURES HERE) This is a vivid picture of God’s grace invading our parched, desperate lives to bring life. This is what God always does. “Restore our fortunes, O God, like the watercourses of the Negeb.” Restore our fortunes, O God, and give us relief from the pandemic. Restore our fortunes, O God, and show us a way to racial justice. Restore our fortunes, O God, let your grace invade and bloom new life.
May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy!
That is us. That is life now. All suffering, all sadness, all struggle is seed for sowing. We sow our tears in God’s goodness and care; we sow our sadness and trust our lives to God’s promises. God will bring a crop of joy from it. As the final verse puts it: “Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.”
Here is the important news: those people who give us this short and sweet psalm - 126 – which is about joy – were no strangers to darkness and peril. They carried the painful memories of exile in their bones. They were part of a harsh legacy – slaves suffering in Egypt. They knew the desert seasons of life; they certainly knew the nights of weeping. They were skilled in sowing tears.
But those who sow in tears are also the ones who reap with shouts of joy. Those who trust in God’s presence and promises through the hard times are also the ones who discover God’s sincere gladness and joy.
Here is what Eugene Peterson says: “a common but futile strategy for achieving joy is striving to eliminate things that hurt: get rid of pain by numbing the nerve ends, get rid of insecurity by eliminating risks, get rid of disappointments by depersonalizing your relationships. And then try to lighten the boredom of such a life by buying joy in the form of vacations and entertainment. There isn’t a hint of this in Psalm 126.” (Ibid. Peterson, p. 96)
Laughter is a result of living in the midst of God’s great works – “when the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion.”
Enjoyment is not an escape from boredom but a plunge by faith into God’s work.
The joy comes because God never leaves us on our own. The joy comes because God knows how to wipe away tears, bring life even out of death. Joy is what God gives, not something we manufacture on our own. Joy is what results when we trust our lives – our hurts and struggles, our pain and pandemic, our fear and frustrations – to God’s abiding care. God is always dependable. God’s presence is sure. This is what generates joy!
And then sustained and covered with God and God’s joy, we keep on striving to worship and work, to love and serve God – working for Gods justice and peace in the city, working for God’s light and hope in the world. Covered with God’s care, joy emerges. And that joy motivates us for faithful living – today, tomorrow, forever.
May JOY be real for us, even and especially in these days. May joy move us to new ways of loving and serving God – working together for God’s Shalom. Amen
Prayer of Commitment – Holy God, to turn from you is to fall; to turn to you is to rise; to trust our lives to your care, to sow our tears and struggles, well, that is to find real JOY, and then abide forever in your loving care and faithful service. We seek the way of Jesus. Amen.
Alex W. Evans, Pastor, Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA preached this sermon during Sunday morning worship on December 13, 2020. This is a rough manuscript.