Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
Rejoice in the Lord always! And again I say rejoice!
Those words to Paul’s people in Thessalonica are the theme for the third Sunday in Advent – Gaudete or Joy Sunday. It might seem odd to have a joy Sunday – in the holiday season – but Advent is a penitential season. Two Sundays of John the Baptist remind us that we are preparing for Christ’s coming, and in repentance we find joy. There is joy in waiting – just as there is joy in greeting.
And how could we not hear the joy in Isaiah’s proclamation – God has sent the prophets to bring good news to the oppressed and bind up the brokenhearted. To proclaim the year of our Lord’s favor and to comfort all who mourn.
Just as last week we heard Isaiah encouraging God’s people to return from exile and come home – we now hear Isaiah being a cheerleader of sorts. The people have a monumental task of rebuilding ahead of them. They have been gone for decades and the Jerusalem they return to has been decimated. All the signs of God’s presence and strength, especially the temple, lay in ruins. Think of rebuilding New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina – or Japan after a tsunami.
The people need words of encouragement and hope. The people need to believe that it is they who will be called “oaks of righteousness” – that the people themselves – tired and overwhelmed as they feel – will be able to build up the ruins – raise up the former devastations. The people are the planting of the Lord and the people themselves are the display of God’s glory.
You see the task before them isn’t just the rebuilding of a city – it is a rebuilding of their faith, their belief, and their trust that God is with them and would again work wonders. Maybe some of us have experienced – surely all of us have seen a news story – when after a natural disaster or some devastating change to our home or community people return home, speechless with tears streaming down their face. Just to face the task ahead requires every ounce of internal courage.
That is the prayer we prayed in our collect – stir up your power O Lord, so we might stir up our courage. Isaiah is trying to stir the power of God up within God’s people – to help them see that they have it within themselves to repair the ruined cities and reclaim their mantle of praise.
Isaiah is trying to stir up their joy.
That’s the thing about joy isn’t it? Sometimes we feel it – and sometimes we don’t! It’s why if you’ve been here the past two weeks – there is clearly a theme Josh and I keep touching on….the difference between the Advent of the church and the spirit of the holiday season. The later doesn’t care whether you feel it – it just puts tremendous pressure on you to show it. Remember that Billy Crystal character from SNL in the 80’s, when he would say, “It’s better to look good than to feel good, dahling!”
But the joy in our faith is something entirely different and it’s not about what’s on the outside. In John’s gospel Jesus says, I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you – and your joy be made complete. Joy is that feeling of completeness in God. That awareness that to rest in God’s hand is enough – because we know we are held – we know we are guided – we know we are being wholly restored through that connection.
God’s joy is found in our restoration. It is why when Jesus enters the temple to put on his mangle of authority in Luke’s gospel he unrolls the scrolls and quotes Isaiah’s text. He announces that he is the anointed one who has come to restore the people through the good news of God’s freedom and release.
We are not a people returning from exile – so what does restoration look like for us?
I think Isaiah encourages two levels, or ways of answering that question. The first is what we do together – how we let God work through us and with us to repair the ruined cities and the devastations of many generations.
I have a bumper sticker on the window sill in my office that says – if you love peace, work for justice. God’s restoration is the great reversal – when liberty is proclaimed to the captives and release to the prisoners. When Mary proclaims in the Magnificat – and the mighty are cast down from their thrones as the lowly are lifted up!
The captives and the prisoners that Isaiah is referring to are the people who have come home. They have been oppressed and enslaved through an unjust system that has been overthrown.
You don’t need me to tell you we live in a world – Christmas time or not – replete with unjust systems. There are riots and protests in St. Louis, and New York and Baltimore that are trying to shine light on the unjust systems still in place and coming out of a long narrative of injustice that our country was built upon. We are called to get stirred up about it. We are called to educate ourselves and wrestle with our questions and our disagreements.
Maybe some of you read or heard something about the 2014 Unicef report on the state of the world’s children. It’s not good. In fact 2014 has been one of the worst on record for the children of our world. The report chronicles a litany of violence, war, atrocities, and disease. Up to 15 million children are directly entangled in violent conflicts. The executive director of Unicef was quoted as saying, “Never in recent memory have so many children been subjected to such unspeakable brutality.” (NYTimes, 12/9/14)
The task of restoration – of restoring justice and peace in these places may seem impossible. The numbers too large – the places too foreign and too far away, even when they are pretty close to home. But that’s why we ask God to stir up God’s power. Stir us up through prayer – through witness – through paying attention to the injustice in our world and shining light upon it.
And know that right now, our church is engaged in doing just this. This weekend we are entering into a new partnership with Habitat. Joining hands again with other churches to rebuild houses in Govans – right down the street – in addition to Sandtown farther in the city. In both places building up from the devastation of past generations. We build-up people through the new ministry of 1K churches this year. Seeking individuals who need the first investment in themselves so that, in the tag line of the ministry team – we don’t just give someone a fish to eat for a day, we teach them how to fish and eat for a lifetime. And empower them to be the ‘oak of righteousness’ in their community that will be planted and shine forth the Lord’s glory. That is working for justice – that is working for peace.
Our preparing for God is helping to make the pathway straight – in the world and in our hearts. This is the other work of restoration that we are called to do in this season – and it is internal and personal work. Just as we are often frustrated or angry that God isn’t intervening fast enough to alleviate the suffering in our world, there are ways in which we are frustrated that God hasn’t alleviated the suffering in our individual lives. Name them before God. That line in our psalm – those who sowed with tears, will reap with songs of joy. That’s one of the reasons we are having a Blue Christmas service next Sunday.
When we lift something up in prayer – even, perhaps most especially, our hurt or anger or disappointment – we are taking a step towards healing, we make a way for the Lord in our hearts. To deny those feelings within ourselves – to try and look good over feeling good – doesn’t last. But God’s faithful covenant does. When Isaiah speaks of these garments of joy that cover him – the robe of righteousness, the garland and the jewels of joy – those are the outward signs of the inward grace, the inward joy. And the tears to get there don’t have to be hidden – they have to be wept. Those who go out weeping, will come again with joy.
So on this third Sunday of Advent as we prepare – let us rejoice always, pray without ceasing. Pray that God will stir up God’s power in the world – will lead us to see and walk towards those places in our world that are crying out for peace. Pray that God will stir up God’s power in our hearts – to heal us where we are hurt – to lead us to reconciled relationships. So that when we greet the light of Christ in a few days we find that our joy is, yet again, made complete. Amen.
- the Rev. Arianne R. Weeks
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