Advent 3 - Joy

Rory Grant

Advent 2020 • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

Luke 1:46–56

1 Thessalonians 5:16–24

Joy

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The joy of the Lord is like a pure, clear note that cuts through the brokenness and disharmony of our world

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Not feeling too joyful this year

Hard sermon to write

Everyone likes joy, God is good. What more is there to say?

Especially in a year when everything has been turned upside down, around the world, what is there to be so happy about?

Again, and again, we’ve been hit with clashing notes of disharmony and discord.

Pandemic - even if we haven’t ahd the virus, it has affected us in so many ways. We’ve spent weeks in lockdown. We couldn’t get toilet paper or flour. Significant life events have ended up broken and incomplete because we have been separated from our loved ones.

Election year in New Zealand - has been seasoned with notes of discord and bitterness.

Can’t seem to get away from whatever it is that’s happening in America.

We’re tired. It’s hard to be upbeat. Things that we’d normally take in our stride are stressing us out.

This is the world that we live in, so how do we find joy in the midst of it?

what is joy, anyway?

I’ve come to realise in the midst of this year, that joy isn’t about everything being in perfect peace and harmony. Rather, joy is like one pure note of God’s goodness that cuts through the background noise.

One note that is perfectly in tune with the way things should be, rather than the way things are.

That moment when you catch joy in the smile of a child. That moment when you lose yourself in God’s goodness as you sing in worship of him. That moment, when in spite of all the things that have been weighing yuou down, you feel light and free.

This is joy.

A note of pureness that breaks free into our lives, straight out of heaven.

Guitar tuning

It can be hard to find that note, to get it just right.

When I’m tuning my guitar, I have a little helper that tells me when I’ve got the note exactly in tune.

It’s easy enough to tell when things are badly out of tune, but unless you’ve got a really good ear, it’s hard to tell when the note is pitch perfect.

But when it is, you can feel it.

It feels right.

It resonates through the body of the guitar.

It resonates with all the other strings.

It reasonates with your body and with your soul.

This si what joy is like.

It resonates with the deepest part of you. It resonates with all of creation, in harmony witht eh love and joy of the creator.

Mary’s song

This is the joy that we hear in Mary’s song.

Like us, Mary is facing a world where injustice reigns, and the things that should be right are in discord with the will of hte Lord.

But her heart sings.

Her heart sings with joy.

Why? Because Jesus is coming, and in him, one day, all things will be brought into tune witht he gret symphony of God’s love and grace.

Luke 1:46–47 NIV

And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

Luke 1:50–55 The Message

His mercy flows in wave after wave on those who are in awe before him. He bared his arm and showed his strength, scattered the bluffing braggarts. He knocked tyrants off their high horses, pulled victims out of the mud. The starving poor sat down to a banquet; the callous rich were left out in the cold. He embraced his chosen child, Israel; he remembered and piled on the mercies, piled them high. It’s exactly what he promised, beginning with Abraham and right up to now.

This is a note of pure joy, exulting in the coming of the Lord.

This is the joy that we’re called to once more, this Christmas, as we draw near once more to the One whose voice is a pure note of joy, singing hte harmony of all that is meant to be.

Paul’s advice

So, how do we find this joy, in amongst all the cacophony that the world throws at us?

As usual, Paul has some sound advice for us, straight from Christ:

Rejoice always

pray continually

Give thanks in all circumstances.

Rejoice - when you find a note of joy - sing it. I may not have perfect pitch, but the more I play my guitar, the more I can hear when it is in tune.

Pray - the second one is similar - pray continually. Jesus is the source of our joy - the source of all goodness and rightness in all of creation, so it only makes sense to draw near to him if we want to experience that joy. If you’re going to sing, then sing with someone who is already singing in tune.

give thanks - there’s a Maori whakatauki - a proverb that says “Kia whakatōmuri te haere whakamua: ‘I walk backwards into the future with my eyes fixed on my past’”

So often we only see how God has been with us, how his joy has shaped out lives, when we look back over our shoulder. It is easier to see in hindsight how wonderful God has been. And as we gain in appreciation for what God has done for us, then we can hear more clearly his joy in this moment - we can perceive what He is doing for us. And beyond that, we begin to see the joy he has in our future - just as Mary did - we can begin to see what God will do for us again, and again, and again and again until there is no mroe crying or morning or pain for everything has been made complete in the joy of the Lord.

Back to us again

So maybe this year has been far from perfect, maybe we’re tired and worn out as it comes to an end. But I invite you to look back over your shoulder and notice where it is that God has brought you joy in this year of all years, so that, this Christmas, we can enter into his joy once more. His joy for this moment, and his joy for the future in stores as we look forward to the time when Christ will comge again, and our joy will be made complete.