December 13, 2015
Advent 3
Zephaniah 3:14-20
Philippians 4:4-7
(prayer)
Last week, Patti and I went
and saw the new Christmas movie, Love TheCoopers.
Anyone else see it? Not surprised. It is not destined to be a classic, but it was
'okay'. Was only in Leduc for the one
week and only one screening per day.
It was a pretty formulaic
flick of several generations of a family, coming together for Christmas
dinner. Of course, as is usually the
case in these kind of movies, there are a few skeletons in the various
closets. Some relationships were
strained (a few newly, some with long standing problems), people had their
personal problems and were going through life changes.
In summary: members of
family were doing their best to hide their problems from each other.
Diane Keaton
(the character who was hosting the dinner) wanted it to be a stress free,
perfect gathering. Of course, that was not to
be - but, as expected, the happy ending was that the difficulties, once openly admitted,
didn't really matter.
//
Have you ever had that
experience (?) - when you are getting together with a group (family event,
reunion, etc.) and are a bit hesitant about being your authentic self.
I know I have. I've put on the good face and faked it.
//
Why do I [we] do that?
//
I think it has something to
do with our advent theme for this Sunday: Joy.
People (quite reasonably)
desire to have joy in their lives. In
fact, when the absence of joy manifests itself in the form of depression, the
lack of happiness can be one of the most debilitating of human conditions.
//
Joy often shows itself to
the wider world around us. It takes a
lot of discipline to keep a lid on joy - joy is hard to hide.
But - many people are
resident to share their sadness. We may
be very open to expose our joy, but not so with our anti-joy.
There is a tragic irony in
all of this because sadness is often made worse because of isolation. Isolation had the impact of convincing
ourselves that others don't (or can't) understand us.
Even if we believe that
others might be able to understand us, we might be further blocked by the
believe that we would be burdening others with ours problems.
And so, we bury the sadness
- and we present a false joy to those around us.
That is what the Cooper
family was doing in the movie.
Realistic or not (true or
not), we convince ourselves that the goal is always the perfect home where only
JOY exists.
//
//
But... the common
experience (when it is given a chance) is that our capacity for understanding
and empathy is greater than we sometimes assume.
//
I believe that within most
human hearts is the natural desire -when we see sadness in the life of someone
- we want to bring them into a circle of care where joy might increase: to
nurture and massage the sadness until it can give way (bit by bit) to joy.
//
The perfect family, the
perfect home is not the one that knows only joy, but the one that works on the
edges of the joy that is possible.
//
An experience of ample joy
is a common goal in life. And yet, it is
also common to experience times when joy is elusive.
And so, we seek 'authentic'
joy.
//
//
Both of our scripture
readings today call for people to express joy - to rejoice.
The prophet Zephaniah,
writing to the people of Judah in the late 7th century BCE, invited them to
"sing, shout, rejoice and exult with all your heart" because they had
no need to "fear disaster" anymore.
The Apostle Paul, writing
to the early Christians living in the Macedonian city of Philippi in the mid
50s of the 1st century CE, invited them to set aside all worry and continually
"rejoice" because the understanding
peace of God was "guarding their minds and hearts".
//
//
At first glance, we might
be tempted to assume that Hebrews (living in Jerusalem during the time of
Zephaniah) and Christians (living in Philippi during the time of Paul) were
experiencing great joy - that life was good and relatively care-free.
Exploring the history a bit
and we discover that exactly the opposite was the case.
Zephaniah was a contemporary
of (the more well known Jerusalem prophet) Jeremiah. The late 7th century BCE was a time of
expansion for the Babylonian Empire - Judah was on the Empire's imperialism
wish list. Judah (modern southern Israel
and Gaza) was physically located in a very desirable location: it has a lengthy
coastline access to the Great (Mediterranean) Sea; it is on the crossroads of
three continents (Asia, Africa and Europe) and, as such, was deeply important
for any power wanting to control trade routes.
By the time Zephaniah and
Jeremiah were offering their versions of God's opinions for the urban people of
Jerusalem, the Babylonians already controlled much of the rural areas of the
southern Hebrew kingdom. The city walls
buffered Jerusalem from the impact of the Empire in the short term, but it was
a tense, worrisome time for the people who lived near the great temple of
Solomon.
//
Similarly, twenty years
after the lifetime of Jesus, the movement of faithful followers was still
figuring out its purpose and vision. It
was a new expression of spirituality that had some roots in the grand Hebrew
faith, but was discovering that it needed to grow beyond those roots. It may have not be commonly called
Christianity yet, but Jesus as the Risen Christ was central to this emerging
faith. The followers of Jesus were
struggling with each other about how this faith was to impact the their
life. As well, how they fit into the
wider culture was a on-going issue for the early church.
//
It actually makes sense (if
you think about it) that if rejoicing was coming easy to Zephaniah's and Paul's
audiences, they probably wouldn't have to encourage it so forcefully.
You don't need to preach
the value of joy to a happy people.
It was - in fact - a
climate of worry and fear that gave rise to these messages to the Hebrews of
Jerusalem and the Christians of Philippi.
//
The Babylonians are on the
doorstep. Yet... God is with you
too. And God will not let you disappear;
you will flourish and be renowned in all the earth.
The Babylonians are on the
doorstep. Yet... God is with you. So, do not be afraid; instead rejoice as you
do during festivals.
The Babylonians are on
the doorstep. Even, if the advance and overcome you, it
will not last. You will be re-gathered, returned home, restored.
Sing loud. Rejoice.
//
//
The believers in Philippi
were part of one of the founding churches in Europe. Paul was, obviously, very fond of this
community - as they were with him.
The content of the letter
is largely encouraging - as opposed to a more condemning theme we see in some other letters. Paul's overarching encouragement is for the
Philippians to humble, so that they can find unity with each other and with
Christ. That implies that there may have
been some struggles and differences within the church.
But the larger worry that
undergirds this correspondence is the fate of Paul himself.
While the Apostle wrote
this letter, he was a prisoner of the Roman authorities. Paul spends a fair amount of time in the
letter trying to ease the church's worries for him.
He proclaims his own
confidence in God's love and compassion as an example for the Philippians to
follow. More so, Paul uses the example
of Jesus' own grace as he suffered as a model to be emulated:
Let the same mind be
in you
that was in Christ
Jesus.
Yes, there may be some
worry and even suffering in our present and future. Yet... still, be humble and find hope enough
to rejoice.
//
//
The prophet and the apostle
knew that when joy comes easy, we don't need to be reminded to rejoice. When joy comes easy, we do not need to be
given examples of how joy is possible in difficult and worrisome times.
//
I appreciate the subtle
message that the readers of Philippian letter probably noticed in the words
Paul chose.
In the Greek of the letter,
the word for 'rejoice' is xairo
(kah-ee-ro), which is related to xaris
(kar-eece) - the word for 'grace'.
To rejoice - in the midst
of worry - is a gift of God.
//
//
Unlike the Cooper family in
the movie, a faked joy - intended to hid the true self - is not what is being
encouraged in our readings today.
It is not enough to simply
come together and pretend that a sense of belonging and home will just emerge.
Joy sometimes takes work.
//
Paul preaches
humility: which is an honest embracing
of our needs and deficiencies.
Zephaniah proclaims a
long-term holy promise that sees beyond the worry of the moment: the promise
that home will not be lost in the long run.
As we look at the history
that followed Zephaniah' time, we know that Jerusalem was overrun and many of
the people were forced into exile for three-quarters of a century, but that a
later generation did return to Judah - where home was restored and experienced
a new.
It was not as if they had
no home while in exile, but that they created a home-away-from-home.
The prophet said that the
promise of a feeling of belonging and home was cause to rejoice now.
//
//
As we are progressing
through this advent season, the candles of our wreath do not simply give us a
new theme for each new week.
Today is not about 'joy'
alone.
The candlelight is intended
to be a cumulative image for us. Today,
is not just about joy - but about joy that can emerge within the contexts
created by hope and peace.
Even when joy is hard -
especially when joy is hard, we want to experience joy: which as the etymology
of the word Paul used reminds us of the gift of God's grace know in a peace
that is beyond our best understanding.
It is in this context the
both Zephaniah and Paul are encouraging us to embrace an authentic hope for
joy.
As we are humble enough to
trust in God's presence, we can be purveyors of a joy-filled story.
And we might just find that
sense of home where there is joy possible in the midst of worry and fear.
//
Let us pray;
O God, show us the way to your heart -
where we can feel at home. Amen.
#5VU “All Earth is Waiting”
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