Texts: Phil 4:4-7; Zeph 3:14-20
A Christmas rhyme I learned as a child went this way:
Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat.
Please put a penny in the old man’s hat.
If you haven’t got a penny, a ha’penny will do.
If you haven’t got a ha’penny, well, God bless you.
Christmas is indeed coming, and many people have made most of their holiday preparations. In the week ahead we will buy those last few gifts, and make sure the fridge is properly stocked. Or perhaps it’s time to pack the bags and set off to visit family and friends elsewhere, as some of our members have already done.
There have been lots of Christmas events already—concerts, parties, parades—all those things we have come to associate with Christmas. For the commercial world, "Christmastime" means the weeks before December 25. Even though we have been hearing "Christ the Saviour is born" on the shopping mall Muzak for weeks, in the church calendar, we are still in the season of Advent, the season of waiting and hoping and expecting. Christ’s birth is still coming, and we await it hopefully and expectantly.
Today we are reminded that this hope and expectation lead to joy. As Paul wrote,
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.
And as the prophet Zephaniah wrote:
Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem!
What makes both of these texts remarkable is that their audiences were in situations that would not normally lead to rejoicing but rather to fear and distress. Why would anyone rejoice when things are difficult and dangerous?
Why rejoice?
Because we have hope.
Because our hope leads us to expect that God will act.
Because we know that the Lord is near.
Because salvation will come like the break of day.
Joy in the face of difficulty may seem unreasonable, even unhealthy. You may remember Bobby McFerrin’s song "Don’t Worry, Be Happy" from a number of years ago. The song’s popularity belied its rather insidious message, which is really something like, "Your life is the pits, and you can’t do anything about it. Worrying only makes things worse. So be happy." In other words, just let the bad stuff happen.
The message we hear from Paul and Zephaniah is quite different. Yes, they say, things are difficult. But there is hope—hope in God, who will come to save his people. Therefore, do not acquiesce to the ways of this world, but rejoice in the hope that is set before you.
Christian joy is something far beyond just smiling your way through trouble. Bobby McFerrin’s words include the line,
When you worry, call me. I make you happy.
Paul’s version might go this way:
When you worry, call upon the Lord,
he will cause you to rejoice.
This is the joy born of real hope, the joy born of knowing that, even if we are short half a penny to help others, God will bless us in ways we can not even imagine.
As we approach the day when we celebrate our Lord’s coming in weakness and humility, we rejoice that he is already in our midst. He is here in the mystery of the spoken word. He is here in the mystery of the bread and wine of the Eucharist. He is here in the many and varied ministries within our fellowship and beyond.
The Lord is near.
Let us call upon him, and Rejoice!