I find this is a difficult time of year, this time after Christmas, after New Year’s Eve, and before Epiphany. Christmas is over but not completely and I just find it a bit anti-climactic and kind of depressing. My happy meter just isn’t registering where it was.
Family is gone back home or still here, either of which might be a good thing, or not.
All the wonderful cuisine that attracted our eyes and stimulated our senses is now bulging through our buttons and over our belts.
Savings accounts and credit cards groan under the weight of all the munificent and bountiful gift giving.
All the Christmas decorations have to come down and be packed away—clean up the tinsel and the pine needles which plug up the vacuum, some of which will continue to pop up in various places throughout the year.
The Church understands this time: The Christmas season, as a time of celebration. That’s where we get the song, the twelve days of Christmas—it is the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany. This is in fact the tenth day; on this day my true love gave to me 10 lords-a-leaping, which kind of goes to my point; if you were to have purchased everything in the song up to today you would be out some $27K by today’s standards!
And 10 lords-a-leaping, what do we do with that? It’s one of those kinds of gifts—you know the ones generously given, thankfully received and utterly confounding as to what to do with. We express our heartfelt thanks to the generous giver and hope we can return it for something useful!
Christmas is a blessed time but there is a lot work and emotional stuff tied into it, too. Kind of like the original event:
The king of the universe is born to Mary—a joyous and wondrous event about which angels sang gloriously—but even the King of the universe couldn’t arrange for a room on the eve of his birth and so is born in a stable.
Soon after, poor Jewish shepherds and wealthy Gentile astronomers come to welcome and bless this child. Then we hear today how an angel appears to Joseph and tells him he needs to get Mary and the babe and escape to Egypt because the king is trying to kill this infant.
The King of the universe is born and immediately problems arise. He is welcomed as a gift by some and rejected as a threat by others. That is the effect Jesus has on the world. We either accept him as our King and Lord, or we go to any length to eliminate his claim on our lives.
So Joseph goes and does what he is told, and takes his family to Egypt—probably to the large Jewish community around Alexandria—where they are able to find security and safety from King Herod.
Later the angel again appears to him to direct him and his family back to his homeland, but again warned he settles in Nazareth.
This is not a happy story– and my guess is that throughout these experiences surrounding the birth of Jesus–Joseph and Mary were not happy in what they went through. But they did seem to have joy.
The dictionary defines happiness as a state of well-being, a pleasurable or satisfying experience. It is a temporary state that is dependent on what we are experiencing at a particular moment. Happiness is dependent on happenings.
We all know how that works. We are happy when our team is winning. We are happy when we catch all the green lights on the way home. We are happy when we get the perfect gift at Christmas.
But what happens when our team is getting trounced? What happens when we catch every red light? What happens when the gift isn’t so perfect?
And we all know that saying—when mamma’s happy………
and when mamma’s not happy…………….
but joy is something different.
It’s significant that scripture says about the Wise Men: when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
When the angel appeared to the shepherds he said: and the angel said to them, “fear not, for behold, i bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior, who is Christ the Lord.
Even our hymnody reflects this focus on joy—we sing: “Joy to the world”, not “don’t worry, be happy”.
This word joy, or joyous, or rejoice comes from the Greek word to be exceedingly glad, to have great delight.
Different from happy, joy is not based on an emotional feeling, but on a greater reality. It is more permanent attitude and not transient feeling. It is a sense of contentment, an attitude of serenity based on foundational truths.
Joseph and Mary knew that whatever experiences they might go through—God was in charge—God’s presence and involvement in their lives was based on God’s very revelation to them—they were a part of God’s plan–the angels told them. And that structured their lives to face every experience they went through.
Now many of us have not had experiences with angels that give that surety of faith, and direction for life. But we have the Scriptures—God’s word—better than angels–we have God’s promises there—we have directions for our lives there.
Consider the words we hear from Paul’s letter to the Church at Ephesus this morning —to believers –to us.
Paul tells us in this short passage that in Christ– as believers in Jesus—this babe whose birth we celebrate—we are blessed, set apart, made special for heavenly purposes that God has chosen us—each of us–in spite of our imperfections and foibles—he has chosen us personally for himself.
Paul tells us that in choosing us, he has a purpose for our lives—by his power to inherit his qualities—his characteristics-to be made holy
-through Jesus, his love is offered to us, to unite each of us to him personally as his adopted child
-and it is his will, his purpose and desire for us, that we be in that unique relationship through Jesus.
This passage concludes with one of Paul’s prayers:
For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe.
What a wonderful Christmas prayer—that as we continue to celebrate the birth of Jesus that God may give us the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him—Jesus, having the eyes of our hearts enlightened, that we may know what is the hope to which he has called us, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, believe in this child born in a stable.
Joseph and Mary were probably not very happy they had to reside in a stable, they were not happy they had to run for their lives and live away from home for a time. They may not have been happy they had to live in Nazareth. But they had joy. They had the surety that God was in control—that they were part of his plan.
As we deal with the issues surrounding not only our Christmas this year, but more importantly, our lives in general, let’s stay focused on Jesus—that babe who came to be our Savior, Lord and King, that may we likewise, experience joy, knowing that God is in control, knowing that in Jesus we know what is the hope to which he has called us, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in our relation to him, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe.
Sermon preached by the Reverend Richard C. Marsden
The Church of the Redeemer
Sarasota Florida
2 Christmas
4 January 2015