A couple of weeks ago, on the third Sunday of Advent, Pastor Ben Boswell preached a sermon from Isaiah 61 entitled, "We cry out in joy for the One who is to come." If you missed it, you are encouraged to listen to it here. In it, Ben separated the kind of joy that Isaiah and later Jesus himself proclaim with the "joy" we are often inundated with during the holiday season in America. Ad after ad proclaim to us the gospel of the shopping mall: that the more we buy, the more joy we will have.
Of course, this is not good news for all people like the coming of the Christ child was. It is especially bad news for the poor, for whom the wealth to buy joy is in short supply. It just so happens, that the poor are exactly who Jesus says he came to proclaim good news to (see Luke 4:16-21)! In Luke 2, the angel tells the shepherds, "I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people. To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord." The gospel's version of good news for all people is that to the lowly shepherds is born a Savior, God's presence and saving power for those whom society neglects and about whom powerful people forget. The joy of the gospel is that the "wonders of God's love" are for the least among us, and that through them, all of us have a chance at being saved from ourselves.
Isaac Watt's first line may seem grammatically incorrect to us (shouldn't it be "The Lord has come?"), but despite being correct grammar for the time in which it was written, the use of "is come" rather than "has come" allows modern Christians to meditate on what it might mean for us to receive an ever-coming Christ. Christ is always coming into our world and if we want to be his followers, we must be ready to make room! It is especially important during Christmas for us to focus on what it might mean for us to make room for the Incarnate Christ, so that the curse may be eradicated and the glories of God's righteousness made known to all the earth. What kind of renovating to we need to do to make room for Christ this year? How can we bring good news of great joy to the poor, the people God came to bless and wants to bless through us?
To quote Pastor Boswell, "the world does not need more reindeer, more bows, more cookies, more tinsel, more presents, more sentimental and fleeting emotions like happiness or cheer this Christmas. What the world needs more of is justice for the poor, food for the hungry, freedom for the oppressed, and healing for the brokenhearted." If we can bring this type of good news to the world, then not only will we rejoice God's heart, but we will also be given the gift of the Spirit about which this famous hymn sings: the true joy of the inauguration of Christ's kingdom on earth.
You are encouraged to enter into a time of silent confession and meditation followed by the closing prayer.
Closing Prayer
Lord God, our King and Savior: Come again to us this Christmas. Make room in our hearts for the things that give you joy: justice for the poor, freedom for the oppressed, and healing for the brokenhearted. As we learn how to be your joy in a world full of pain, let us never lose sight of the wonders of your love and the glories of your righteousness. Amen.
Joy to the World (Celebrating Grace #102)
Joy to the world! The Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.
Joy to the earth! the Savior reigns;
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.
No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make his blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.
He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of his righteousness,
And wonders of his love,
And wonders of his love,
And wonders, wonders, of his love.
Rev. Stephen Stacks
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