Readings with this sermon: Isaiah 61:1-4,8-11, Psalm 126, John 1:6-8, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24. All our Bible readings today pick up on the joy of the arrival of the Light of the world. There is joy in the anticipation and more joy in his arrival. But not for everyone as some miss the point when people and events don’t conform to their expectations.
We’re so used to reading about the priests, Levites, scribes, and Pharisees hounding Jesus, that we tend to think negatively about them. John’s gospel reminds us that at one point these now-vilified men were once faithful Jews awaiting the Messiah just like everyone else. When they first heard about John the Baptiser’s work, they were curious: What if he was Messiah’s prophet and they missed it? They were compelled to check this guy out, but John didn’t fit their preconceived notions of how he should look and act.
Transfer that to our 21st century context where Christmas shopping takes precedence over nearly everything else. How might we miss the word and the testimony, of those who remind us of who Jesus really was and what he was all about?
It is largely because of this tendency to miss the point that much has been made over the years about the lack of room for Jesus and his parents and relating that to the challenge to us all to make room for the real Jesus in our lives. It’s a fair enough way of thinking, especially at this time of year when we make ourselves busier than ever ostensibly for Jesus sake – to celebrate his birthday – yet that very busyness can crowd him out.
It doesn’t have to be so. We can take time to still ourselves in his presence and we can involve him in the busyness. Most importantly, do what we do together, with friends, or put another way, stay in community. And in this community, let’s encourage one another to centre ourselves and find peace and joy in Jesus.
Community is very important. In fact it is essential. Psychologists at the University of Canterbury wanted to know how the earthquakes had effected their students so they did some surveys. They found that the students were more anxious, more stressed and more depressed and were getting less sleep than they were before the quakes. But despite that they found that these same students were getting slightly better grades in their tests.
So, why didn’t they fall apart as so many expected them to? Associate Professor of Psychology, Deak Helton, says, “The student army, and a general coming together in community spirit, has been amazing since the earthquakes. I think it has made people proud to be a Canterbury University student and more invested in being part of those communities.” A desire to keep busy would have also helped, he says. “It’s one of the classic ways of dealing with adversity, put your head down and lose yourself in work.”
[Canterbury, Vol.8, Summer, 2011]
When Bron and I were in Christchurch in September we visited the central city to take stock. It was hard to assess because I couldn’t remember it well enough to picture it as it was. Even people who have lived there right through the quakes can’t picture it as it was when looking at it as it is. As an aside, another University of Canterbury team has produced a computer programme that will give you the before picture as well as the now picture, and even a possible future picture.
There are vacant sites all over the place and these are being used to develop community. “Since the September 2010 earthquake, Gap Filler organisers have been temporarily transforming vacant sites created by demolished buildings. They have filled these sites with art, live music, dance, poetry readings, a book exchange and even a petanque club. Sites that would otherwise remain idle until being redeveloped have become community gathering places and great stops for travellers searching for local experiences.” (Brindi Joy, ‘There’s No Place Like Home,’ Hostelling HorizoNZ, Summer 2011, p.4)
This is what we’re trying to do with Monday Mornings at St. Margaret’s and the games afternoon which will get going in the new year – to make our church a community gathering place. We’ve got a way to go yet but we’ll keep working on it.
These are examples of the importance of community. Isolated people do not thrive. God does give special grace and power to those who are forced into isolation for his sake but all of us need one another. This means not neglecting to meet together, as Hebrews 10:25 reminds us, but more than that it means, as the Professor says, investing ourselves in our communities. Being involved with others, not in a driven way but in a gracious way. Love seeks the best for the loved one so loving community seeks the best for the others and for the whole. Love is characteristic of Christian communities – in fact love is the foundation of Christian communities – and loving communities are the best of all communities.
Today we are on about the joy which is ours with the arrival of Jesus the Light. Light has a lot to do with our emotional well-being. Do you feel less joyful when the weather is grey? And happier when the sun shines? Most people do. There are numerous other things that effect our mood, too, some of them are obvious, some less so. Often our mood changes and we don’t know why. We might not even notice for a while. Often we think these emotional fluctuations just happen and are not really under our control. However, there is much evidence that we can actually have more contol over our emotional state than we might expect.
Another bit of research at UC is in this area of emotional well-being. Dr. Veronica O’Toole is working on emotional literacy training usng the RULER model. RULER stands for recognising, understanding, labelling, expressing appropriately and regulating one’s emotions. This means recognising what our emotions are doing, figuring out as best we can why they are the way they are, stating what is, and changing our emotional state as we need.
Are we down because the day is grey? We don’t have to wait for the sun to shine to perk us up. Are we annoyed because things didn’t go the way we wanted or expected? Are we down and we don’t even know why? Maybe the sun is shining and still our spirits don’t lift. The RULER method can help us to regulate our emotions and we Christians have a significant advantage in this because we have the Holy Spirit and the Holy Bible to help us.
Any of today’s readings can help us find a reason to smile. Psalm 126:3 ‘The Lord did great things for us; how happy we are.’ Count your blessings; recount what God has done for you. That’s got to lift your mood. Isaiah 61 – there’s heaps there, starting with ‘The Sovereign Lord has filled me with his Spirit.’ That’s enough on its own. Add the promises that follow and look for their fulfilment and the Lord will lift us to joy. John 1:9 ‘The real light comes into the world and shines on all mankind.’ Christ can light the greyest of days. And 1 Thess 5:16 – ‘Be joyful always.’ We can regulate our emotional state or Paul would not have given us this instruction. Still this is not something we produce in ourselves, but the unrestrained Spirit (v19) gives us joy.
No one knows this better than the Christians of North Korea. In that country anti-Christian persecution is perhaps more fierce than anywhere else in the world. One North Korean Christian said, “There is no way that we can stop ourselves from falling from the cliff of despair if we look only at the reality. Jesus saves us from if. We try to be positive always, whatever situation we face.” If they can I’m sure we can.
The light has come into the world and our joy is full and everlasting. Stay in community – be together, do things together – and contribute love and joy. And here’s an idea that can help us to joy-filled days.
Focus your devotions this week on joy, especially in these stressful times. Each night, before going to sleep, think of one gift God has given to you or placed in your life for which you are wonderfully thankful. Upon awakening in the morning, thank God for that gift. When you do so, you must wear a smile! This will start your day on a positive note and you can go on from there.