Rejoice Always...Even When It's Hard

 

Self-revelation: I am under the weather with a really nasty head cold. When I tried to read this sermon to my wife, I had to stop repeatedly because I was coughing so much. So already, with my sinuses throbbing, the thought of "joy" wasn't a really exciting topic for me to think about.

Add to that that I pressed on through my yuckiness to go to Valdosta on Wednesday because I had at least three meetings scheduled, one of them being the Finance Committee which had to meet so there would be a proposed 2024 budget ready for the vestry meeting on Sunday. In the course of my various meetings, I heard a lot of pain, a lot of fear, a lot of uncertainty. I did not hear a lot of joy.

So Paul's First Letter to the Thessalonians seemed the most relevant scripture to work with for this sermon. Granted, the pericope set aside for the Sunday lectionary was just some of his exhortation at the end of the letter. But still, knowing some of the "behind the scenes" about that particular letter made it a relevant scripture from which to preach to a congregation of people who aren't all feeling holly jolly right now.

See what you think.

Scripture texts for 3B Advent: Isaiah 61: 1-4, 8-11, Ps.126, 1 Thess. 5:16-24, and John 1:6-8, 19-28

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Today we have lit a candle for “Joy.”

It’s the pink candle on our Advent wreath, and it’s that reminder that we are waiting with joyful expectation for the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day.

The prophet Isaiah is once more declaring the joy and exultation felt from having “the Spirit of the Lord upon him to bring good news to the oppressed and bind up the brokenhearted.”

The people of Israel are coming out of exile and can celebrate their freedom from captivity.

Our psalmist keeps up the theme.

The people are laughing.

They are rejoicing that God has answered their cries of anguish.

We hear in the Gospel lesson again that John the Baptizer knows that he is just a herald of someone bigger, brighter, and more powerful than he. While John doesn’t use the word “joy” or “rejoice” …. but we all know he can’t wait for the Messiah to show up to clean up what John sees as the excesses of the religious authorities and the persecution they’ve been suffering living in the Roman Empire.

And then there’s Paul…writing to this very young church in Thessalonica to “Rejoice always.”

All these happy…joy-filled readings.

But what if that’s not where we are?

What if we aren’t feeling joyful?

What if we’re the oppressed and the brokenhearted waiting to hear that good news?

Truthfully, that’s exactly who Paul was writing to when he put pen to papyrus in writing this first letter to the Thessalonians.

They were a people who converted from paganism in the joyous exuberance of all converts to a new faith.

They had heard Paul’s preaching and teaching…long before any of the Evangelists had started spreading the Gospels.

In fact, this is the earliest of Paul’s letters written sometime around 51 CE.

They believed in Jesus Christ…believed that he had died and that God raised him from the dead. They…like some of the communities of our Evangelists…also believed that Jesus was returning at any minute and the kingdom of God would be fulfilled.

And so a few weeks went by.

Then it became months.

People started to die.

The pressures from the surrounding Greek culture which rejected them for accepting Jesus began to wear them down.

Paul had…in his very Paul way…successfully made himself unwelcomed by preaching about Jesus to the local Jewish community in their synagogue which had caused a whole heap of trouble for some of the believers (Acts 17:1-10).

So Paul and his companions had to make a hasty retreat out of town.

The Thessalonians were starting to struggle with maintaining hope and faith in a society that told them they were fools.

Despite the promise that the light would overcome the darkness…their world was looking pretty darn dark.

There was no joy in this tiny community.

And so Paul…hearing about what was happening to the Thessalonians after sending his compatriot Timothy to check in on them… writes this letter to the church.

I’m kind of sorry that we only hear this very last portion of his letter.

This is one where Paul is at his most pastoral.

He’s gentle in his tone.

He implores the Thessalonians to do the same…be kind to one another…respect and support each other and greet one another “with a holy kiss” (5:26).

He gets it.

He knows they’re having a hard time, and they are feeling lost and alone.

He regrets that had to leave them in such a rush.

And he reminds them that all of what they are experiencing is part of the growing pains of being this new fledgling group wanting to follow Christ.

It’s not easy.

Not everybody’s gonna like you or want to hear about Jesus.

There will be rejection and hardship.

And actually practicing Christian principles doesn’t win someone a whole lot of brownie points when confronting the powerful.

But that’s not the whole story.

There is also hope…peace…and yes: even joy.

Because being a follower of Christ means remembering what happened at the cross.

 Just when the followers of Jesus thought all was lost…and that the Roman authorities had won by killing all that was good…the believers were met with a resurrected joy.

They saw that Love…that’s “Love” with a Capital L “Love”…did win.

Life overcame death.

God had declared victory.

This is the hope that all Christians turn to…that we have been promised that death, destruction, bullies, and tyrants do not get the last word.

We may not see the fruits of that faith in God right away.

We might have to shed some tears…and experience grief…and find ourselves at times in what John of the Cross called “the dark night of the soul.”

But the promise remains that “joy will come in the morning.” (Ps.30:5)

That is our truth and the reality we are invited to embrace.

When we believe and trust that God doesn’t abandon us when we’re down and out…our outlook shifts.

We can re-center ourselves.

We can slow down…breathe easier…and not only be a light to someone else…we can more easily receive that light from someone else.

We’re preparing now for the birth of the one we call “Messiah.”

Not only has God not left us.

God is coming to meet us….in whatever state of mind…emotions…physical or mental health that we’re in at the moment.

No matter what else is happening to us….or in this crazy world around us that wants to distract us and drag us down…we can take in the lights of hope, peace and joy as a way to remember that God is with us…now and always.

That is a reason for us to rejoice!

In the name of God…F/S/HS.