Van Wyck Presbyterian Church
December 13, 2015
Third Sunday of Advent
shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
O daughter Jerusalem!
15 The Lord has taken away the judgements against you,
he has turned away your enemies.
The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;
you shall fear disaster no more.
16 On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
Do not fear, O Zion;
do not let your hands grow weak.
17 The Lord, your God, is in your midst,
a warrior who gives victory;
he will rejoice over you with gladness,
he will renew you in his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing
18 as on a day of festival.
I will remove disaster from you,
so that you will not bear reproach for it.
19 I will deal with all your oppressors
at that time.
And I will save the lame
and gather the outcast,
and I will change their shame into praise
and renown in all the earth.
20 At that time I will bring you home,
at the time when I gather you;
for I will make you renowned and praised
among all the peoples of the earth,
when I restore your fortunes
before your eyes, says the Lord. - Zephaniah 3: 14-20
His voice was crying out for renewal. Zephaniah saw the divisions among the people. He saw the shame the people of God held. The shame stemmed from attitudes of indifference regarding the challenges around them. Greed, injustice, and violence pulsed through the culture. It was a difficult time for Israel. The prophet held the people’s lament in one hand and God’s vision for change in the other.
You and I can relate to this cry for renewal. Just over the course of the past week I have seen a collective sense of shame and lament. There is shame for the voices that infuse fear and division into the diverse fabric of our American culture. There is shame for political and religious leaders who are discriminating against the Muslim community to stereotype them as radicals. There is lament as faith communities are increasing their bravery by lifting their voices to denounce this discrimination. And these are just the laments from the national landscape.
Quite honestly, it has all weighed heavily on my heart and mind this week. For as long as I can remember I have loved the diversity among us. I have appreciated learning about many different types of faith traditions and cultures. It is overwhelming to hear the disharmony at large during a time of year that is to bring us together. It should be a time to celebrate the greatest gift that unites us in God’s love.
For many of us it has been difficult to sit in the tension of Advent this year– this in between time of sitting in the world’s mess and waiting for God’s vision of renewal to capture us again in Jesus’ birth. I have been impatient this Advent season as God’s story slowly reinterprets our experience of moving from darkness to light. It would be so much easier to turn off the news and get to the good part of Christmas. I have been asking this past week, ‘Where do we find the joy we are looking for? Where is the good news among our broken world?
A few days ago I came across a blog that described all that is wrenching my heart this week. And it shed a little light for me and I hope it sheds a little light for you.
Advent is meant to be a time when we sit with the way things really are and hold them tenderly and gently, with the hope for how things are meant to be. Advent is about saying there is this beautiful world we all want to believe in and be living in.
And there is a terrible not-yet-ness about that world.
Advent is about facing the truth of what is right now, and remembering what it takes to get to a Christmas kind of world.
Today we light the pink candle of Advent and remember that God’s presence still changes things. God shows up in the middle of greed, injustice, and violence. God shows up in the midst of our shame for the discriminations against others. God shows up in the midst of our laments for renewal. And then God does something amazing. God shines a light into the darkness with a song of divine truth.
Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart...The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall fear disaster no more…Do not let your hands grow weak. The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you, with loud singing (Zephaniah 3: 14, 15, 17).
Did you hear it? Don’t let your hands grow weak. The Lord, your God, is here. He is mighty to save. He remembers creating you to live in relationship with God and one another and rejoices in that. He will renew all that is broken around you and in you in his love. He will sing a song of joy over you as God’s grace makes a way forward.
God’s song of joy has implications for us as we continue this Advent journey from darkness to light. A commentary shared, “God’s presence brings a new way of life in which the way that people relate to God and to one another is fundamentally different.” *
God promises to restore us to the joy of our salvation because we are all created as God’s beloved. Zephaniah tells us this restoration will come about as God “will change the speech of the people to a pure speech, that all of them may call on the name of the Lord and serve him with one accord” (Zephaniah 3:9). God’s restoration is working to unite all nations because God is sovereign of all and God so loved the world. God’s greatest vision of renewal is always reconciliation. And we are to get our hearts and hands to work to bring about reconciliation and unity as well.
In our time of waiting for this divine restoration, God calls each of us to shine the light of God’s love in the darkness. We cannot let our hands grow weak. We are to remember our human connection and to rejoice that we have been created to live in relationship with God and one another. We are to come alongside one another as sisters and brothers. We are to embrace our diversity of opinions, faith traditions, cultures, and politics. We are to see one another as God’s beloved. We are all created in the image of God and regardless of race, nationality, or creed we all fall under the same judgment of God.
The Presbyterian Church confessed in 1998 how we should encounter our sisters and brothers who profess different religions or who profess none with these words:
As much as I can, I should meet friendship with friendship, hostility with kindness, generosity with gratitude, persecution with forbearance, truth with agreement, and error with truth. I should express my faith with humility and devotion as the occasion requires, whether silently or openly, boldly or meekly, by word or by deed. I should avoid compromising the truth on the one hand and being narrow-minded on the other. In short, I should always welcome and accept these others in a way that honors and reflects the Lord's welcome and acceptance of me. **
I continue to pray that God would open our eyes to see more of the friendship, kindness, gratitude, forbearance, and agreement that is integral to our faith. This type of humility and devotion is the reason for the season. It is the way Christ lived his life – in joyful obedience to God’s steadfast love. Christ came alongside others to bring words and actions that bestowed Gods’ compassion, healing and wholeness.
It all began when love came down in the simple things. God’s love was born for all people as a vulnerable child, the Christ child, in a lowly manger. Shouldn’t we live our lives in joyful obedience to share the Gospel? Shouldn’t we live in joyful obedience to honor the ways God’s steadfast love connects us to one another through Jesus Christ?
Do not let your hands grow weak. Today we light the third candle of Advent for the Lord is singing a song of joy over us. The Lord, your God, is here. He is mighty to save. He remembers creating you to live in relationship with God and one another and rejoices in that. He will renew all that is broken around you and in you in his love. He will sing a song of joy over you, over our sisters and brothers, and over me as God’s grace makes a way forward.
We have a special opportunity to see God’s grace making a way forward this evening as the community of Van Wyck gathers together for Lighting of the Way. We will all lift our voices in joy to remember that God calls each of us beloved. We celebrate our ecumenical diversity to reveal the joy of the Lord in the unity of community. We will lift our voices in song to reveal the hope, peace, joy, and love that the Christ Child is indeed bringing to a weary world.
We find our joy in trusting that God’s renewal is coming. May your hands and hearts grow stronger as we work together to bring God’s joy, grace, and compassion to a hurting world. May everyone see the light shining in the darkness and hear God’s song of joy.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sources:
* Anne Stewart, Working Preacher, December 13, 2015 http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2700
** The Study Catechism, Question and Answer #52, https://www.pcusa.org/site_media/media/uploads/theologyandworship/pdfs/catechismfull.pdf
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