December 13, 2020
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Union, Illinois
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11; John 1:6-8,19-28
I have this cup. We all have one kind of like it. It is the
cup that holds joy inside us. One of my favorite musicians, David Wilcox, wrote
a song about the cup that holds love,[1]
but I want to bend that metaphor just a little. The cup gets filled up with
joy, you see, whenever we experience joy. Sometimes just a drop or two gets
added to my cup, like when my son gives me a hug. Sometimes it feels like an
open tap is pouring joy into my cup, like when I hear a beautiful song.
The thing is, there’s a break in the cup. There are little
holes in my cup of joy that let the joy leak out. This hole was made when I
heard Errol Hamilton had passed away. This one is from a young person who is
having a hard time feeling like she belongs. I have lots of little ones lately
from things I hear on the news.
There are some big holes in my cup, too. In my role as a
minister, I sometimes hear the stories of tragedy and heartbreak in people’s
lives, and I wouldn’t be human if it didn’t affect me. I have heartbreak
stories of my own, like the death of my sister-in-law from cancer.
Some of these holes will heal. Some of these holes can be
patched up with time and effort. Prayer and repentance can close some of the
holes. But new ones will take their place. There will always be holes in my
cup. And I’m sorry to say, there will always be holes in yours as well.
So, I try to recognize and be grateful for each trickle of
joy. I try to be thankful for every person who has shown me some light, some
joy in the world. And I try to show some light, some joy to those around me as
well. We are, all of us, witnesses to the light.
John the Baptizer was a witness to the light. He made it
clear to the priests and Levites from Jerusalem that he was not the light. He
was not the Messiah. But John was here to cry out in the wilderness, to prepare
a way, and to show us where we could find the light.
I am thankful for the fountains of joy that have filled my
cup lately. I am thankful for seeing my family and celebrating the birthdays of
my parents, even if it was only over Zoom. I am thankful that Bonnie is expected
to make a full recovery from COVID. It gives me joy to see that my wife’s
cousin, Caleb, has graduated from college. It gives me joy to talk on the phone
with an old friend.
Grady Nutt, from the old TV show Hee
Haw, had a saying, “Laughter is the hand of God on the shoulder of a
troubled world.” Laughter is a gift of God, a gift that we need today, in this
Advent season, when the news is filled with division and sickness, when all is not
calm and all is not bright.
Joy and laughter are a gift we need today. But laughter does more than fill up our cup of
joy. Laughter bring us to life. There is a Proverb in the bible about this gift
of laughter and our need for it: “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a downcast
spirit dries up the bones” (Proverbs 17. 22).
We all need the joy that brings us to life, like a desert blooms after
the rainfall, because without joy, we’re just empty cups. And when we have been
drained of all joy, that can be dangerous. We might try to fill the empty space
with something that feels like joy, but isn’t. We might try to fill the void
with overuse of alcohol or drugs or food. We might overindulge in other
unhealthy behaviors which make holes in the cup as fast as they fill it.
We need genuine joy, the joy that comes as a gift from God, which
flows freely from the beauty of nature, the love of family and friends, and the
sharing of our stories of joy with one another.
The lectionary scriptures for this third Sunday of Advent speak of the
power of that kind of joy:
The prophet Isaiah said:
“I will greatly
rejoice in the Lord; my whole
being shall exult in my God” (Isaiah 61:10).
Psalm 126 says:
“Then our mouth was
filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy” (Psalm 126:2).
And the Apostle Paul wrote to the
Thessalonians:
“Rejoice always” (1 Thessalonians 5:16).
The message of the prophet Isaiah is so relevant for us
because it acknowledges the pain and loss and the devastation the people of
Israel had endured; and at the same time, it points to something beyond the
present condition. Isaiah shares God’s promise that there is light and love and
joy yet to be found.
Creation will be renewed.
The ruined cities will be
rebuilt.
The exiles will come home.
The oppressed will hear the good
news.
Those who mourn will be comforted.
When we witness to the light of Christ that shines into our
lives, we build up the ancient ruins and repair the ruined cities. When we
witness to the joy that we see in the world, when we share joy with one
another, we help fill up that cup that holds joy inside us. And the more we
practice witnessing to the light, the more it becomes a part of who we are and
how we live our lives.
Another song by David Wilcox illustrates this way of living:
I went to see an old friend, who was soon to pass away.
He said “This life has been so good to me, now I’ve still got one more day.”
He said that as he watched the morning sun, and then he smiled my way;
Because he said that every morning, he’d lived his life that way.[2]
There is the kind of experience that can fill us up with joy
long after it has passed. Maybe you have some moments like that in your memory.
Here is one of my joyful memories.
The summer after I graduated high school I went on a trip to
Oregon with some other young people from Colorado. One day we went on a tour of
the waterfalls that flow into the Columbia River. We made a stop at one place
where the waterfall was back from the road through a narrow ravine. The only
way to get there was to walk up the creek. People were taking off their shoes,
but the rocks were slippery and hard to walk on. I remember looking at my new
shoes and thinking, “I will never be here again.” I walked up the creek in my
shoes to swim under that beautiful waterfall. It remains a golden moment of joy
in my memory.
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in that region there were
shepherds. They had a golden moment of joy in their memory:
“Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory
of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to
them, ‘Do not be afraid; for see—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’” (Luke 2:10).
Have you seen the light of joy, peace, hope, and love? Be
witnesses to the Light. Amen.
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