12.17.2023 - Advent Joy

Scripture: Psalm 126

Psalm 126 NIV

A song of ascents. 1 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed. 2 Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.” 3 The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. 4 Restore our fortunes, Lord, like streams in the Negev. 5 Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. 6 Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.

12/17/2023

Order of Service:

Charlie Brown Christmas Video

Announcements

Advent Wreath Reading

Opening Worship

Prayer Requests

Prayer Song

Pastoral Prayer

Kid’s Time

Offering (Doxology and Offering Prayer)

Scripture Reading

Sermon

Closing Song

Benediction

Special Notes:

Charlie Brown Christmas Video at Beginning of Service

Joy

Hollywood Scripts Halfway Points

Do you have a favorite Christmas movie you watch each year? You may have several that have changed over time. Christmas movies have become a genre of their own, celebrated worldwide. They have their own set of rules and standards among the directors and producers in Hollywood. Almost every Christmas movie involves a significant loss somewhere in the movie’s first half. By the movie's end, what was lost is found, and something has usually changed.

Several years ago, I read a book about scriptwriting that changed how I watch movies. Unlike novelists, movie makers expect you to soak up their entire story in one sitting. That means time is much more important to them and us as the watchers. The book I read suggested that every movie (and probably every story) has one significant choice or action made by the main character that shapes how the entire story will turn out. Furthermore, the author suggested that this moment happens at the middle point of every movie.

I tested this theory at the author’s suggestion. It was incredible how accurate this was. Sometimes, that midpoint was precisely down to the second. Most of the time, it occurred within a few minutes of the precise middle. Now, when watching movies, I often pause or pay more attention when that midpoint occurs. It often makes me rethink the message behind each of those movies.

I would like to give you an example. The Charlie Brown Christmas movie is short, about thirty minutes long. Most of us remember Linus telling us about Christmas's true meaning, which happens near the very end. So, what is the midpoint of the movie?

Right around the fifteen-minute mark, Charlie Brown tries to direct the chaotic Christmas play. Lucy is complaining about not getting the attention she deserves as the “Christmas Queen.” Then Lucy says:

“Look, Charlie, let's face it. We all know that Christmas is a big commercial racket. It's run by a big Eastern syndicate, you know. “

And Charlie Brown replies:

“Well, this is one play that's not gonna be commercial.”

In the next scene, Charlie Brown is off to find a Christmas Tree to help make the play have the right message, and there, in a market full of shiny aluminum trees, Charlie finds the tree that changes the rest of the movie.

Linus comments:

“Gee, do they still make wooden Christmas trees?”

The movie portrays the idea of losing out on a modern take on Christmas and returning to the simple reminder of the original story. It is a Christmas true Christmas story because Charlie Brown’s good grief moments become a sense of joy as Jesus works in his life and the lives of his friends around him.

Jesus makes our grief grow into Joy as well.

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Dreamers Setting the Script

Many families travel during the holiday season. Two thousand years ago, Jewish families traveled to their hometowns to register for the national census and to pay taxes to the Roman Empire. But over a thousand years before that, the Jewish families had a tradition of traveling once a year to Jerusalem that some keep to this day. They often traveled to celebrate Passover and to bring sacrifices to the Temple as their act of worship. Today, our Psalm is part of the Psalms of Ascents collection. These were traveling Psalms that the people would sing and pray as they caravanned together to Jerusalem. They begin at Psalm 120 and go to Psalm 134. Each of these Psalms portrays a part of that journey.

Psalm 126 is near the halfway point of that journey. It reminds the travelers what it must have felt like for those in exile in the years following the fall of Jerusalem and the Hebrew people going through the wilderness, looking for the Promised Land. They were people on a journey looking for their true home, close enough to begin dreaming about it but not quite close enough to see it with their own eyes yet. But even there in the wilderness, camping around the fire at night, they began practicing the songs of joy they would sing when they finally entered God’s Temple.

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This Psalm shows us two practices of prayer that are connected to joy. The first of these practices reminds us that we set the scripts for our lives.

There are many lessons you have heard warning specifically against this. One of the most famous is when we pray for Jesus to take the wheel in our lives. There was another lesson made famous in a song a few years back that reminded us that God is the one writing our story, not us. Regarding the idea of control, God is undoubtedly the author of the big picture. He will bring us to and through life. However, He does not control how we respond.

Sometimes, we struggle to control how we respond as well. I can get into moods where little things set me off and push me to react with anger or sadness, unnecessary sarcasm, or sometimes even excitement that is just a bit too much. Those emotions hit us at the moment and can be challenging to manage when they occur. However, we can prepare ourselves for them. That is what I mean by setting the script.

As we plan and prepare for the days and weeks ahead, we can think through the possibilities and prepare our possible responses, each helping lead and guide us to a conclusion that leads us faithfully closer to God. I would like to give you a very practical example. I’m still a sinner but don’t want to stay that way. I need a faithful and helpful response when I discover I’ve done something wrong. The Bible tells us that if we confess our sins to God and repent, He will forgive us. So, it might be helpful to put confession time into my daily script. If I make room for that response, I will be more likely to turn to God for forgiveness instead of trying to hide that sin and cutting myself off from God’s grace.

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Facing Your Sadness

The second half of this Psalm shifts from how the pilgrims felt in the past to what the reader feels today, with verses 3 and 4 as a pivot point. We remember that God has done great things for us, and then we recognize that we need God to restore what we have lost today.

As we pray these final verses, we are teaching and reminding ourselves that the sadness of loss and grief are not things to be hidden or ignored. As God’s people, as disciples of Jesus, we are taught to face them in faith. That does not mean we make light of or excuse away that loss. If we are too afraid to face that sadness, we will not fully experience the Joy God has for us.

This Thursday evening, we will gather as God’s people to face our sadness together in God’s Presence. We will confess our sins, face our losses, pray for one another, and seek God’s presence to find that peace and comfort that goes beyond our understanding, which paves the way for the Joy that can only be found in Jesus. Everyone is invited, and even if you are not feeling a sense of sadness this season, you are invited to attend to pray on behalf of those who are.

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The Harvest of Sorrow

Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy.

Those of you who have raised children know about crocodile tears and the boy who cried wolf. You have experienced children playing sad to get their way. And you have also probably experienced genuine tears from your children as well. I am amazed at how tears from a child, even an infant, can draw the attention of everyone around, stopping them from whatever busy task they are doing and bringing parents and grandparents rushing to the rescue. As Jesus taught in Matthew 7:11

Matthew 7:11 NIV

11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

When God’s children weep, He is there before Mom and Dad arrive. Those tears and sadness are an offering of faith and trust more precious to Him than gold.

Sometimes, we get angry and upset with God and want to tell Him how to do His job. That is not facing our sadness or planting with tears. If we are willing to work through that and find the place where we can admit that we want Him to hold us and trust that He will take care of us, we will find the path to faithfully planting with tears.

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You may be facing sadness or anxiety this holiday season. If so, know that you are not alone. You are also not at the end of your story. You are probably close to the middle, and how you respond to it can change the whole story. Our willingness to face our sadness and bring it to God opens the door for His joy in our lives. His joy is more than happiness or lack of conflict in our lives. It is a greater joy that comes with growth and change, often beyond what we could plan or imagine.

None of this is automatic. God is not a vending machine that we put our sad prayers into and receive joy from the dispenser. It is more than a simple trade. Because we cannot even imagine the wonderful things God has in store for us, we must be grown and shaped to live them. We sow seeds of faithfulness in our lives and the lives around us. We often do it in tears, not knowing what will happen and seeing only bare ground around us. But we do it in faith, trusting God to care for us. When the harvest comes, we carry the sheaves of new life and are filled with joy because we know it did not grow overnight. We know the work that went into it. We know how much we did to get there, and we we know it would never have happened without God doing His part. We are filled with joy because we come home carrying new evidence that God loves us so much.

If you want to experience that joy this Christmas:

Remember all that God has done for you in the past.

Bring your present sadness and anxieties to Him.

Plan and prepare your heart and life to make space for God to enter in anew.

It won’t be exactly as you expect. It never is. But if you are faithful to seek Him and let Him in, Jesus will work in your sadness and grief and grow more joy than you will know what to do with.