University Christian Church

Today, I want to invite us to continue our journey in joy by… singing.

Verse 2 of Isaac Watts famous Christmas carol goes:

Joy to the earth! the Saviour reigns:
let all their songs employ
while fields and floods rocks hills and plains
repeat the sounding joy.

Despite the reality that singing in public in front of strangers is far less popular in our country in recent years, Christmas is the one season where we dare repeat the sounding joy. We turn our radio dials to Christmas stations. We put on our favorites in the background. We hum along walking down the grocery aisle. Even if we are sick and tired of Jingle Bells or Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, once it starts, it’s almost impossible to get it out of our head.

There is something inseparable about Christmas and singing.

In this clip from the 2003 film, Elf, Buddy the Elf insistently teaches one of his co-workers that singing lifts our spirits.

"The best way to spread Christmas cheer is to sing loudly for all to hear”.

What is it about Christmas? What is it about this season of Advent that moves us, often begrudgingly, into an attitude of joyful noise? Even though the world might be going into chaos around us, even though there are so many grieving and hurting, even though we long for justice for our city streets, why does the Christmas story move us into melodies and harmonies of wonder and beauty?

And what did Isaac Watts mean in Joy to the World when he dared suggest that even the earth around us would echo back our praise?

In our passage from the prophet Isaiah, we discover a serious “why” that answers what we do in this time of preparation.

According to theologian Gene Tucker, these opening verses from chapter 11 are a little unusual amidst the rest of the book of Isaiah. For one, they are not a typical prophetic announcement. Often, those kinds of announcements would name places and people and call for judgment for the ways the people have strayed from God’s way. But this passage isn’t just a nice little piece of poetry. Isaiah is not jotting down some elegant and quaint words for us to enjoy.

Isaiah’s verses here are more like a dream - but not just any dream - they are God’s dream for the world. God’s dream for our lives. God’s dream for you and me.

If you remember how I defined joy last week, joy, unlike happiness, is not a temporary short term pleasure - joy comes in response to some unexpected, gratuitous goodness.

This passage, likewise, is “unqualified good news”.

It’s good news because Isaiah calls for a new kind of leader to emerge, a leader that God is going to send.

For the Hebrew people, this new leader would come from the line of David and remind the people of God’s covenant that stretched far back among their ancestors. This leader would thus represent a continuation of God’s faithfulness with the people.

But there’s more - this leader would not simply be a decent person. This new leader would not just win the majority of the popular vote and electoral college. This new leader wouldn’t just dodge scandals and impeachment trials and bad tweets.

This new leader would be blessed with a spirit of knowledge and wisdom, which I heard from a colleague means they would be smart and know what to do with those smarts.

This new leader would act with justice and compassion, especially for those who are poor and struggling. And those who are wicked, who exploit the weak and cause chaos and confusion, would face a reckoning and consequences.

As Isaiah’s dream gets better, so do the images. Now, it’s not just a strong and decent leader - it’s now a new vision of life together, a world where prey and predator snuggle up together for a bedtime story, where a child has no fear from the venomous creatures around, where Creation is at peace and rest. This shalom emanates from God’s holy mountain, thick with the presence of God.

What’s clear about this pronouncement from Isaiah - it is worthy of joy. It is good news. Isaiah does not offer this as an instructional text, like here is step one two and three if we want to achieve world peace. This vision describes how God desires our lives to be. God desires our world to be at peace. God desires nations to lay down their weapons. God desires the earth to no longer groan in subjugation to powers and principalities. God desires for there to be no more dividing lines, no more US/Mexico borders, no more South/North Korea, no more distrust and hatred.

All of this gifted to Creation - through the sending of God’s blessed leader, one we might call Prince of Peace - all through God’s action.

So, I hope you get why Isaac Watts had the nerve to write, “Joy to the world!”

There is something to be joyful about!

As Christians, we read Isaiah and we see glimpses of the one we call Savior, Jesus, the one who came to bless us with life, to move us into the work of loving neighbor and peace making in our neighborhoods, in expectation that God’s dream is already unfolding, bit by bit, right here and now.

It’s as Kelly Brown Douglass said at the beginning of our worship time - God is coming to us, always coming to us, so we are challenged to join in that freedom work until God arrives.

And so we sing - we sing as people of faith - we sing in the midst of grief and sorrow - we sing when we are uncertain about our future - we sing when things seem bleak - because God’s dream is still coming for us and this world. That’s why we spend these days preparing for Christmas morn. That’s why we make room within and without. That’s why we continue to give and hope in expectation that God is still on the way.

I think Isiah’s words here are a dream, and while dreams can be written down and spoken outloud, they are much better made into music, aren’t they?

Music can capture these dreams in ways that mere words or proclamations cannot.

Music, especially in this Christmas season, can help us dream and help us pray. They can flip the script on who is in and out, who is enemy and who is friend.

And likewise for us: our carols become more than just tunes that make us happy. They become our response, our trust to Gods movement.

We all have a song to sing.

EVERYONE HAS A SONG - Zechariah had a song when the angel came to him and told him he was going to have a son John, who as we heard in our scripture, would show the way out of the wilderness into abundant life.

EVERYONE HAS A SONG - Mary said yes to Gabriel and God to be co-partner’s in this work of incarnation, and she had a song to sing that spoke of justice for the weak and oppressed, God’s way breaking in. “My soul magnifies the lord!”

O come all the faithful becomes a fight song, a protest. Proclaiming triumph before the battle!

Angels we have heard on high proclaims that God is speaking over the consumer culture of credit cards and sales, saying Gloria! 

Silent night becomes a lullaby to a new world that is God creating.

I want to encourage you to find that song that for you will point the way to God’s coming. You don’t have to do what Buddy the Elf did and stand up in the middle of Macy’s and bust out a few bars. But you can hum it at work. You can ground yourself in its words to start your day, asking for joy even when things are hard. You may even need to write your own Christmas carol as you face conflict or what seem like insurmountable obstacles.

What is your song as you respond to this good news of Christmas? How will you respond to this good news?

I truly believe everyone has a song to offer in response to what God is doing in our world.

This is what God is doing right now and in the days to come - GOD IS GIVING US SONGS TO SING. 

Can you imagine it?

God loves us so much - that God wants us to live in peace.

God loves us so much - that God would send God’s own son to be our example of love.

God loves us so much - God gifted us with the Holy Spirit to enable us to get through each day, even the hard ones.

God loves us so much - that God desires all of Creation to be restored and whole and at rest, from the mosquitos to polar bears.

And so, we praise God. We rejoice! We spread Christmas cheer loudly for all to hear.

Our Lord is coming. Peace is just around the corner. Hope is on its way. Love… is here.

If there is anything worth singing about it, it is this:

Joy to the world
to all the boys and girls
Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea
Joy to you and me.