The Lord’s favour for a weary world
December 17, Advent 3
Prelude
Welcome and Announcements
Lighting the Advent Candle
How does a weary world practice joy?
By dancing, and throwing birthday parties. By hanging Christmas lights, and holding sleepy babies.
By singing loudly, and looking for good news.
By telling the story of Jesus, and showing up for our community. There are a million ways to practice joy.
So today we light the candle of joy as a reminder and a charge.
With God’s help, may we bring joy into a weary world. Amen.
The Candle is Lit
All sing: O holy night! the stars are brightly shining
O holy night! the stars are brightly shining;
It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope- the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!
Fall on your knees! O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!
Liturgy: A Sanctified Art, used with permission
O Holy Night: Public Domain
Hymn: 119 Hope is a star
Prayer of Adoration
God of the universe, make our hearts porous. Open our eyes, as if for the first time, so that we might see your world with awe and wonder once again. We often approach worship, scripture and your word proclaimed with an analytical lens, intellectualizing the stories heard, bringing historical context and textual criticism to the table. For just a moment, pause those instincts to make room for wonder. Help us greet this today’s worship with awe and gratitude before we begin dissecting it for truth. For I am confident, that in doing so, we will not only find you in the hallways of our thoughts, but in the pathways of our hearts. With gratitude we pray: keep us open. Amen.
Call to Confession:
As adults, we forget the language of awe and wonder, and when we do, we distance ourselves from God. In confession, we have the opportunity to close that distance. So let us return to God with hearts wide open. Let us return to God in prayer. Join me in the prayer of confession:
Prayer of Confession:
Holy God, somewhere in our childhood we faced pressure to outgrow awe. We turned into adults who obsess over data and facts. We praise those who have answers, and assume that wonder is an answerless game. Forgive us for closing that door to you. Remind us that the kingdom of God belongs to children. Teach us the ways of awe and wonder, so that we will see the coming of your favour, and our response will be words of praise. With hearts open wide to receive your joy, we pray, amen.
Assurance of Pardon
Today we are reminded that there is nothing we could do or leave undone that could prevent God from loving us. So let us hear and believe the good news of the gospel: We are forgiven. We are loved. We belong to God. Amen.
The Peace
Passing the Peace
Hymn: 143 Infant holy, infant lowly
Scripture:
Isaiah 61: 1-4, 8-11 p 1157
1 Thessalonians 5: 16-24 p 1841
Sermon: The Lord’s favour for a weary world
Today we are reminded that God intends to bring his grace and goodness into the world, for the ultimate restoration of the people, and the earth. The ancient Hebrew practice of Sabbatical years is a reminder that stopping to rest is a way of encountering God’s restoration in the earth as well as in our personal lives.
Every 7 years the people were called to a Sabbatical year. In that Sabbath year the fields would lie fallow, growing only what spontaneously grew on its own. The people needed to plan ahead so that they would have enough in the storehouse for that year. Then, as the earth rested, they would also rest from their daily labour and have time to restore themselves in God.
Then, every 50th year, they would celebrate the year of the Lord’s favour, while the earth laid fallow for a second year, and the people rested in God for another year as well.
This year, also known as the year of the Jubilee, was a time when property and people held as a payment for debt would be returned to the families to which they originally belonged.
Imagine, a second year of rest, and your home and family are all restored to you. Imagine the joy of that celebration.
This is the celebration Isaiah is talking about. A celebration in which the people are brought back from exile and restored to their home and their families. This is good news of great joy.
But like all good things, there are the reminders of the human struggle and the struggle of the earth. Even in the time of rest and rejoicing, there are hurdles that we all encounter.
For the people coming back to Jerusalem, there was the daunting task of rebuilding the city and the Temple, both of which had been completely destroyed.
That good news of great joy, was not of the already done, but of the hope and promise that with God this restoration was completely possible.
Good news of great joy, is not the reality of the now, but the promise of what is to come.
For the people, even the accomplishment of rebuilding Jerusalem and the Temple was not the ultimate fulfillment of the promise.
Isaiah here is speaking of another future, a future in which the Messiah would come, and the whole earth and all people would be completely restored in God.
This is the promise of a time when the Messiah would come and alleviate the suffering of the weak. This text is meant to communicate to the people that the Messiah would transform all of their circumstances.
Walter Bruggeman reminds us that it is easy, perhaps inevitable, to conclude that the exile was a termination of God’s covenantal fidelity to Israel. What a shock to think God would ever lose his love for his people.
But we all know that is never true. God is always working to bring his people back to him.
In exile many pinned all their hope on the return to Jerusalem; but the most daring theological voices were able to assert that the return from exile was not the fulfillment of the promise. Instead, the return to Jerusalem was to set the stage for the coming day of the Lord. The promised Jubilee when the earth and the people would be entirely restored.
This is good news indeed.
Good news for the poor.
Good news for the sick.
Good news for the prisoner.
Good news of justice and peace, joy and liberation.
Good news of a release from everything that holds us bound.
This promise leads to healing and comfort for those who are brokenhearted and sorrowing.
Within this promise is the hope of reversal that leads to visions of transformation. The healing for the people is not only physical, but also emotional and spiritual.
It’s like having two years to rest from our labours in order to focus on joy and celebration and to spend time praising and serving God.
It is the promise of material transformation that is yet to come. That is something the people on earth have yet to know.
We wonder when that day will come. A time when the economic advantages would be specifically spread out among all the people.
No more poor.
No more refugees.
No more people who struggle from day to day to care for their families.
Do you remember the promise of a chicken for every pot and a car for every garage? This is even better than that.
A home for everyone.
Enough for everyone.
No more poverty.
No more homeless…
and perhaps most importantly, no more super rich, amassing more and more money and withholding even a basic living wage from their employees.
Within this promise there are also indicators of a wider set of reversals that will reverberate through every level of society, bringing justice—instead of injustice. Bringing vindication—instead of oppression. Bringing joy—instead of sorrow.
Isaiah paints a picture of a time when instead of a head covered in ashes, every head will have a crown. A time when instead of wearing sackcloth every person will have a new mantle.
Do you remember the story of Elijah and Elisha? When Elijah was about to depart from this earth, he threw his mantle over Elisha’s head as a directive to take up his own calling in the service of God. This was a symbol of the ongoing power and presence of God as Elisha took over the job of working for the guidance and protection of the people.
The mantle that Isaiah referred to was a reminder of that calling. Clothed in their new mantle the people would then take their stand like oak trees, whose roots in God would give them staying power and strength. They would be elevated to the life of righteousness that lifts all others up with them.
When everyone dons their new mantle there will be societal renewal as righteousness, justice and peace become the rule in the land.
We are reminded that the work of righteousness raises up the weak as a mediator between God and the nations and makes peace possible as a lasting commitment.
Do we see the glimmer of why this passage is the promise of comfort and joy?
Comfort expands to include reward and restoration.
Joy expands on God’s grace and divine glory.
God’s transcendence and power will change even the urban landscape and the people.
In the year of the Lord’s favour the Messiah comes to bring us comfort and to turn our mourning into joy.
The good news is that Isaiah was not just speaking to the exiles. He is also speaking to us. We need to hear this text as a calling to serve those who mourn, the captives and the oppressed. We need to hear this text as a call to be the Christ for and to others.
The Messiah has come and will come again, but until then we need to be working to usher in the Kingdom, to prepare for the Jubilee of God.
As an Advent text, this is a call to be the people through whom God’s justice will become a reality in our own small community and into the whole world.
When we consider ushering in God’s favour for a weary people and a weary world, then we become the voice of hope in the ruins.
As we proclaim that hope, we do our part in releasing the captives and establishing the everlasting covenant of God.
The commentator Solvang urges us to consider the present needs of our lives and our world as we take up our calling.
She reminds us that the present needs are daunting and can seem formidable. It is a monumental job like rebuilding Jerusalem and the temple.
It will take great effort, and a long time. Maybe even decades. It is not a task for the short-term. Even those of us who are weak, or weary are reminded that we will flourish with strength and energy as God’s power flows through us along the way.
Not only will we speak of hope and joy to the weary and the oppressed, whose hearts are crushed and who mourn at the loss of hope; we will also speak to evil. We will be called to confront those who perpetuate oppression and who hold people back and increase their hopelessness and despair.
Even though the Jubilee came about every 50 years, Isaiah speaks of that liberation being available for the people now, even while in exile. Liberty is to be proclaimed and in our actions it is to become permanently established as new social and economic relationships take place in the community and the world. But it will take time.
We take up our mantle and we bring the assurance that God has intended to act with abundant favour to us and to all people. It is the now embodied in the promise of the future.
When we look at the world, do we only see the difficulty of the task before us?
Do we see the devastation of many generations of war and conflict?
Do we see the places that are worn out from the destruction of natural disasters, fires, floods, earthquakes and landslides?
Do we see the sheer number of homeless and all those who are looking for a place to live and those who despair that they will be unable to afford even the lowliest of places?
Do we see the devastation that continues in Haiti, or Ethiopia, or Sudan, or in various countries in South America, like Venezuela, because of war or totalitarian oppression?
Do we see the refugees who have lived for decades in tents in Kenya or other countries with no apparent hope of a home to welcome them?
Do we feel the pain of the families who mourn the victims of mass shootings?
Do we despair at the continuing cost of climate change that brings disaster after disaster, year after year?
Yes it is daunting, and it seems insurmountable. But it is not impossible.
That is the hope we take from Isaiah’s words of the promise of a homecoming—the promise of the Lord’s Jubliee.
When we, with hope and confidence in God, take up our work of ministry to this weary world, we do not work alone. In the promised Jubilee we will join WITH ALL PEOPLE. We will grow the desire among all people for true justice. We will build justice and bring to all people the restoration of God.
A new future, the Jubilee is possible because God promises to be the everlasting covenant that this weary world and its weary people need.
Through God’s spirit we will see the ushering in of a day of righteousness and true justice and true peace.
We take heart from the words of Isaiah who reminds us that the Lord has anointed us to proclaim good news to the poor, to to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God. We are reminded that we are called to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. Isaiah 61 NIV
We proclaim the hope that God has given us, and open the future that God is preparing for us. What greater joy can there be?
Amen.
Hymn: 137 Born in the night
Offering and Offertory
Doxology 830
Offertory Prayer
We praise and bless you O God for your great gifts to us: creation—fragile and fascinating, Scripture—revealing your truth and the vision of your kingdom—shedding light into the darkness.
Bless and disturb us O God with that vision of your kingdom, and as we voice our hope before you now, accept all that we offer you, our wealth and our work for your justice. Use what we offer and all that we bring to usher in the year of your Jubilee, as you restore the earth and its people. Amen
Gathering Prayer Requests
Prayers of the People and the Lord’s Prayer
Holy God, Christ with us, we bow our heads in humility. We close our eyes in trust. We draw ourselves closer to you in prayer. We are grateful that you meet us here.
Surround us with your loving presence. From sunrise to sunset, you fill us with awe. For that, we pause to give you gratitude. Thank you for the way the sun shines through our windows, for the mist rising off the river, for the warmth of a cup of coffee, for the joy of returning home, for the beauty of a crowded table, and for the glory of a sky full of stars.
God, we are in constant awe of you.
WE bring you our Thanksgiving and Joy
However, even with this good news at hand, we know that there are many in this world who cannot find the energy to practice awe or wonder because they are so deep in grief or turmoil. So today, gracious God, we pray for those for whom awe feels out of reach. Be with every parent who worries about a sick child. Be with every child who worries about a sick parent. Be with every person waiting on the doctor’s phone call, waiting on the next month’s paycheck, waiting for the next warm meal.
WE pray for our congregation and community:
We thank you for the Shelter that opened here this past week. A place for those who were homeless to have their needs met, find healing and hope and gain the skills to go forth into their own homes. Support and strengthen the staff so that they will see all that they offer as a gift from you.
We pray for the world:
Holy God, surround those with broken hearts who are trying to stitch the pieces together, praying that one day they might be able to feel awe again. All the while, we will keep gathering together and turning to you to remind us that you are the God of the impossible. You are the one who floods our world with awe. You are the one who knows our names. So together we pray, using the words your son taught us to pray, saying:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, for ever. Amen
Hymn: 166 Once in Royal David’s city
Charge and Benediction
Sung Blessing 128
There’s a voice in the wilderness crying
There’s a voice in the wilderness crying
a call from the ways untrod prepare in the desert a highway, a highway for our God The valleys shall be exalted the lofty hills brought low
make straight all the crooked places where the Lord our God may go. Public Domain