Friday evening, as I sat thinking about a sermon, I happened on the Christmas movie, “Home Alone”, followed by the movie “Prancer”.
In the first movie, there is an old man who is the neighbourhood grouse,and of course stories have grown up among the neighbourhood kids about him. The young boy who is the central character in this story encounters the old man in the church, listening to his granddaughter sing. The man says he never talks to his grand-daughter because he and his son had a falling out and don’t speak to each other. The boy suggests he might call his son, especially since it’s Christmas. Towards the end of the movie, the boy looks out the window, to see the old man hugging his granddaughter close, and the most profound joy on his face.
In the movie Prancer, a little girl finds a reindeer with a broken leg and nurses it back to health. She is convinced it is Prancer, one of Santa’s reindeer. The reindeer is set free in time for Christmas Eve, and wonder of wonders, it is indeed Prancer who is reunited with the other reindeer in time for Christmas. Jessica sees the light of the reindeer, and joy shines on her face, Prancer is alive and well. The Spirit of Christmas lives in the heart of a child.
Jesus said, in fact, that to enter the realm of God one had to become as a child. Buddhist wisdom tells us that as we get older we must become more child-like, in order to become enlightened.
For some reason, we have this nonsense idea that to be good Christians we have to be dour, proper, look bored, and above all look uncomfortable if we’re asked to anything which appears remotely joy-filled.
The great writer C.S. Lewis - author of the Screwtape Letters, and the Chronicles of Narnia, was anything but a dour, proper churchman. In 1947 Time magazine portrayed Lewis on its cover alongside a pitchforked, horned, and tailed devil. The magazine accused Lewis of heresy. His heresy, interestingly, was Christianity in a world gone awry. Lewis was a man of laughter and surprises, of jokes and joy. He had a ruddy face because he had a sunny heart. A publisher, in collecting selections from Lewis’s works for a book, called it The Joyful Christian.
Lewis identified joy as the highest and most sublime cause of laughter. For C.S. Lewis, the purest laughter on earth dwells in the kingdom of joy. When joy reigns in the land, the sound of laughter is never far away. Silvery volleys of laughter fall on every dale and in every valley of the countryside where the king of joy rules. In Lewis’s underworld kingdom of pride and selfishness, the devil Screwtape reserved some of his sharpest criticism for this seemingly hallowed laughter of joy. He found it utterly repulsive and repugnant to the ego-infested environs of hell. He attacked its exhilaration and merriment as inappropriate for creatures whose cardinal value is self-importance.
The Atlanta Journal, a while back, carried an article that which talks about depression, particularly around the holidays. Christmas is often a season of unmet expectations, because in some ways it touches the most idealized memories of our childhood; we get nostalgic over the loss of that time in our lives…over losing the ability to enter innocently into the joy of the season. The parties we thought would be great aren't; we see all sorts of ads on TV about toys and realize we can't get our kids everything they want. At Christmas dinner mom or dad gets drunk again, a family argument erupts, the car breaks down, a family member gets the flu and joy is sucked away.
In that same article an expert was asked if a person's faith plays a role in the holiday blues and the expert said no. What he was being asked was if a person's faith adds to the blues many have at this time of year. What he wasn't asked is if a person's faith helps with the blues. The answer to that question is yes.
The theme of joy surrounds the whole Christmas story. The angel said "I bring you good news of great joy" (Luke 2:10). Peter writes of the Jesus movement, "Though we do not see him now, we believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy" (1 Pet. 1:8). In the New Testament the word for "joy" occurs 60 times. The verb form, which means, "to rejoice" is used 72 times. If we do not see the New Testament as a book of joy, we fail to understand the message.
So, why don’t we have more joy today? Joy is not a prevalent attitude among modern Christians. How often do you hear people associate "joy" or "enjoyment" with their religion? A better term on many counts today would be "solemn." How often do we still succumb to the notion that our Sunday services should be “solemn” rather than celebrations of joy?? How often do we think we need to have quiet throughout the services? A congregation which understands the meaning of joy in our worship is a congregation which welcomes every age from the youngest to the oldest, with joy and laughter.
Well, what are the joy-busters in life?
I can think of one - anxiety. The scriptures tell us “Do not be anxious…” In the rush of the season, shopping, exams, service planning, extra activities, we become agitated and fearful. Clergy get into a panic because services have to be prepared, the church decorated in a meaningful which helps enhance the worship experience, we want to offer messages which provide food for the soul and the mind; you get anxious because of the extra things to be done, family gatherings, getting exactly the right gift for each person, and wondering if it’s good enough. But particularly at this time of year, we can know the joy of God if we remember God knows us, loves us, and is with us. We are known, and we know God.
Then there’s guilt. Guilt is a huge joy-robber, isn’t it? There is a reality - which we confess almost every week in our service, as a corporate body. We recognise that we all do things which are less than desirable - we all fall short of our own ideals, and the ideals of our faith. That is what sin is - falling short of what our faith calls us to be, and in doing so hurting ourselves and others. Our sins cannot be excused. But, in our confessions we are repentant and ask for forgiveness and the strength to learn to turn away from those actions in the future. Guilt is a tremendous joy-robber. So today, hear your pastor: I believe with all my heart that God loves and knows each of us, and we are all a forgiven people.
In our hymnbook, we have the wonderful closing chorus:
"You shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace;
the mountains and the hills will break forth before you,
there’ll be shouts of joy, and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands."
And on Christmas Eve, and the Sundays following, we sing one of the greatest hymns of Isaac Watts. Watts was in poor health most of his life, and for the last thirty years was an invalid, unable to leave home. He could have been bitter, instead he wrote: "Joy to the world, the Lord is come, let earth receive her King."
Joy is our theme in this season. Joy which comes from the knowledge of the love of God, the love which holds us in spite of ourselves. Joy shall come, even to the wilderness.
Sources:
1. Mars Hill Review 8 (Summer 1997) “Joy and Sehnsucht: The Laughter and Longings of C.S. Lewis” by Terry Lindvall
2. Sermon “All I Want for Christmas”, by Rev. Steve Jackson, New Song Church, 230 Elm Street, Cumming, Georgia. Dec. 2000.
3. Voices United 884 “You shall go out with joy”
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