back to Sermons Archive

December 16, 2007
Scripture: Isaiah 35: 1-10
Title: “Sing for Joy”

I have come to the point in the Christmas season that I am done waiting. Done with the waiting in lines to buy Christmas presents. Done with the waiting for the mail service to bring in items that I ordered on-line so that I actually can let go of the worry that I will have items to give away as Christmas presents this year. Done with the waiting for Christmas morning and being at home with my family.

I am done with the waiting. At least since the beginning of December, I have been in Christmas over-drive, decorating, shopping, keep track of lists of what I need to do, and have been waiting for Christmas morning.

I don’t know if my patience has run out because stores have been playing Christmas music and filled with Christmas decorations since August. and I feel like I am slowly creeping up to Christmas morning.

Or I wonder if I am just feeling the frustration of wading through Advent. I want to make it to the manger now. I want to celebrate the birth of the Christ child now. And I am so close… Here we are the third Sunday in Advent. I can see the manger. I can make out the details but I am just not there yet. I still have quite a long distance to go on my journey to Bethlehem. I have one more Sunday in Advent. I have one more Sunday to wait. And I have got to tell you: I am done with waiting.

I can probably say that I am not alone in feeling this. At Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, we discussed why we were not singing Christmas carols now. We are so close to Christmas. We discussed it theologically. We discussed it liturgically. There were some pretty convincing reasons as to why we are singing Advent songs and not Christmas ones. But I have to be honest with you: I am done with the waiting for that too. At this point in the Christmas season, I don’t want to hear theological or liturgically why we are not singing Christmas songs, even if I gave the reasons on Wednesday night.

I want to sing “Joy to the World” and “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!” I want to sing about Christ being born and that the world is at peace!

And even as I say this, here we are again, the third Sunday of Advent and we are singing Advent hymns. Still waiting for the birth of a Savior King who came in the form of a baby. Still waiting for God’s promises to be fulfilled. Still waiting!!

On this third Sunday of Advent, We are probably all done waiting. We want the Christ child to come now. We want to sing Joy to the World. We are so close on this journey to Bethlehem. We can make out the details. We want to be there now. But we know that we have a few more steps on this journey. We have a good distance to go still.

And we are still waiting. Trudging through Advent. Trudging our way to Bethlehem.

We want God’s kingdom to come now and to make this world at peace once again, like in the beginning in the Garden where nature was in balance and humankind was innocent. We are still waiting!!

And I have to say if you are like me: We are done with the waiting. We want to sing Joy to the World right now!! We want the Savior born now! We want our world at peace now!

We are done with waiting. Very much like Isaiah’s community.

In our Scripture today, Isaiah is writing to a community that has been almost destroyed. They have been taken into exile and have been separated from their families, their friends, their homes, and their Tempel: their very connection to the God that they proclaim will come and save them once again.

Days of exile turn into weeks. Weeks turn into months. Months turn into years. They have reached their breaking point. And they are done waiting. This community is done proclaiming that God will send a Messiah to save them. This community is done holding onto the promises of the past. This community is stranded in a figurative desert of loneliness, quiet anguish, and of dread of what tomorrow may bring.

They are done waiting.

They are beginning to give up hope. They are beginning to give up the dream of salvation. They are willing to give it all up, even their claim to be God’s people. They are beginning to accommodate and assimilate into the world around them.

And Isaiah says to them: Don’t give up hope! You are so close! God will bring rain to this desolate desert that we find ourselves in and will bring forth new life. Flowers will bloom. This barren desert will become a garden of life. Sing for Joy!

Isaiah tells his community that yes, God knows you are tired. God knows that you are running out of hope. God knows that you are done with waiting.

And he says: I have one question for you: Hasn’t God always been faithful in the past? Didn’t our God bring our ancestors out of Egypt and slavery? Didn’t our God bring our ancestors through the wilderness? Didn’t our God provide food and water for God’s people? Didn’t God not turn the barren wilderness into a garden of new life for God’s people? What makes you think that God will not do this again?

Isaiah tells the people Yes, I know we are done with the waiting, myself included. Just know that God will send the rain to the desert of our lives and bring forth new life. God has done this for us in the past and God will do it again for us as God’s people.

Isaiah reminds his community that they practice a faith of the in-between. Here’s a diagram: God saving acts in the past, us, and God’s saving acts in the future. God has acted in the past. God will act again and bring us salvation. So don’t accommodate or assimilate. Hold firm to the promises of God! Sing for Joy because we are God’s. Sing for Joy because we are in God’s hands. Sing for Joy because once what was dry and a lifeless desert springs forth in new life. Sing for Joy because the blind will see, and the deaf shall hear.

Sing for Joy because God will lead us back. Sing for Joy because God will bring us home once more.

Sing for Joy!

Isaiah tells his community that in the meantime, be the people of God. Strengthen the weak. Share the Good news that God will come. God will come and save you. Isaiah tells his community to go and be the people of God, actively waiting, actively working, to bring about God’s Kingdom, actively proclaiming that God’s Kingdom is coming.

And Isaiah has the same message for us today. We as people of faith are done with the waiting. While the world is celebrating and singing Joy to the World, we are trudging through Advent. AndWe are done with the waiting. We are done with the hoping. We are done with awaiting the birth of a King. We want it now! We are done with waiting.

And Isaiah has heard our frustrations and asks us one question: “Okay, you are done with waiting. I get that. So what are you going to do about it? Are you going to accommodate and assimilate? On your journey to Bethlehem, are you going to stop and quit? You are so close! Just a few more steps. Don’t give up. Don’t accommodate and assimilate into a world that does not know the joy of being called God’s very own. Don’t accommodate and assimilate into a world that is crying out, that is broken, that has lost all hope.

Sing for Joy. You practice a faith of the in-between. You practice a faith “in which all the way to heaven is heaven.” So what are you going to do now? Are you going to accommodate and assimilate into a secular culture or are you going to practice the active waiting of a faith that proclaims the coming of God’s Kingdom?

We are a people of the in-between. God has acted in the past and God will act again in the future. And we are in the middle time. During the season of Advent, we hold on to the memory on that night two thousand years ago that a King was born in a manger. We hold to the memory of a young man who taught and preached about God’s Kingdom. We hold to the memory of a man who gave sight to the blind, who gave hearing to the deaf, who made the lame walk, who gave people new life. During the season of Advent, we hold onto the memory of a man who died on a cross on that Friday morning all those many years ago, who was in the tomb for three days, and on that Easter morning, rose from the dead to give us new life.

During the Advent Season, we hold onto those memories. They give us hope. They give us peace. They give us joy. God has acted in the past.

During the Advent Season, we wait for that time when once again, a baby will be born. We wait for that time when once again, God will send a savior. We wait for that time where all of God’s Kingdom will once again be a peace. God will act again.

And as we wait, We are called not to accommodate a world that says the powerful will rule. We are called not to accommodate a world that says that it is okay to for people to go without food or without the basic need of shelter. As we wait, we called not to accommodate a world that says that the only way we can find happiness and wholeness is if we buy it. We are called not to accommodate a world that says it is okay for our world to be torn apart by wars and violence.

As we wait, we are called not to assimilate into a world where the poor get poorer, where children are abused and neglected. As we wait, we called not to assimilate into world that says do whatever you have to do to get ahead even if it means destroying our world and hurting others. As we wait, we are called not to assimilate into a world that refuses to see each other as children of God, made in the image of God.

Isaiah says to us: Good News! God will bring forth new life to this desert. Flowers will bloom. Rivers will flow. God will act in our lives again!

In the meantime, Sing for Joy. Strengthen the weak. Share the Good News! Take the Welcome of God’s hospitality out into the world and invite all of God’s children to the table.

God will come. You are so close to that manger in Bethlehem. Don’t quit. Just a few more steps. Hold firm to God’s promises of hope and salvation.

In the between time, Go, Be the people of God, actively working, actively waiting the coming of God’s Kingdom.

Sing for Joy!! Because you are God’s own! Sing for joy because our God has acted in the past. Sing for joy because our God will act in our lives again! Sing for joy!

May we continue our journey to Bethlehem, actively working and actively waiting for God’s Kingdom. May we continue to Bethlehem, singing for joy. Amen.

Rev. Heather McColl
Midway Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

back to Sermons Archive