Third Sunday of Advent 12/16/12 Sermon on murders at Sandy Hook "Joy in the midst of sorrow."

Third Sunday of Advent 12/16/12 Text: Zephaniah 3:14–20 Title: The Prophet Zephaniah and a Vision of Joy in Sorrow I’d like to begin this morning by telling you a story. It is a story of two second career seminary students who came from two different backgrounds. One who I will call Brent had worked for Disney. He had been responsible for creating shows in the park where people could experience joy. Every time he preached he would talk in such a way that people wanted to come into God’s Kingdom. They responded to his message with joy. The other student, on the other hand, who I will call Frank presented the Word of God in a completely different way, for Frank had been a police detective who taught wound identification. He had a photo album that he used that was full of pictures of people who had died from various wounds. It was certainly not a Disney vacation. Just as Brent imagined life and joy, Frank revealed death and sorrow. Watching these two interact with the word of God was amazing throughout the class. The professor liked to play the two off of each other. When Brent would help the class imagine life, filling their minds with the dreams that God has for his people, Frank would wake them up and bring them back to reality, a world of suffering and death. When Frank would imprison them with the harsh reality of sin and God’s judgment in the world, they could always turn to Brent for an escape. “Mr. Disney, could you please sing us one of those songs of Zion?” I have told you this little story because you see what was happening in that class was that they were beginning to pit joy and sorrow against one another. Frank gave them sorrow; Brent gave them joy. They were starting to imagine that faith, in this world, was about having joy without sorrow. As if joy was the absence of sorrow. It is, as many people believe, that unless there is no sorrow there can be no joy, especially at Christmas. And yet when you take the time to read God’s Word that is not how God would have us prepare for Christmas, for life itself. Here are just a couple of places where God shows us that there can be joy in the midst of sorrow. Paul speaks of joy in his letter to the Philippians. Paul writes that they are to rejoice in the Lord always. Rejoice in the Lord always. Wonderful words of encouragement. Yet Paul writes these words from prison. For most people, prison would not be a place to be talking about joy, especially if joy is the absence of sorrow. Yet there it is, Paul’s words, even though Paul’s hands and feet are chained, his heart is free. Paul knows that joy is not the absence of sorrow. No, joy is found in the presence of the Lord who is with him in the midst of his sorrow. Or, consider our Gospel for today. John the Baptizer, suffering in prison, awaiting his execution. He sends messengers to ask if this Jesus is the one who is to come or if they should look for another. And Jesus sends John’s messengers back with a song of joy from Isaiah on their lips. Jesus knows that joy is not the absence of sorrow. No, joy is found in the presence of someone who comes to you in the midst of your sorrow and so Jesus sends John a word that brings him, the Word, in all of his grace; a word that brings hope and thus joy into the midst of John’s suffering. Even though from the Old Testament reading for today you can’t tell, the same thing is happening to Israel; joy in the midst of sorrow. If you were to read the book of Zephaniah like looking through Frank’s bloody photo album rather than Brent’s pictures of Disney where there is nothing but joy. Zephaniah’s vision of divine destruction is devastating. The dead are scattered everywhere. The book opens with the grand sweep of God’s judgment. God says, “I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth. I will sweep away man and beast, I will sweep away the birds of the heaven and the fish of the sea………….I will cut off mankind from the face of the earth.” Now, that is a downer if there ever is one. It is almost as bad as having the image of John the Baptist on a Christmas card. They are both not very Christmassy, for at Christmas we are looking for joy without sorrow. When you separate our Old Testament reading for today from the rest of the book you can easily create the illusion of a family vacation at Disney, or that perfect Christmas celebration that is never achieved, a time of joy without sorrow. Yet Zephaniah’s joy is not joy without sorrow, it is joy in the presence of one who comes to his people in the midst of their sorrow. Jesus Christ, the Son of God who too upon himself the damnation of his human creation is the one that comes to us. Talk about wounds, his wounds are way beyond the wounds that were in Frank’s photo album, more than any wound we have had or ever will suffer from, for not only was Jesus’ body horrifying to look at wounded as it was, he bore our spiritual wounds, wounds beyond horrible; wounds we cannot even begin to imagine. When you study God’s Word, especially the Old Testament text you see that in Jesus all of God’s human creation is reduced to one. Jesus Christ, is the perfect and final sacrifice. He is the sacrifice that takes away the damnation of our sin. He is Immanuel, the presence of God in the midst of Israel’s sorrow and our sorrow. Zephaniah speaks of the joy of the presence of God with his people in the midst of their suffering, as he proclaims, “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty hero who will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you with his love.” God rejoices over those who believe, who trust in him because all judgment is taken away. God quiets those who believe with his love, because, as he tells us in his Word, nothing can separate us from him. Joy in the midst of life’s sorrow is almost impossible for us to understand, but it is necessary for us to understand joy in the midst of sorrow, for us to truly celebrate Jesus’ birth, as we sing that wonderful Christmas hymn, “Joy to the World.” I read a story one time about a Christian woman who didn’t want to go to church. Well, she wanted to go to church, just not her church. She had recently been through some rough times. Her husband died in an automobile accident, leaving her with two small children and one large house. One weekend, she called and asked a friend if they could go to church. He said, “Sure. What time are your services?” And she said, “No, I was hoping to go to your church.” And then she explained. She didn’t want to go to her church because she felt like she didn’t belong there. She had been back to her church since her husband’s death and she felt alone in the pew. She felt alone because her husband wasn’t with her. But she also felt alone, because her church wasn’t with her. She said, “It’s as if I don’t exist,” she said. Consider this woman. When all was going well in her life, with a wonderful husband and two beautiful children, she felt like she belonged. But then, when sorrow came to her home, knocked on her door, and decided to sleep in her bed, waking her up alone in the middle of the night, she didn’t feel like she belonged any more. Her church didn’t give her the place or the language to express her sorrow. It didn’t proclaim the presence of someone in their midst who rejoiced over her and comforted her with his love. It is for people like her, like all of you, that have, are suffering now, or will suffer. God is here. He has prepared a place to worship, a place of joy in the presence of your sorrow. While it is certainly true and good that God has gathered us together, as his people to celebrate the joys of life; the birth of a child, a positive response to surgery or chemotherapy, a marriage, a Birthday, a Baptism, freedom from addiction, graduation, a new job, in all of the joys of life that that we celebrate God is here. He has also gathered us together in the midst of our sorrow, those things we mourn, whatever they might be, can be brought to him, so that he can give us joy in the midst of our sorrow. This morning we lit the candle of Joy, symbolizing the joy that Mary felt in the midst of her sorrow. We too have been given joy, in the midst of our sorrow because that baby born so long ago, helpless and bearing God’s wrath for us made peace with God who now rejoices over you with gladness and love. This is God’s gift of Advent joy to you in the midst of life’s sorrow; a joy that will never end. May you truly know and feel God’s peace, the peace that passes all human understanding. May you know it, not only through the reading and preaching of God’s Word, but through the words and actions of those who call themselves members of Saint John Lutheran Congregation; brothers and sisters in Christ. Amen.