Quote from Forum Archives on December 9, 2002, 10:22 am

Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>

FROM HUMBUG TO HALLELUJAH! #3/7

JEST OR JOY?
December 8, 2002

Text: Luke 1:39-55

Before I read the verses from the selected text this morning, I want you
to join me in thinking about one of the words and thoughts associated
with the Christmas season: joy. In how many ways and in how many places
do we hear this word expressed? Merry Christmas. Joy to the world. Happy
holidays. Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel. On and
on we could go. The Christmas season we have been taught to experience is
to be filled with joy.

And why not? After all, whether child or adult - but especially as child
- there is a lot of “magic” this time of the year. After all, expecting
and getting presents almost magically is joyfully exciting. Witnessing
people sharing with others in need a little more than usual is joyfully
exciting. Bringing to mind the experience and traditions of Christmases
past is joyfully exciting. I remember some Christmas mornings in my early
childhood when there would be the electric train or the slot car race
track under the Christmas tree. They were all set up and ready to go. But
what I nostalgically remember about the gifts and the day isn’t how much
fun my brothers or I got to have with them; it was how much fun my Dad
and his younger brother had with them. They would cut up with them for
hours. If I didn’t know better, I would think that the presents were for
them instead of for my brothers and me! Well, you decide. In spite of how
frustrated I probably was at the actual time by having to watch my Dad
and uncle play with our toys, they are Christmas memories now that bring
me humorous joy. Few seasons trigger the memories that Christmas does.

In spite of the joy associated with the season, though, not everything is
always joyful at Christmas time. There was one Christmas season when I
flew to California during college break to be with my family and
grandparents. Before I left to return to the new semester, my grandfather
died following an emergency hospitalization. I am certainly not the only
one here who has had to deal with the grief of the death a family member
this time of the year. Where is joy in that? Just this week, another
Indiana business announced a major round of layoffs to take place before
Christmas. Where’s the joy in that? It seems that national emergencies
have a tendency to take place right around the Thanksgiving and Christmas
seasons, and this year is no exception as a few military mobilization
events are taking place. Members of our Armed Forces, active and reserve,
are experiencing more than normal deployments, separated from family and
friends for extended periods of time. Where’s the joy in that? The angels
may sing “Joy to the World,” but they might as well have been singing to
another planet for all the good it does some of these folks - and maybe
even some of us.

Yet, every year, here we are back to talking and singing about Christmas
joy. There must be something to it. There must be something more than
just a façade of happiness that we put on in order to get through another
season. As we continue in our series about journeying from humbug to
hallelujah, we need to take a look at some of the hard things about
Christmas. We know it isn't all lights and smiles and sugar plum fairies.
So the question I have this morning is what are we going to experience
this Christmas? Humbug or hallelujah? Or, as I entitled this sermon, jest
or joy? And if we truly want to experience a Christ-filled Christmas of
joy, how can we do that?

In this Christmas text, Luke 1:39-55, we learn that following the angel’s
announcement to Mary concerning the forthcoming birth of Jesus, Mary
travels to Elizabeth, a relative. Of course, Elizabeth is carrying the
boy who will become known as John the Baptist. Listen to the Scriptures
as I read the encounter between Elizabeth and Mary, and then Mary’s words
of praise that have become known as “Mary’s Song.” [read Luke 1:39-55]

Even though both of these women had reasons enough to refrain from joy
and fear the future, these passages are filled with praise and joy.
Elizabeth and her husband, we have already been told, are well past their
child-bearing years. Even with today’s modern medicine, pregnancies can
be dangerous for older aged women. Mary was a young maiden who was
suddenly carrying a child. A girl could get the death penalty in those
days for that. At the very least, she could very well lose her fiancé’s
love. She could look forward to losing social status in her community.
Those are not reasons to rejoice, yet both of these women are joy-filled.
Jest or joy? How do they do it?

Before we answer how these two women do it, let us also remember another
Christmas character. Although he is not a Biblical character, we have
also been looking at the transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge's life. Jacob
Marley’s ghost came to warn Scrooge that the consequences of his "humbug
life" were more serious than he could ever imagine. He informed Scrooge
that he would be haunted by three spirits as Christmas Day was ushered
in. The first spirit is known as the Ghost of Christmas Past. Even as the
ghost took Scrooge to visit his past, I invite you to make your own
journey down memory lane. When you do, you may discern some of the
central experiences that have shaped - and often controlled - your
attitude toward Christmas, and life in general.

It is in this first visit that we begin to learn some of the reasons for
Scrooge’s hardness. As a boy, Scrooge was dealt a difficult blow. We
learn that an aloof, harsh father has consigned Scrooge to a boarding
school. Even at a tender age, Scrooge has had to cope with rejection,
loneliness and separation. We can perhaps even begin to feel a bit sorry
for old, bitter, humbug Scrooge. After all, we are no strangers to joy
that is robbed by the memory of wounds we have received.

Another scene from his past reminds Scrooge, however, that not only the
wounds he suffered but also the choices he made brought pain that could
be blamed on no one else. Here we see that our own decisions can steal
our joy.

Scrooge was reminded that he had smothered the Christmas spirit and
quenched his own joy. He saw this through reliving an encounter with his
fiancée, Belle. In this scene she confronts him with the radical change
she has seen in him since he had become “a man of business,” claiming
that another idol had replaced her. When asked what that could be, lovely
Belle replies, “‘A golden one. . . . You fear the world too much,’ she
answered gently. ‘All your other hopes have merged into the hope of being
beyond the chance of its sordid reproach. I have seen your nobler
aspirations fall off one by one until the master passion, Gain, engrosses
you.’” (Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, New York: Scholastic Book
Services, 1962, pp. 47-48) Even though this memory, like the last, became
a hurt that was covered up by a humbug exterior and an even more bitter
interior, Scrooge clearly chose this heartache which tormented him later
in life.

We, likewise, find that the intense joys promoted by this season may be
tinged with memories of wounds we’ve received or bad choices we’ve made.
We find ourselves remembering harsh words, disappointments, and
interactions we wish had been different, whether our fault or not. How do
we respond? Many have learned to cope in various ways. Some through
overwork and others through underachievement; some through avoidance and
others through confrontation; some through anxious drivenness to make
things right, and others through hopeless resignation.

But we will never be free until we face these memories and allow the Lord
to touch them. This is not our natural reaction. Like Scrooge, we may
want to "extinguish" the truth. This is often our first response to pain
and regret, but there is a better way.

In spite of the past, we can choose joy. Life is not all darkness and
gloom, even for Ebenezer Scrooge. The Spirit of Christmas Past also
showed him a memory of joy and the hope of future promise. Scrooge was
also taken back to Old Fezziwig's ball on Christmas Eve, a party which
showed Scrooge the alternative of riches in the pleasures of life and
love.

It is at his former employer’s annual celebration that Scrooge begins to
show a hallelujah side to his character. Witnessing together the hilarity
of the festivity, Dickens devotes quite a little space in his story to
capture the flavor of the party, the Spirit of Christmas Past breaks into
Scrooge’s private thoughts. “‘A small matter,’ said the Ghost, ‘to make
these silly folks so full of gratitude.’ ‘Small!’ echoed Scrooge. The
Spirit signed to him to listen to the two apprentices, who were pouring
out their hearts in praise of Fezziwig; and when he had done so, it said,
‘Why! Is it not? He has spent but a few pounds of your mortal money:
three or four, perhaps. Is that so much that he deserves this praise?’
‘It isn’t that,’ said Scrooge, heated by the remark, and speaking
unconsciously like his former, not his latter, self. ‘It isn’t that,
Spirit. He has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our
service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil. Say that his power
lies in words and looks; in things so slight and insignificant that it is
impossible to add and count ’em up. What then? The happiness he gives is
quite as great as if it cost a fortune.’” (Charles Dickens, A Christmas
Carol, New York: Scholastic Book Services, 1962, p. 46)

At one time Scrooge had tasted the joys of life. We could say he enjoyed
the dance, literally and figuratively. Why? Because he saw there was more
to life than bolts of cloth and musty ledgers, more than production and
profits. But he forgot that joy. Instead, he became consumed by business,
crowding the joy out. If only he had remembered, there’s no telling how
life might have been different.

Memories can remind us that things have been different before and could
truly be different again. The Gospel, as you’ll remember from last week,
gives us the power to choose to respond differently to life. We can take
steps to reawaken the joy of Christmas. God’s Word invites us over and
over to remember God. Specifically, God’s people are to remember God’s
actions. Each one of Israel’s major festivals were established as a
celebration of memory. Passover, Purim, Jubilee, the festival of Booths -
all are a festival of celebration for a specific redeeming event of God.

Such are the familiar memories that Mary and Elizabeth turn to: “My soul
praises the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior… He has
performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud
in their innermost thoughts… He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even
as he said to our fathers.”

We can choose to focus on the memories that bring us joy. We can savor
them and let them awaken the full range of life-giving feelings that are
within them. We can let the Living Lord touch and redeem even the painful
memories. We can bring our memories before the Lord in prayer and ask him
to transform them by his presence. We can ask him to reveal himself in
them so that he gives us, in effect, a new memory of our memories.
Experience the power of Christ, the Lord of Time, releasing you from the
pain of the past so you can joyfully embrace the present and future.

We can invite someone to be with us in this holy season. This is also
what we see with Mary, following the visit from the angel. What would her
future hold? We can imagine there were many emotions swirling around
Mary, including fear and anxiety. Her joy may well have been dampened, if
not quenched, by these uncertainties. What did she do? She sought out
someone who could share this time with her. Someone who understood her
heart. She went to be with Elizabeth. They encouraged and supported each
other. Mary found joy with a spiritual partner. Pray that the Lord will
give you someone to walk with you, to share with you, to make new
memories with you. Someone who can help you rekindle the joy.

Are you hanging on to a humbug moment, something that’s happened already
this season, or that’s carried over from Christmases past? Write it down!
Not to dwell on the matter, but to heal it. Ask God to help you transform
that memory. Pray about it, take what positive steps you can in the
situation, and then watch him give you a new memory of your memories.

Christmas is a season of unspeakable joy, even if the jest - the actual
feeling of happiness - is not there. It brings the message that God loves
us and sent his Son to live with us, to die for us, and to bring us the
gift of eternal life. It proclaims the fact that life is more powerful
than death, that light overcomes the darkness, and that nothing can
separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. True,
Christmas can be a time of painful memories, but they do not need to
control us. We can take steps not simply to deal with our memories, but
to choose to make good memories now - for a Christmas we’ll never regret.
After all, it’s not the memories we have, but the memories we choose to
make that will determine our joy in Christmas.

Rev. Charles A. Layne, pastor, First Baptist Church, Bunker Hill, IN

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