The Scripture Readings for this week are:
- Psalm 126
- 1 Thessalonians 5:15-24
The Sermon title is Seeking Joy
Early Thoughts: Sometimes it is hard to find Joy. For many people 2020 has been a year with a lot of things that take joy away. Cancelled vacations, no social gatherings, anxiety and worry, missed connections with family and friends. Where is the Joy in all that?
Our two passages this week talk about joy. Using an agricultural image, the psalm shares a hope that those who sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy. Writing to the church in Thessalonica Paul calls the people to rejoice always, to pray without ceasing, to give thanks in all things. Does that seem like hard advice to follow these days?
If we are honest we know that this Christmas season will be very different for many of us. Last night at supper we realized that every other year we would have been having a quick supper and then off to the CGIT Vesper service. Christmas Eve worship will feel weird without a church filled with voices singing the old carols. Families will have Christmas dinner with small gatherings around the table where some years there would have been as many as could fit. Our spirits could very easily be quenched.
But still we are called to seek joy. Not just in the Christmas season but in life generally we are called to seek joy.
I think it is, in part, a matter of perspective. The joy we seek is not just being happy. It is not based on everything going the way we want it. Joy is based on our being grounded in God's presence, in God's love, in God's activity in our lives.
Where will you seek joy this very different Christmas season? Where have you found glimpses of joy over these last 9 months of COVID-tide? For what are you thankful (because I am pretty sure that gratitude is a big part of seeking and finding joy)?
--Gord
PS: now that I have read that Psalm I have the song "Bringing in the Sheaves" as an earworm....
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