Christian Disciplines: Celebration
Sermon preached at Barclay Church, Edinburgh by Dr Fiona J. Tweedie
16 November 2003

If you ask someone today how they are, especially someone working, or trying to combine work and bringing up a family, or even retired, they often reply “Oof, busy” or “Aarrrgghhh – stressed” or just plain “ehhhh, totally exhausted”. It seems that many people are running round trying to do all the things that society expects them to do that they have no time for friends, for family, for others. Cinemas and theatres are seeing falling ticket sales – apparently people are too tired after dealing with life, to go and enjoy themselves.

People are so busy, scuttling here and there or with noses to the grindstone that they don't see beauty – there is no time to stop and marvel at God's creation, or at how God has worked. No time to reflect on how God has worked in our lives or to enjoy the life that he has given us. Joy is missing from our lives, it seems to be absent in modern society. After all, when was the last time you asked someone how they were and they replied “Great, thank you” or “Fantastic!”

And yet, joy and laughter are important parts of our lives. Just making yourself smile can help you to feel better. The film “Patch Adams” told the story of a doctor in the United States who found that making children laugh helped their recovery and reduced the number of drugs that they needed. At the time the medical establishment was horrified – this man was making fun of their serious profession – they were there to make people better, not make them laugh. Things have changed now – specially trained clowns and others visit hospitals throughout the UK. Even watching cartoons or a funny programme can help people deal with medical procedures and pain.

We've been made to enjoy life, to laugh at it and at ourselves. As Christians, we've got more reason than most to celebrate – we have the Good news of Christ, and yet what is the church seen as today? Boring, solemn, depressing, always complaining about people enjoying themselves. But it wasn't always like that, let's look and see what the Bible says about joy, and how we can apply them to our lives and our church.

GOOD NEWS!

In the meditation that we've just looked at, there were a number of passages about “joy”. The last two were from the beginning and end of the earthly life of Christ.

If we read of the birth of Christ, and yes, I do realise that it's still two weeks until the start of Advent, despite what the shops are telling us – we read that the angels heralded the birth of Christ with the words “I bring you good news of GREAT JOY that will be for all the people” [Lk 2:10]. Today, we are all expected to be “happy” at Christmas time. To be “happy” society expects us to spend ever increasing amounts of money on presents for people we barely know and who probably didn't want and certainly didn't need the latest mail order gadget. We are expected to decorate the house in this year's colours and above all we have to “be happy”. No wonder the suicide rate rises and the Samaritans receive record numbers of calls over Christmas.

But the angels did say that the Saviour's birth was joyful news. The explanation is in the passage we read, taken from the start of Jesus' ministry. Jesus has returned from being tempted in the desert to preach in his home town of Nazareth. Luke 4 records that he read from Isaiah 61, which reads,

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and recovery of sight for the blind, to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor.

Jesus gives the scroll back to the attendant and sits down to teach. Luke records that he begins his sermon with “Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing”. What is Jesus saying here? “The Spirit of the Lord is on ME! I have been anointed, I have been sent to preach! to proclaim! to recover! to release!

Jesus was sent to bring joy – joy to those who were poor – who were suffering from a lack of necessities – joy to those who were brokenhearted – who were suffering emotionally – joy to those who were imprisioned – who were oppressed, whether physically or emotionally, joy to those who were ill – who were suffering physically.

So where is it? Why isn't joy the hallmark of the Christian, or the church? Have we forgotten the fallen state that we've been saved from, How can we have forgotten that moment of unbelievable joy when we first realised that God loves us – you, me, every single one of us? Have we forgotten that we have been saved, become too used to the church, familiar with the Bible record, comfortable in our assurance of eternal life?

Let's face it, it's easy to forget how lucky we are in this country. Buying or renting a new place is exciting, but eventually walking in our front door becomes commonplace, we do it all the time – it might not be most joyous of experiences. But try walking in the same door after sleeping out on the church steps for a night, or going out with the Care Van. Saying good night to folk who will huddle in a doorway while you go home to your warm, dry, house will make you want to praise God for the warmth, the dry, the roof over your head. By sleeping out, by spending an evening out helping with the Care Van, you are preaching the good news - a famous preacher has been quoted as saying, “Always preach the good news, use words if necessary”. By your actions, even by your words you are releasing the oppressed, you are freeing the prisoners.

By freeing people from oppression and suffering we are changing their lives. We are co-workers with God, for we have a God who changes lives. To read the newspapers today, the only way the church changes lives is through splits, extra work or even sexual abuse. But news of lives changed for the better doesn't sell newspapers – if you read Alpha news there are stories of people from all over the world who have come to Christ from lives broken by drink, drugs, debt, illness. You don't belive that miracles happen today? Read of Jackie Pullinger's work in Hong Kong – addicts withdrawing painlessly from drugs through the Holy Spirit, Sarah de Carvahlo working in Brazil, violent, abused street children coming to faith, read the testimonies in the book series “The God who changes lives”. You can feel the joy coming off the pages – God is at work.

Our God changes lives, he turns mourning into dancing, our God is longing to change our lives, to turn our mourning into dancing. He is longing to release you from any oppression, to free you from your prison. He has sent his Son to die to redeem you, to release you from slavery to the world and its expectations. Jesus has died for each and every one of us – if you were the only person on the earth, Jesus would still have died for you. No matter what you have done, no matter what you are ashamed of, no matter who has hurt you or you have hurt. Christ offers you release, Christ offers you good news, Christ offers you joy and a future. If you feel joyless, that your life doesn't mean anything, turn to Him. He knows what you can be, he knows what you can do. The Bible tells us that “God knows the plans he has for us” [Jer 29:11] They're not plans to make you fed up, depressed, or sad, they are plans “for hope and a future”. He is holding out a future to each of us. And before you think, “Not me, I'm too hopeless, God can't possibly do anything for me” remember that the Bible also says that God can “do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” [Eph 3:20] More than we can ever imagine.

John Kirkby couldn't have imagined what God had planned for him when he was left without a job after seventeen years in the finance industry. God gave him a concern for the poverty he saw around him in Bradford. In 1996 he had £10, knowledge of the finance industry and a verse from Proverbs - “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy”. God showed him people struggling with debt, families broken under the stress, people imprisoned by impossible demands. John founded Christians Against Poverty, which now has debt advocacy centres all over the UK, including three in Scotland. They help folk sort out their crippling money problems – they deal with banks and creditors demanding impossible payments – they give people in debt hope, a solution and a future. Many of their clients become Christians – their lives are transformed. If you read of the joy they bring to families, watch the emotion as people on their video tell of their release, then you get some idea of the joy that Jesus brings. That surely preaches more good news to the poor than a hundred sermons.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

And what about us? If you are a Christian, you will have heard and responded to the good news of the gospel. But the Devil doesn't like that, he piles things on us to make us forget, to take away our joy. We are called on fight the Devil, to reclaim our joy - the joy of the Lord that is our strength [Neh 8:10] - to take it back and exercise it. The last thing the devil wants is a group of happy Chirstians – other people might see it and want to join in! Paul tells the Christians in Philippi to exercise their joy - “Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again, Rejoice!” [Phil 4:4] How do we exercise our joy? We celebrate! We have fun! We even party! And before someone says “No fun here, we're Church of Scotland” let's notice that Jesus went to parties, he was even accused of being a glutton and a drunkard – maybe today we'd call him a “party animal”. Fun is biblical.

But let's not turn having fun into a chore, a duty – Oh, I've got to go out and look happy tonight! Oh, I've got to make 60 mince pies , Oh I've got to cook a beautiful three course meal for people. It is MUCH more important to spend time together having fun, than getting worried about how the fun is had. If you like baking, by all means bake 60 mince pies, or invite some friends round to help. You could mark Christmas by giving them to neighbours or friends. If you don't like baking, the supermarkets make perfectly good Christmas slices, mince pies etc. Or ask people to bring something, just get together, chat about life, relax and enjoy each other's company – don't get worried about whether anyone will notice that you didn't actually spend hours slaving in a hot kitchen to produce cakes or a meal.

We can celebrate in simple ways at home, I have a favourite mug and if my husband makes me some tea and it arrives in that mug, it always cheers me up, it brings me joy. Do you have a special plate for cakes or a favourite meal? Use them, let them be symbols of celebration. There are all sorts of ways of marking the changing seasons, whether making (or even buying) a cake and decorating it yourself – Easter gardens, flame pictures for Pentecost, the ceremony of a new day in the Advent calendar.

We can celebrate with friends – do whatever you like to do – if you like to take tea and cakes in someone's house, then do that; if you like to go out for a meal – go out with some friends, if you like to play golf – go play golf with friends. God doesn't demand that we work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, he gives us time for relaxation and refreshment, time to celebrate what he has done for us.

We can celebrate as a church, one of the proposals for the future of this church is to have a monthly celebration service, particularly for praising God and thanking Him for all that he has done in our lives.

For, as the children's song puts it, “Our God is a great big God and he holds us in the palm of his hand”. Our God has done so much for us, he will do so much more for us, he cradles you - he will transform your life, turn your mourning into dancing, if you will only let him. This, more than anything, we can celebrate, and through that, reach out to others.

Let's pray:

God, you have given us joy; may we show joy to others this week,
You have given us good news, may we proclaim it others through our lives this week,
You have given us freedom, may we work to free others,
You have given us health in you, may we work for health in others,
You have given us release from oppression, may we work to release others,
We praise you for your redeeming works we praise you with joy and thanksgiving.
With your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ,

Amen.