“Joy To The World”

“Joy To The World”

Text: Zephaniah 3:14-20

© December 17, 2006 by C. Edward Bowen

Earlier this year over in England, they had a television special about atheism. And in the commercial that they ran to promote the program, they panned across the skyline of New York City and a voice said, “Imagine a world without religion.” And as the voice said that, the picture zoomed in on the tip of New York City, and there were the twin towers of the World Trade Center buildings. The not-so-subtle message was that if there were no religions in the world, things like the terrorist attacks that brought down the World Trade Center buildings would never happen.[1]

From the Crusades to the Inquisition centuries ago, to the war in Bosnia a few years ago, to the unrest in Israel and the sectarian violence in Iraq today, it’s an unfortunate fact that a lot of the violence and divisions in the world have their roots in religion. Certain groups have one set of religious beliefs about God and other groups have other religious beliefs about God, and sooner or later, it seems, those groups rub each other the wrong way and the sparks begin to fly.

For instance, for decades India, which is primarily Hindu, and Pakistan, which is primarily Muslim, have been bitter rivals. And so for decades they fired cannons at each other along a highly disputed border they have in the region known as Kashmir. But three years ago Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan finally agreed that enough was enough, and they worked out a deal to stop shooting at each other, beginning at midnight on a particular day. But at the last minute the two sides got into yet another angry fight with each other about whose midnight they would go by to begin the ceasefire, since India is in one time zone and Pakistan and is in another.[2]

Almost all religions, including Christianity, say that they are about peace. Almost all religions, including Christianity, say that they are about bringing people together, the way that God wants us to be. But all too often it seems that religion ends up having the opposite effect, creating divisions between people and driving them farther and farther apart.

Sadly, you find examples of that almost every Christmas season. Last week, for instance, all the newspapers were reporting about what was going on in the Seattle-Tacoma airport. Like they had been doing for years and year, airport workers put up some Christmas trees around the terminal. But a Jewish rabbi told the airport that if they didn’t also put up a large menorah alongside those Christmas trees, he would sue them. So, to avoid any legal problems, the airport decided to just take down the trees and get rid of them, because they knew that if they put up a menorah, then maybe twenty other religions would also want their symbols to be set up as well, and the airport decided that it just wasn’t worth it. Finally, though, the rabbi withdrew his lawsuit threat, and the Christmas trees were put back up.

But fights about Christmas are nothing new. Conflicts over the proper way to celebrate Christmas can be traced all the way back to the Pilgrims who came over in the early 1600s. You see, the Pilgrims didn’t believe in celebrating Christmas. Since the Bible doesn’t specifically say that Jesus was born on December 25, the Pilgrims didn’t think it was right to just pick a day and call that Jesus’ birthday. And so they looked down their noses at the Catholics and others who made a big fuss about Christmas. In fact, for quite a while the Pilgrims and some of their descendants made it illegal to celebrate Christmas in some of the colonies. And it might come as a surprise to some people to learn that Presbyterians, who are somewhat related to the Pilgrims theologically – even though there have been Presbyterians here in North America since the 1700s, most Presbyterian churches only broke down and finally started having Christmas Eve services in the 1940s.

But back when the Pilgrims first came to this land on the Mayflower, there came with them a small group of other people who didn’t believe exactly as the Pilgrims did, but who just wanted to come over to the New World. And so on that first Christmas, a big fight broke out. The Pilgrims, looking at December 25 as just like any other day, got up and went out to work in the fields. But the others said, “No. It’s Christmas. This is a holiday for us. We’re not going to work today.” And so the Pilgrims reluctantly allowed those other people to have the day off.

But by late morning, the Pilgrims working out in the fields heard all kind of singing and partying go on back in the village. So the Pilgrims ran back into town and scolded those other people, and told them that if they wanted to celebrate Christmas, they needed to do it quietly, by praying and reading the Bible. It’s kind of ironic, of course, that the Pilgrims mainly came to North America in search of religious freedom, but religious freedom was about the last thing the Pilgrims were willing to grant to those who were different from themselves.[3] Instead of the Pilgrims’ religion being a force to bring their community together, in cases like that their religion only served to drive them farther apart from the people who lived with them.

And so in the midst of a world where it seems that so often people – and groups of people – are drifting farther and farther away from each other, where it seems that people have more and more suspicion and fear and distrust of each other, today we heard the prophet Zephaniah offer us some words of hope. Because in that passage that we listened to, we heard about a day when God will begin to bring people back together, a day of joy when God will be in our midst and will break down all the walls that divide us, so that we can return and live together in peace.

And I think what you find is that many people have a deep desire for that to happen. I think what you find is that many people have a deep desire to have relationships with those around them, to bring an end to the isolation and separation that so many people feel. To a large degree, I believe that’s why the website called MySpace is so incredibly popular. It’s basically a website where you can put up a picture of yourself and tell about yourself, and extend an invitation for people to become your friends. And millions and millions of teenagers and adults across the country have created such a website for themselves.

And it turns out that not only do people want to have more relationships and more friends, but so do people’s pets. Building on the success of the MySpace website, there is now a website called dogster.com, where your dog can post of picture of himself and tell about himself (presumably with a little help from his owner), and other dogs can sign up and be your dog’s friend. And right now there are nearly 200,000 dogs from at least 182 different countries that have signed up on that website. There are even websites that are set up so that your pet cat, your pet spider, or your pet mouse can meet new friends.[4]

But as we approach Christmas, I think one of the real miracles we witness is that because of Jesus, we don’t need websites to bring us together. No, as the angel said to the shepherds, the coming of Jesus into the world is good news of great joy not just for some people, but for all people. The coming of Jesus into the world is good news of great joy that has the opportunity to bring people, to bring all people, together.

And as we remember the Christmas story, we see that happening. As we remember the Christmas story, first we see the shepherds being drawn in and included. At that time in history, shepherds were generally treated as outcasts. But the birth of Jesus showed that the shepherds that they were loved, that they were welcome, that there was a place for them. Likewise, when Jesus was born, wise men from a distant country in the east were drawn to Jesus and included. Being from far-off lands, the wise men undoubtedly were from different nationalities and spoke different languages. But as they followed that star in the sky, they too were shown that they were loved, that they were welcome, that there was a place for them. And as Jesus grew up and began his ministry, when it came to tax collectors or Gentiles or prostitutes or lepers or sinners of any sort – no matter how the society of that day shunned or excluded those people, Jesus brought joy to those people’s lives by loving them, by extending a word of welcome and assuring them that there was a place for them.

One day crowds of people were rushing down the steps like they usually do to get on the subway at Times Square in New York City. But in the middle of those stairs was a shabby, shirtless man, who was lying motionless, with his eyes closed. But no one seemed to notice. They just stepped over him and hurried on their way. Finally someone decided to stop and see what was wrong with that fellow. And you know what? As soon as that one person stopped and paid attention to what was going on with that man, others were drawn in to see what they could do to help. One person ran to a nearby hotdog vendor to get the man something to eat. Another person hurried and got a bottle of water for him to drink. Another flagged down a police officer, who radioed for help. Within minutes, the man was revived and was sitting there eating and drinking as he waited for an ambulance to come.

It turned out that the man had no money, and had been wandering the city streets starving, until he finally collapsed there on those subway steps. And it’s entirely possible that he would have died there if no one had bothered to help.[5] But because of one person’s concern, because of one person’s willingness to love another person, a community of caring was suddenly formed. People who had never known each other and probably had never cared about each other were suddenly brought together.

The Christmas angel said: “Behold! I bring you good news of a great joy that is for all the people.” The joyful news of Christmas is not just that Jesus came into the world to show us the love that God has for us. No, the joyful news of Christmas is that Jesus also came into the world to invite us to live in that love, and to welcome others to join with us in showing that love to the world around us. Because it’s only as we do that, only as we reach out and unite with others in love, in doing what God wants us to be doing in the world, that we’ll truly experience the joy that this season is all about.