Psalm 98

Isaiah 52:7-10

Hebrews 1:1-4

John 1:1-14

NUCC

Christmas Day 2005

Joy to the world! The Lord is come:

Let earth receive her king;

Let ev’ry heart prepare him room,

And heav’n and nature sing,

And heav’n and nature sing,

And heav’n and heav’n and nature sing.

Back in 1719 Isaac Watts, one of our own spiritual forebears, read through Psalm 98 and adapted it so that people of his day could sing the psalm as a hymn glorifying Christ.  From that time on we have sung “Joy to the World” as one of our most beloved Christmas carols.

Joy to the World!  What good news for us on this Christmas.  As we reflect on the four scriptures we have heard today and sing along with heaven and nature we discover something about this Christmas joy:

1.                  This joy is heavenly.  Who or what sings in Isaac Watts’ carol?  “And heav’n and nature sing.”  We speak about the “magic” of Christmas.  We rejoice in the “Christmas spirit.”  With the shepherds who sat on that hillside near Bethlehem we enjoy a certain stillness even as the “heavenly angels sing.”  Last night as the candles were lit a certain “heavenly peace” came upon us.  Today was we enjoy the new Christmas Day a bit of heaven sits among us.  This is a day apart.  Even the stores are closed on this day.  Every activity ceases.  Heaven has come to dwell among us.

2.                  This joy is earthly.  Listen to the carol.  “And heaven and nature sing.”  Our joy today is not only heavenly.  Our joy also has an earthly dimension.  Isaiah believed “all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.”  The psalmist spoke of floods clapping their hands and hills singing together for joy.  The writer of John tells us that God’s eternal spirit has taken fleshly form and come to live here.  In the words of our United Church Statement of Faith, God has come to “share our common lot.”

The great joyful truth of Christmas is that our faith is not an other worldly, ethereal kind of faith.  Because God has become present in Jesus this is a faith which dwells in a stable full of earthly smells and sights.

Last week it was my privilege to help do a bit of delivering for the Christmas Angel Project.  We took gifts and food into all sorts of homes, some not too pretty and some having the same smells our Lord must have whiffed when he entered this world.

On television the other night I watched a news report about a family in Louisiana.  Their yard is littered with refuse.  Their home is a shell of its former self.  But this family has also put some ornaments on an evergreen tree and they vow to still celebrate Christmas, even as they still smell the garbage around them.  Perhaps they will also raise their voices in the carol:  “And heav’n and nature sing.”

3.                  This joy was celebrated yesterday.  In our lesson from Hebrews we heard the writer intone:  “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors….”  In our Gospel lesson the writer told us:  “In the beginning was the Word….”

We have a history.  Countless faithful people have gone before us:

• Hebrews escaping slavery in Egypt
• Pilgrims establishing a community on the windy New England shore
• Clark County residents who 50 years ago dreamed the dream of a United Church in Neillsville.

      Our Christmas faith is an historical faith grounded in the life and ministry of Jesus the Christ.  Jesus Christ, not just a wonderful teacher, but one who lived what he taught.  We give thanks that he was born just like we have been born, that he walked and talked, lived and died and has come to live again.  This makes our joy complete and leads us to our last joyful Christmas affirmation.

4.                  This joy is to be celebrated today.  Our psalm this morning speaks to us of “a new song” and “steadfast love.”  Isaiah tells us to “sing for joy.”  The writer of Hebrews not only tells us of “long ago” but also that “in these last days God has spoken to us by a Son.”  The Gospel writer John tells us:  “And the Word became flesh and lived among us….”

Today we sing with joy because God is not just the God of the past, but the God of the present and future.  God is alive and present in the spirit of care and compassion practiced among people like Interfaith Caregivers and Christmas angels.  God is still speaking through countless witnesses in countless localities. 

God challenges us to live our faith today.  Today when we sing “Joy to the World” we think of a wonderful traditional carol, but when Isaac Watts composed this piece he was doing a revolutionary thing.  In those days people believed one should sing only the psalms as written in the Bible, but this became a rather deadly practice, with no life in it at all.  Watts decided to take the inspiration of the Bible and place it in a Christian context in 18^th century England.  He essentially invented the modern day hymn.

     Today we have enshrined the hymns that people like Watts wrote and are  often reticent to sing new words and new songs.  We forget the admonition of the psalmist:  “O sing to the Lord a new song.”   

Yesterday I listened to “A Festival of Lessons and Carols” from King’s College in Cambridge, England.  Before the live broadcast the announcer spoke of the tension between old and new which the planners for this service had to deal with ------ retaining the historic form and singing the beloved old carols while also introducing new pieces and maintaining a “cutting edge.”

On this Christmas Day in 2005 we celebrate a joy which is both heavenly and earthly, both historic and present.  Joy to the world!  And heav’n and nature sing!  And heav’n and nature sing!