July 12, 2020 Sermon: Joy in a Weary World

This sermon was preached in-person on July 11 & 12, as well as online for July 12 (video and audio below). I found helpful Debbie Thomas’ reflection at Journey With Jesus.

The uncertainty in our world can be overwhelming, yet God is still at work. As people of God, we have much to be joyful about.

The texts for this weekend are Isaiah 55:10-13, Psalm 65:1-13, Romans 8:1-11, and Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23.

Grace to you and peace from the One who was, who is, and who is to come, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

You’ve probably seen that our country set new records several days this week for numbers of new COVID cases confirmed.

Our cases in Butler County keep gradually going up, and of course, it’s starting to feel closer to home with more cases in Greene and in our congregation.

Some parts of the world seem to be handling the pandemic well, but there are countries, especially poorer developing nations, where it’s like watching a slow-motion train wreck, because in so many places, the virus is compounding the problems of poverty and famine. It’s overwhelming when day after day, the stories of tragedy and loss just keep coming.

Personally, I’m both glad to be here with you for worship, and I’m also relieved there aren’t many more people in the room with us. And at the same time, I also have to be honest — it’s hard to lead worship with lots of empty seats.

I appreciate that you’re wearing masks and I really believe it’s an expression of loving our neighbors, but it actually makes preaching harder because I can’t see your faces or any reactions.

For those of us who haven’t gotten sick (yet), one of the hardest parts of living through a pandemic is the uncertainty. Some tragedies like flooding or a car crash have a clear moment when they happen. But we just don’t know when the pandemic will be over, and the not knowing is tough.

I don’t know how to describe it, but you all are experiencing it too, so you know how hard this season is. So many of the expectations we rely on for what “normal” looks like have been upended this year!

As you know, this weekend is North Butler’s graduation. Times of transition are always difficult, but there are so many more unknowns right now. There are tons of plans and proposals, but no one really knows what college will look like, or what jobs will be affected. Someone I know on Facebook shared a new word this week: “Corona-coaster” — it’s the ups and downs of a pandemic. Maybe I’ll start using that.

Christin and I were at Walmart last week picking up some supplies for the take-home VBS kits, and believe it or not, back-to-school to school sales are already happening.

It’s not an immediate problem for most of us in this room, but how do families make any kind of plans without knowing what school will look like in the fall?

If you’ve had moments recently when you’ve felt overwhelmed, first of all, you have good reasons, and second, you’re not alone. And in the midst of all that, our Scripture lessons today are about joy.

Maybe today you need a reminder of joy.

Psalm 65 begins with the promise that God answers prayer, and that alone is worth celebrating. Then the Psalmist goes through a whole litany of ways God is working in creation, bringing life to the world.

In the midst of all the disruptions of normal right now, God is still present and active. God is still worthy of praise

Romans 8 is just as joyful, but Paul goes a whole different direction. Instead of focusing on God’s good works in the natural world, Paul talks about God’s gift of eternal life beyond this world.

Last week, we looked at the previous chapter, Romans 7, where Paul wrote that frustrated passage about being bound to sin, how he doesn’t understand his own actions, because even when he wants to do good, he still does evil.

His sinfulness keeps him from doing the good he wants. He describes himself as a captive to sin, a prisoner under the law.

But in today’s reading, Paul begins chapter 8 with the most joyful words of hope you can imagine: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and wrath.”

Not only is God is active in nature around us, God’s love for you is personal. The good news of the Gospel is that God has set you free, free from your bondage to sin, free to live in joy rather than in fear, free from the power of death.

And the freedom Jesus has won for you doesn’t depend on how you feel about it. My feeling overwhelmed doesn’t change the fact that God is active in the world, and that Jesus Christ has died and been raised from the dead, and that the Holy Spirit is dwelling within us.

That first reading from Isaiah promises that God’s word does not return empty. God’s plans cannot be foiled. Our sinful brokenness, our divisions and walls, a pandemic, nothing is big enough to stop God from acting.

The remarkable thing about Isaiah’s joyful declarations is that he’s writing to people who are much worse off than we are. The second half of Isaiah is a message of encouragement to God’s people who are in exile, and not just banished from their church buildings or encouraged not to go on vacation, but literally in exile in Babylon. They’ve been conquered and deported. Everything in their lives has changed. They’re not precisely slaves, but they’re certainly not free.

They’ve got basically nothing left, and here comes this word from God, “You shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace” and creation itself will burst into song.

Captivity will come to an end. It will get better. Forgiveness, redemption, and restoration are at hand. God is renewing the world, and the world is rejoicing.

I want to share with you a musical setting of the Isaiah text. This is a hymn that I don’t think we’ve ever sung, but it’s in our newer cranberry hymnal, “Light Dawns on a Weary World.”

[youtube_sc url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QmwXPtr6L8″]

I like this hymn especially because it gives a poetic picture of what God’s action in the world look like. Listen to the words.

Light dawns on a weary world when eyes begin to see all people’s dignity. Light dawns on a weary world; the promised day of justice comes.

Verse 2: Love grows in a weary world when hungry hearts find bread and children’s dreams are fed. Love grows in a weary world: the promised feast of plenty comes.

Verse 3: Hope blooms in a weary world when creatures, once forlorn, find wilderness reborn. Hope blooms in a weary world: the promised green of Eden comes.

And the chorus: The trees shall clap their hands; the dry lands, gush with springs; the hills and mountains shall break forth with singing! We shall go out in joy, and be led forth in peace, as all the world in wonder echoes shalom.

Shalom is the Hebrew word for peace and wholeness, and it represents the world the way God intended it to be, the vision of the garden of Eden. It’s all God’s children living together in peace as a beloved community.

We had a baptism this week for Henry Bain, Joe & Sue Brinkman’s grandson, and as we do every time we baptize, we concluded the service by saying, “We welcome you into the Lord’s family, and receive you as a fellow member of the body of Christ, a child of the same heavenly Father, and a worker with us in the kingdom of God.”

Whether you’ve just been baptized, or you’re graduating from high school this week, or you’ve been part of this church for 80 years, God is calling you to participate in this work of renewing the world. The Holy Spirit is dwelling in you to give you life, giving you a part to play. God’s light is breaking in.

In the midst of the chaos and uncertainty, the new normal and the questions of the corona coaster and everything else in this broken world, remember there is joy in the journey of faith.

Go out in joy, and be led back in peace. Amen