Advent week 3: Who needs Joy?

“Bah Humbug, who needs Joy?”

            Bah Humbug, who needs joy?  Not Ebenezer Scrooge, or at least he does not think he does.  He has built up such an incredible emotional wall around himself that he feels nothing.  But that wall is beginning to crack after visits from the ghost of Christmas past and the ghost of Christmas present.  Now, the third ghost is upon him, the ghost of Christmas future. 

            What is the future?  Is it a predetermined path that we are all set upon?  Or can we influence our future in how we make choices in the now?  As Scrooge is tormented by this ghost, as he faces the reality of his own death, he cries out asking if this is the only outcome to his future or if there might be another way.  Is this the way it shall be or is it the way it may be?  Scrooge does not like what his future holds and has awakened within himself that he is ready to change, if only it is not too late. 

How can this be connected to the Advent theme of Joy?  There is no joy, only the fear of death. 

            Isaiah 35: the wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom.  Scrooge is not the first one to experience a dry and empty life.  The prophets spoke of a better future.  They did not believe that the future had to be the reality of their current situation.  They believed through God, through a life of faithful living, God’s creating power for this world .  The prophets sought to bring hope to the people, that their future was not barren, but life giving. 

How is it that God can work out of death to bring new life?  How is it that God works out of barrenness and brings a new future?  How is it that God chooses the hardest places in the world, in our lives, to break in and create flowers and fruit and life giving resources?  Advent is all about the ways in which God is at work in the world to change the future into something full of life.  We move closer and closer to Christmas day, where we celebrate the fullness of God’s light in this world, we move out of the darkness, we move out of the despair, we move out of the fear, into the promise that God is still creating a future, a future for the Israelites, a future for Scrooge, and a future for us. 

Scrooges’ future, if he remains chained in fear, has been determined and he will die a lonely, mean, cold hearted man.  But, but, the future has not yet been written, and Scrooge has choices.  As he fights not just the ghosts that have visited him over the night, he has to fight his own inner demons.  He has to choose to let go of everything that he has built is life around.  As he sheds these things, as he chooses life over death, he finally understands joy.  According to Matt Rawle:  Joy is a passion filled experienced.  Joy is the steadfast assurance that God is with us.  Joy does not mean being happy, but joy is awakening to the understanding that no matter where we are in this life journey, God is with us.  In the midst of our tears, in the midst of our pain, in the midst of the worst news we could ever receive, God is with us. 

As we examine the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, each of the ghosts meets him where he is.  He is home, he is in bed, he is broken and unrepentant, but they come to him because his future does not have to be that way.  God is with us, and God meets us where we are.  Whether we are in the wilderness, or the dry land, or the desert, our future is not determined.  Taking the time to actually slow down and think about our actions and the ripple effect that they have upon the world is a spiritual act.  Just as a bell reverberates its toll out into the world, the bells that awaken Scrooge to a new future, our actions reverberate out into the world as well.  God calls us to make those actions, actions of faith, actions of love, actions of kindness. 

Today, in a couple of little ways, we are changing the future for the better.  What if, what if we did not have the toy march today?  What if, what if the deacons did not purchase sweatshirts for those facing challenging times in the Dover area?  What if.  What if we only focused on ourselves?  But we don’t.  We look out into the world and we see places and people that are facing hard times and we give.  And in our giving, we change the future.  Our love is reverberating out into the world, to families that can now give their children a few more toys for Christmas.  Our love is reverberating out into the world, to men living on the streets. 

Joy, the steadfast assurance that God is with us.  As we share the good news of the Christmas season, that Emmanuel has been born, that God has entered into our world, that God has been, is with, and always will be with us.  Perhaps, perhaps, we are a little bit like Mary.  Perhaps we can be those that bear Christ into this world, so that others can feel within themselves a movement, a movement of joy, leaping within them, just as the infant in Elizabeth’s womb leapt in joy as soon as Mary greeted her cousin Elizabeth.  Or perhaps, perhaps, just like Scrooge, you have felt something within yourself leap, something within yourself move, and called you to pay attention to the joy in your midst. 

Scrooge awakens a new man.  A man grateful to be alive, a man ready to celebrate life, a man ready to change the future.  He is ready to be the rain that falls upon the dry land so that the flowers will bloom.  And he has a specific family in mind.  He must do something, he must do anything, he must do everything within his power to give Tiny Tim a fighting chance to survive.