"All who see them shall acknowledge that they are a people whom the Lord has blessed." This whole
passage is the basis for rejoicing in the Lord. This joy is contagious; the title for the sermon: "Contagious Joy". As we celebrate this 3rd Sunday in Advent and peek into Christmas, finally it is the coming of Christ who gives us lasting joy. He binds up the brokenhearted, brings Good News to the oppressed, etc. I am seeking some stories to enhance this theme.
Tom of MO
This would work well in this congregation. They've had the attitude that ministry is best up to experts and they're the recipients, and I do about all I can to encourage them to ministry, too.
Now, to think of ways in which we give garlands instead of ashes (v. 3). I have this image of putting tinsel garland on everyone's heads. Hey! that would make a good visual: silver tinsel garland (and gold at Christmas Eve)!
Where are we devastated (v. 4)? In what ways?
I think of the morning of my father's funeral, just l;ying there not wanting to get out of bed and saying to my husband, "this is what a broken heart feels like." I'd never known before. But that's not exactly what I mean.
What ways are we devastated - left in empty, crumbling heaps? Devastated in this context means put away, or obliterated, ruined (v 4).
When I think of ruins, I think of the parthenon or the Aztecs or something. It's past, over, kaput. Though we could rebuild the structure, it would be pointless because the entire civilization is over.
What/where/how are we ruined today? or are we? There's something about the feeling of "ruin" that somehow rings true - and this is a Scripture to offer hope, if I ever saw one.
Free-associating in GA (it's Sally)
I can see how this would preach well to my congregations. They need a message of joy, especially in this season. Last weeks passage from Mark was on repentance and to preach the Gospel reading for this week would confuse them in regards to John the baptist being asked, who are you.
The beginning of this passage has the very words Jesus read from a scroll in Nazareth. See Luke 4:18-19. Jesus's comment after reading the passage was, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." vs.21. As you remember the people were furious and drove him out of town in order to throw him off a cliff. Sheesh..
Well, so much for an easy passage to preach from this week. It's the same old story people are comfortable in their gloominess. Why did there have to be a second coming of Christ? Why couldn't people see Him for who He really was? I guess that leads us to the question... Are we willing to accept and behave as people annointed with the blessings of God through Jesus Christ? And if we are how are we claiming that power, that authority, as "a people whom the LORD has blessed." (vs.9)
Frankly I see misery as something most of the churches I have pastored would rather focus on.
61:4 They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.
I'm still waiting to see such an outpouring by the people like this verse describes. There are hints of this happening everywhere. But what would it be like if it happened more often and the words "We can't" were not in our vocabulary?
Just some thoughts, KB
KB - I hear ya! I, too, have served clinically depressed churches my entire 7 1/2 years in the parish. When I used the term "clinically depressed" about my church to my current district superintendent, she said, "Well, give 'em a prozac!" So, that's what I'm doing. Giving a prozac and hoping it will catch on and reverse the depression, and the decline, and ultimately begin to allow this church to grow.
Take heart: by fits and starts, it gets better!!! I'm celebrating (and I'll make SURE to put this in the sermon) today: The UMW does the same mug and socks project for two local missions every year. They collect mugs and toiletry items for the women's crisis center, and socks for a local homeless "village" for women and children. I ran into my lay leader at an unrelated community meeting last nght and she said that she invited those women and children to worship and Sunday school. This doesn't sound earth-shattering, but if you knew how outside-the-envelope that was for this church, who have become accustomed to dropping off the goods and leaving the mission at that, you'd rejoice at this simple act of evangelism, too!
If God can build up ruins, God can certainly turn around a little ol' church.
Sally in GA
We are making the focus of clothing - clothed in righteousness - as a family service centring on getting dressed up for Christmas parties, pageants etc. Images of Christ as having worn our humanity and transforming it, giving out garlands of tinsel and jewelry will be part of the celebration. Decorating a figure with kindness compassion peace etc will also be a feature. Blessings Petereo
From KB
The beginning of this passage has the very words Jesus read from a scroll in Nazareth. See Luke 4:18-19. Jesus's comment after reading the passage was, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." vs.21.
Don’t forget to note
4 Then Jesus returned to Galilee, filled with the Holy Spirit's power. Soon he became well known throughout the surrounding country. 15 He taught in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. 16 When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. 17
THE SCROLL CONTAINING THE MESSAGES OF ISAIAH THE PROPHET WAS HANDED TO HIM, and he unrolled the scroll to the place where it says:...
Remember
This passage was the Lectionary Scripture from the Prophets, for the whole nation of Israel, that Sabbath Day!
weldiger in WNC
Our church has been involved in a building study of our 1920 Akron Plan facility for the past several years. As beautiful as the building is it is largely dysfunctional. Yet, it seems that the consensus of the congregation is to restore it. Now I have to outline for them the challenges of restoring the building, not just literally, as outlined in the BOD, but spiritually as in the text from Isaiah. It seems to me that it goes like this.
There is a plan that must be followed before the restoration can take place.
There must be a period of healing
to comfort all who mourn; to provide for those who mourn in Zion-- to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.
There must be a display of righteousness
They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, to display his glory.
Then the restoration will take place.
They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.
Actually, reading the BOD, it seems that restoring Jerusalem was probably an easier task. :o)
Shalom,
GFT
Where does joy come from and how does it show itself? We are the brokenhearted, the imprisoned. the oppressed, but we are also sent to the brokenhearted, imprisoned, and oppressed to share the joy.
But we think we deserve better. We have been faithful, but our lives are not going well. Why are these things happening to me? we think.
Joy comes from the Lord; from the support of the community of faith in our brokenhearted times. Maybe we are able to rejoice when we are in exile, while we are depressed and brokenhearted, for God's favor rests on us even then. Joy must be related to the presence of Christ in us.
I like the idea of giving people a tinsel garland, and making this an opportunity to share clothing.
Tom in MO
We are the opressors, we are the breaker of hearts, we are the jailors. Isn't it our nation that wants to go to war over Iraq's oil? Aren't we the 'most powerful nation in the world' throwing our might about against anyone that opposes us? Hasn't our nation jailed more of its citizens than any other 'free nation' in the world? What nation has dropped more bombs and created more ancient ruins than us in the past ten years? I don't think we, as a nation, have any right to claim to be like the nation of Israel to whom this passage was preached. They had been ruined, crushed and carried off by the powerful, and are now facing a difficult return home to rebuild. When can we honestly say we are anything like that?
At the very best, some may lay claim to these words as individuals who have suffered and been hurt and I do not want to belittle their suffering but this passage is a passage preached to a nation, not an individual.
Where is the joy? It comes when we, as individuals and as a nation, repent of our sins and finally realize that we are in need of the grace that can only come from God. It comes when we finally hear these words and take them seriously. I think of Jesus response, when he read these words in the Temple- 'In your hearing, these words are fulfilled.' I read the above line with the emphsis on 'hearing.' Maybe one day we will actually hear them, respond to them, follow them and finally do what God has been calling us to do.
TB in MN
I appreciate your carrying the image further to our being the oppressors, the breakers of hearts, those who imprison others. Our greed and selfishness causes us also to be imprisoned in fear, as we grasp for more and more in order to save ourselves. Left to ourselves, we give only ashes to others, and we are left in ashes and mourning.
Our joy comes from God who breaks into our self-centered lives to turn us around. Through Christ we can see the broken-hearted, the oppressed, the imprisoned;we can accept our responsibility to all God's people.
Tom of MO
TB in MN notes that this passage was directed to the nation....
I agree... in part. Certainly the lines about oppressed, captive, etc. But the brokenhearted, those who mourn - these kinds of things I read more as personal.
That to say, I really hear this text speaking at the nation and personal levels.
In fact, this text, and the text in which Jesus quotes it, I find to be saying "Wherever you find bad news, God has good news to share." If we can name the bad news, we should also be able, in each case, to name the good news.
Love the tinsel garland idea. Guess I'll be going to the dollar store before my service!
peace
kent in Québec
It is good to recall that, after Jesus rolls up the scroll(having read from Isaiah), and after having declared that the Scripture was fulfilled in their hearing, and after Jesus burst the bubble of their self-congratulations by reminding them of the outsiders' importance in the stories of God and the prophets of old, the synagogue group chases Jesus out of the city and led him to the brow of the hill"whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong." Preachers beware of the potencies of the text!
This section of Isaiah is written to a returning and probably severely disillusioned bunch of exiles. The work before them which was needed to make life back in Jerusalem bearable (did it make exile seem rather comfortable?) must have been overwhelming. The grand poetry of hope and restoration (Isa.40-55) has to give way to the rubbled realities of "homecoming."
So this week's reading seems to speak right to the mess of it all, ashes, devastations, lawlessness. It seems to provide tangible and poetic images of God's attention to and intention for the exiles returned. Could they have endured the hardship of rebuilding without this encouraging poetry of the prophet?
Aslanclan
A sermon outline:
Theme: The Lord's Spirit-filled, annointed one has been sent on a mission to bring Good News into our desperate world.
Introduction: Make sure there is an understanding of the different 'horizons' of the text. . .when it was first written to a nation. . .when it was used by Jesus to describe himself. . .the national and personal horizons that it has had for people throughout the ages to our own day. I strongly would resist 'personalising' the text. . .we do too much of that. Giving people a sense of God's word to our 'corporate communities' is something Christians urgently must grasp.
1. A people restored.
The Annointed One is sent
to bring/to bind/to proclaim/ to comfort (note the context of mourning for sin - not grief over bereavement!!!!!!)/to provide/to give/to display
2. A people restoring (building/repairing)
3. A people ministering (priests/ministers of God)
4. A people of joy.
Their joy is in God who is just, who has established an eternal covenant, who has blessed his people for all to see, who has given joy because he has made everything right.
Thanks to all for your helpful comments. Particularly the comment on America as oppressor is insightful. Perhaps it must be extended to all wealthy and thereby powerful nations (Canada, UK, European countries etc. . .). Even those of us who call out with prophetic voice must realise that we are part of it too. . .as Isaiah wholly identified himself with his people. The prophet does not stand outside of the nation. He/she bears the guilt, pain, punishment. . .bringing hope in the midst of it all.
A Canadian in Scotland.
