The Sounds of Christmas, Joy (Joy to the World), Christ Church Sermon, December 07, 2025

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Park, Pennsylvania. We're a United

Methodist congregation with the mission

of building inclusive community, sharing

Christ's transforming love. To learn

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Thank you for listening.

Today's scripture is from Luke's Gospel

chapter 2 the 10th verse.

But the angel said to them, "Do not be

afraid. I bring you good news that will

cause great joy for all the people. Hear

what the spirit is saying to the church.

Thanks be to God."

So I am curious what your thoughts are

on the appropriate amount of Christmas

decorations for your living space.

I feel like there is a real scale at

play here when it comes to this subject.

On one end you have minimalists th that

is those of us who think that a little

bit of classy decorations really goes a

long way. Everything we put up looks

good with everything else we put up.

Sentimentality has its place, but it's

usually in the back of a tree in a

corner that no one else can see. We have

thrown out the macaroni change that the

children have made the year that they

made them. Every strand of tinsel that

has hung around from the 70s and 80s has

not hung around in our houses. And if

you have outdoor lights, if we have them

all set up, they actually all work and

they are probably a soft glowing white,

very inviting.

On the other end of this scale, we have

what I like to call the Christmas

maximalists.

That's those of us where every inch of

our space in our homes is covered with

Christmas. Our tables, our mantels, our

kitchen cabinets, our toilet seats sing

fa la

every time we open them. Every ornament

you have ever seen in your life from

generations past has a place on your

tree or trees. Perhaps your clothing

even reflects your maximalist

tendencies.

You subscribe or we subscribe to the

theory of of one meme that I saw which

said this Christmas decor is supposed to

look like joy threw up in your house.

Obviously, this maximalist theory is the

one to which I subscribe. In fact, I

want you to take a look at the screen.

This is the gem that my family added to

our decorations this year. If you can't

tell, that's that's our house. And that

is a plane with Santa landing on the

house. Um, and there's a little penguin

on there, too. And I thought that that

was the greatest thing ever until I saw

what's on Pastor Chris's lawn,

which is this.

And if you're wondering if the scale

really is that off, that the reindeer is

that big compared to the house, it

actually is. drive by it. It's pretty

close to the entire uh height of their

house. Clearly, neither one of us are

Christmas maximalists or minimalists.

Sorry, we are the maximalists.

But for as much joy as my decked out

house and that airplane bring to me, I

am really struck every year by how the

vibrancy of the spaces that we create in

our homes and even here differ from

they're actually the polar opposite of

what the shepherds had going on when

that angel paid them that incredible

visit on that first Christmas night. No

lights, no music. They were just out in

a field in darkness doing their job. And

by the way, their job was really rough.

Their job was to protect their sheep at

all costs. Predators included lions,

wolves, bears, hyenas, and leopards. And

as we've talked about before in sermons

where we have mentioned sheep, they're

kind of dumb. During the day, they would

get so caught up in eating that they

would not notice when any of these

predatorial animals would sneak up to

try to snatch them. And so, it was the

shepherd's job to constantly be watching

them to make sure that they were safe

from these predators. At night, the

shepherd would herd the sheep into a

safe place uh on his farmland, maybe a

crude shelter, maybe a a pen made out of

large rocks. And when the sheep settled

in for the night, the shepherd would lay

his body across the opening of that uh

structure or of that pen in order to

keep the shepherds or the sheep rather

safe. So that if one of those predators,

a lion, a hyena, a wolf came up, the

shepherd would often have to beat that

animal off with his bare hands,

protecting his flock.

By the way, if you've been following my

ongoing sermon series about why camping

is to be avoided at all costs, this is

episode three, predatorial animals.

Don't camp.

But here is the thing about shepherds.

Not only was their job tough, but the

world was tough on them.

Despite the care of animals having been

a profession or at least a significant

responsibility for people dating all the

way back to Adam and Eve, over time it

had come to be looked down on as an

unskilled profession. Shepherds were

very low on the socioeconomic scale. And

while they weren't necessarily

considered poor, they were not rich

either. At the time, 3% of the people

controlled 90% of the wealth in that

region where Jesus was born. People were

taxed extensively. Depending on the

corruption of the local tax collectors,

which was rampant, a small farm could be

taxed for as much as 75% of its yield,

which included the wool from the sheep.

Most people were barely making ends

meet, and that included the shepherds.

This is the world that the shepherds

face day in and day out. It was a

dangerous life and a largely joyless

existence. One that was very much work,

very little play, and revolved almost

enti, excuse me, entirely around their

personal survival and the survival of

their sheep. At the end of the day, the

most they could hope for was a night

with only a few predators to interrupt

their rest.

It was during one of those dark,

dangerous, joyless nights that the

shepherd's rest was interrupted in the

most spectacular way. Not by the

predators that they would have expected,

ones who were seeking to take the life

of their sheep, but by an angel who was

entirely unexpected, one who was seeking

to give them new life in the form of an

amazing message.

The Living Bible translation of our

scripture from today says this. But the

angel reassured them. Don't be afraid.

He said, "I bring you the most joyful

news that was ever announced, and it is

for everyone."

Today's verse doesn't say what the most

joyful news ever announced was. We get

to that a little bit later. And before

the shepherds learned what it was, they

would have had no reason to expect that

it was about the coming of the Messiah.

After all, the Messiah had been

predicted or prophesied to be coming for

hundreds of years. At that point,

religious scholar Barton Payne once

counted all of the prophecies that were

spoken in the Old Testament. His final

count was 1,239

prophecies in general, with 191 of them

being about the coming of the Savior.

So people back then had heard about the

coming of the Messiah almost 200 times

through generations of families and

centuries of time and still the Messiah

had not shown up. It's entirely possible

that people then had given up hope that

the promised one would show up at all,

let alone that dark night and to a bunch

of common sheep herders.

Regardless of what that message would

turn out to be, the angel told them one

really big piece of critical information

about the news before he told them what

the news was. And that critical

information was this. That the most

joyful news ever, whatever it was going

to be, was for everyone.

Whatever message the angel was going to

deliver was for every single person. No

exclusions. It was for all people in all

times and in all places. Wealth did not

matter. social status did not matter.

Jobs or professions did not matter.

Everyone got this message. As if to

drive that point home, not just with

words, but with actions. As if he knew

that people would really need to hear bo

both hear and see that message. God sent

that joyful news not to kings in

palaces, although it was for them too,

but to shepherds in a field keeping

watch over their flocks at night.

1 Corinthians 1:es 28- 29 says, "God

chose the lowly things of this world and

the despised things and the things that

are not to nullify the things that are

so that no one may boast before him."

Of course, we do know that the most

joyful news ever that the angel was

proclaiming was indeed about the

promised Messiah. that savior of the

world had finally finally been born.

That good news of great joy that would

change the shepherd's lives had come and

it would change our lives and it would

bring joy to the whole world.

Fast forward 2025 years, we celebrate

and commemorate the arrival of Jesus

into the world every year. Every year we

talk about how this baby came to save us

all. And every year we sing Joy to the

World. And it seems to be a good fit,

right? After all, Jesus's arrival did

indeed bring joy to the world. But

here's the thing about that hymn. When

Isaac Watts wrote the words to joy to

the world back in 1719, he did not write

it as a Christmas song about Jesus's

first coming. He wrote it about Jesus's

second coming. Watts based the lyrics

largely on Psalm 98, which is a psalm

that gives God all of the glory for the

creation of the world. And in which in

that psalm we learn that the entire

world, even heaven and nature, is

preparing itself to worship God the

creator when God comes again. Listen to

some of the words. Let earth receive her

king. Part of Psalm 98:3 says, "All of

Psalms 98:3

the ends of the earth have seen the

salvation of our God." Notice the verb

tense. Have seen. God has already come.

People have already witnessed it. Now

we're singing about the earth being

prepared to receive her king again.

He rules the world with truth and grace.

The end of verse 9 in Psalm 98 says, "He

will judge the world in righteousness

and the peoples with equity." Again,

notice the verbs. Will judge. Again, God

already came, but he will come to rule

again and to judge with righteousness

and equity and with truth and grace. He

comes to make his blessings flow.

Psalm 98 begins with these words. Sing

to the Lord a new song, for he has done

marvelous things. He has done marvelous

things. Already happened. But we sing

about how he will come to make his

blessings flow again.

And those are just some of the words

from the song. The whole thing is about

how the entire world should be preparing

itself for this second coming of Christ.

At first glance, it seems like we don't

have a lot in common with the shepherds.

They lived in a completely different

kind of world and a completely kind

different kind of existence than we do.

But if we look a little bit deeper, I

think that we have a lot in common with

the shepherds.

remembers that the shepherds were low on

that socioeconomic totem pole. They

struggled to make ends meet. There are a

lot of us like that today. In 2024, the

richest 1% of people on Earth had more

wealth than the bottom 95% of the

world's population put together.

In the United States, almost 70% of us

lived paycheck to paycheck in 2024. 40%

of us found it hard to meet basic

expenses. And a little more than 11% of

us were completely below the poverty

line, which means we could not afford to

meet our daily needs of food and

clothing and shelter.

As a society, we still rank jobs based

on whether they are considered skilled

or unskilled, much like what was going

on with the shepherds. And many of us go

to work every day feeling as though our

jobs are in jeopardy. Maybe not from

actual literal wolves, but from

corporate wolves.

The shepherds were waiting for Jesus to

come. They had been hearing about this

Messiah repeatedly over hundreds of

years. They were hoping and praying that

he would come to save them. They had no

idea when he would come. They just had

faith that he would.

But what they may have doubted is that

they would be the first to hear of and

to meet the King of Kings. After all,

who were they? some lowly shepherds just

trying to survive.

We are waiting for Jesus to come again

as well. We have been hearing about

Jesus coming repeatedly throughout the

centuries that have passed since Jesus

ascended into heaven after he came the

first time. Every week we gather here

and we pray for God to intercede in our

lives and for Jesus to come again. Like

the shepherds, we don't know when it's

going to happen. We just have faith that

it will.

Like the shepherds, we may have some

doubt that when Jesus comes again that

the message will get to us at the same

time it gets to other people. After all,

who are we? We are regular people just

trying to survive.

But here is what we know. The good news

of great joy did come back then. Jesus

did come. And when he did, the first

people on earth who got to hear the most

joyful news ever announced were everyday

hard-working people struggling to keep

their flock alive and their f flock

alive and their families fed. And that

joyful news changed their lives forever.

And as Christians today, our faith calls

us to hold on to the hope that Jesus

will indeed come again as promised. The

question is, how do we keep that hope

alive while we wait like the shepherds

were waiting? For that we turn back to

the instructions that we find in joy to

the world.

Let every heart prepare him room.

Prepare room in your heart for Jesus to

come. Read your Bible. Read over and

over the passages where prophecies were

made and then came to fruition. Read

over and over the passages where God

came through for God's people, including

sending Jesus to save us all. Let the

truth of those words sink deep into your

soul and open your heart, preparing room

for Jesus to come again.

Repeat the sounding joy.

Don't stop at preparing a place in your

heart for Jesus to come. That's really

important. Yes, absolutely. But so is

sharing the joy of that message. Repeat

the sounding joy. First repeat it for

yourself. When times get tough and you

cannot find joy and the promise of Jesus

coming seems so far away, repeat that

good news to yourself. Remind yourself

of the most joyful news ever announced,

that first coming of Jesus. And that if

God fulfilled his promise once, God will

surely fulfill his promise again.

And then once you believe in that joy

with your whole heart, repeat the good

news to your friends and loved ones so

that they can come to know who Jesus is

and take their hope and find their joy

in the knowledge that he is coming

again.

Repeat the sounding joy in your words

and in your actions. In other words,

surround yourself with joy this season

in your clothes, in your homes, on your

lawn. Don't be afraid to outwardly live

the joy that you have made room for in

your heart. These sweaters and other fun

things don't just have to be silly signs

of the season. They can also represent

on the outside the joy that lives inside

of you. There's an old saying that joy

multiplies when it is shared with

others. So go and share the joy in all

different kinds of ways this season.

One more thing about the song Joy to the

World. I want you to think about that

first line of the song. Have you ever

sung that first line? Joy to the World,

the Lord has come. You ever sung it that

way? Anybody?

Good. Well, you're wrong. But if you

sing it that way, thank you for saying

something, Lee. I know. Thanks for

helping. It was great. Um, if you sing

it that way, that's not the words. Okay?

So, the words of the song are not, "Joy

to the world, the Lord has come." You

know what the words are? Joy to the

world, the Lord is come. Right? Thank

you for all of you that knew that and

totally blew my example out of the

water. Joy to the world, the Lord is

come. Watts wrote that line not as a

reflection on the joy that had already

happened in the birth of Jesus, but as

an anthem of hope that the joy would

come again when Jesus came again.

With all due respect to Isaac Watts, I

think the song actually becomes a little

bit more powerful when we sing it both

ways.

We start with Joy to the World, the Lord

has come. The shepherds heard the most

joyful news ever announced. They got to

witness the miracle. Jesus had come.

And when we end with joy to the world,

the Lord is come. We are living into the

promise that he will come again. We know

the most joyful news ever announced. We

believe we will witness another miracle.

We believe the Lord will come again. And

what a joyfilled ending that will be.

Let us pray.

God, it can be a struggle to find joy in

a world that is difficult.

where everywhere we turn it seems we are

facing struggle and hardships.

Be with us today. Be with us this

season.

Remind us of the hardships that the

shepherds experienced and that the

promise you gave to them was indeed

fulfilled that night.

Remind us that no matter how hard we

struggle, you have made a promise to us

and you will fulfill that promise again.

Help us to hold on to that joy and not

just hold on to it in our hearts, but to

spread that joy with everyone that we

come in contact with so that they know

who it is we love, who it is that we

serve, and who it is that we put our

faith in in this holiest of seasons. In

Jesus name we pray. Amen.