Habits for Life: 9. "The Discipline of Celebration"

On this second Sunday of Advent, we come to our 9th and final sermon in a series influenced by Richard J. Foster's spiritual classic Celebration of Discipline: The Path To Spiritual Growth. Today we get to turn the title of his book around, from Celebration of Discipline to The Discipline of Celebration.

Some time ago I read a story about a devout Jew who sought an afterlife. So he went to his rabbi and asked what he needed to do. He was told to avoid all the good and lavish things in life. So he lived simply and humbly. He avoided laughter, wealth, fine parties, rich music, good food, private clubs and gala parties. When he died, he was ushered into heaven. Three days later, he was kicked out of heaven, because he didn't fit in. He couldn't enjoy heaven. He couldn't celebrate the joy there.

The point of this story is not to advocate a life of decadence and self-indulgence; rather it urges us to see the many everyday celebrations all around us. Be open to celebration and joy! It is out there for you. Our text says: "Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean revel in him!"

In the religion of the ancient Egyptians there was a myth that at the last judgement, the god Osiris, functioning like St. Peter at the Pearly Gates in Christian stories, asked two questions of each person who sought a happy afterlife. "Did you bring joy?" and "Did you find joy Did you bring joy? Did you find joy?

The joy questions are appropriate during this season of Advent -- as we look forward to the coming of Christ -- both on Christmas Day, December 25, 1998, as well as the Second Coming of Christ on a day and time uncertain. Our text advises: "Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could come any minute."

During the past several weeks I have had a wonderful time preparing for this sermon on celebration and joy. It seems that almost everywhere I looked, I found something joyful; something worth celebrating; something memorable. Part of the Good News is that I will not share all the illustrations I found with you today; there are too many of them. But this process led me to a few not so obvious insights (to me) about joy that I had not seen before.

The first observation is that joy, like love, is more abundant in those who give it away freely, as if they had an unlimited supply. Those who are stingy with their joy will experience less joy in their lives. Thus, "Did you bring joy?" is a critical question.

A second observation is that there are two kinds of joy -- spontaneous and anticipatory joy. The wonderful music provided today in our service illustrates the point precisely. For those of us who hear this music and react to its splendor - this is spontaneous joy. But those who prepared it, know this was a labor of anticipatory joy. Today's musical text is based on Matthew 25:1-13, The Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids, only five of whom were prepared to celebrate when the time came. This also is important to remember in the advent of our life with God. Sometimes joy comes as a surprise; more often, it is the result of discipline, hard work and planning. If there is one thing every husband should not forget at this time of year, it is this "Christmas Day doesn't just happen without planning and some hard work." If you don't believe me, ask your wife.

A third, and wonderful, dynamic of joy is that joy brings strength. Joy energizes us. Richard Foster writes "Celebration brings joy into life, and joy makes us strong. Scripture tells us that the joy of the Lord is our strength. (Neh. 8:10)." Celebration and joy lifts us up and outside of ourselves and give us an opportunity to participate in God's unfolding adventure NOW. Even Presbyterians are called to be party people -- shocking as that may sound. Celebration and joy are hallmarks of the Christian life -- although most Presbyterians may be more in tune with anticipatory joy than spontaneous joy. Still our lives must be guided by the discipline and practice of celebration in this life.

I am not convinced that all roads lead to joy, but there are far too many of them to list them all here. Let me briefly highlight four ways to joy, to get your thinking started on how to find more joy and give more joy in your Christian life. I encourage you to add to my list. To help you remember these points during the coming week, let me give you a single word summary for this sermon. The word is COME. The theology is that Christ continually invites us to the party of celebration and joy. So COME to celebration. Among the many avenues to celebration are these. C for Compassion; O for Obedience; M for Music and E for Eating. A strange variety of words, ideas and habits -- yet they are all part of the puzzle we know as joy and celebration. This is a montage of what celebration looks like, not a single clear picture.

The first pathway to celebration and joy may surprise you. It is compassion. Catholic author Henri J. M. Nouwen has written "The joy that compassion brings is one of the best kept secrets of humanity." Compassion heals us and others; and this brings celebration. Compassion is spring water for the soul; or as the Dala Lama has said "a mind committed to compassion is like an overflowing reservoir -- a constant source of energy, determination and kindness." Jesus offers us living water. Compassion has many aspects, including, but not limited to compassionate listening to one another; a compassionate eye to see another's need; a smiling face; loving words; a warm heart; and most of all compassionate laughter. When we laugh with people, and not at them, we feel the goodness of wholesome joy. One of the delightful lines from a prayer from fellow Presbyterian minister Houston Hodges is one where he thanked God for "a Pope who is Polish and jokes that aren't." All the world's religions celebrate compassion as the quivering of the human heart in response to suffering. Even our own suffering. One of Life's lessons is that some of our greatest teachers come from the broken pieces of ourselves and those we care about.

A second road to celebration is obedience. Foster writes: "In the spiritual life only one thing will produce genuine joy, and that is obedience." "Trust and Obey -- There is no other way" says the old hymn. While I respectfully disagree with Foster that obedience is the only way to genuine joy, I certainly affirm that obedience is an important, and even a critical, part for experiencing the joy God intends for us. Obedience needs to be a regular part of the fabric of our lives; habits of the heart and mind and soul -- and not some sort of pick-me up infusion to help us through the day or night. The kind of joy that God wants for us is on-going, every day -- not just a once-a-week party. We are to have a perpetual jubilee of the spirit.

A third way to celebration is music. Not just instrumental music, but music in its many forms including singing and even dancing. Today's Old Testament lesson celebrates one of my favorite heroines -- Miriam, the elder sister of the better known priest, Aaron, and her famous little brother, Moses, whom she rescued as a baby. With a tambourine in hand, the prophet Miriam leads the women of Israel in a victory song and dance after they crossed the Red Sea. Don't think victory dances were invented by men playing football or basketball. Miriam showed us how to celebrate. She also reveals another dynamic about celebration. Celebration is not only joy expressed for what has happened and is happening; celebration expresses joy and trust about the future. Our sense of celebration and joy, or the lack thereof, reveals our confidence and trust in the future we see. We live in hope because we trust God.

Along with the picture of Miriam dancing, let me suggest two other dancing celebrations -- one from the Bible, the other from the movies. Remember King David dancing with the Torah, celebrating the guidance God gave to his people. What a joyous picture of celebration! Or better still remember the magical dance of Gene Kelly in Singing In The Rain. Gene is out on the street in a heavy downpour, soaked to the skin, hopping in and out of puddles like a 4-year-old -- and totally oblivious to the wetness. He has just discovered he's in love -- and that is more important than anything else in his life. My friends, we too can sing and dance in the rain because in the midst of life's inequities, we remember God's overwhelming and steadfast, love for us. Through the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are released from the slavery of our sins.

And we can be joyful, remembering Beethoven's 9th Symphony -- the Ode To Joy -- and Henry van Dyke's famous words in one of our most beloved hymns:

Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee,
God of glory, Lord of love;
Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee,
Opening to the sun above. . .

Ever singing, march we onward,
Victors in the midst of strife,
Joyful music leads us sunward
In the triumph song of life.

The fourth way to celebration is eating. I know there is a funny side and a dangerous side to this. After all, gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins. But think about the connections between eating and celebration. It is hard to have one without the other. Birthdays, promotions, retirements and nearly every other significant event in our lives involves eating. Who you eat with says something about who you celebrate. Who you refuse to eat with also tells you something too.

Recently my wife found a story on the Internet about an elderly woman who was approaching her death. She invited the minister to come over so she could discuss her final plans. After listing scripture and hymn selections she said she had two final requests. One, she wanted to be buried with her Bible in her left hand . . . and a fork in her right hand. The minister said he understood why she would want a Bible, but he didn't understand the fork. She explained that "in all my years of attending church socials and functions where food was involved, my favorite part was when whoever was clearing away the dishes from the main course would lean over and say "you can keep your fork." It was my favorite part because I always knew something better was coming. I knew it wasn't Jell-o or pudding. It was cake or pie. Something with substance. I just want people to see me there in that casket with a fork in my hand. And I want them to ask "What's with the fork? I want you to tell them, I knew something better was coming, so I kept my fork."

The 1984 movie Places In The Heart ends with a wonderful scene around a table. This film is about life in rural Texas in 1935, during the depression. At the beginning of the film, Sally Field's husband, the town sheriff, is accidentally killed by a drunken teenager waving a loaded pistol on the railroad tracks. Because the teenager is black and the sheriff is white, the KKK get revenge and kill this youth. We then watch two funerals; two families grieve. The sheriff's widow, left with two small children, Frank and Possum, keeps asking "What's going to happen to us?" Lots of things happen. A kind black man helps this struggling family raise a prize winning cotton crop. They take in a blind boarder, go through a tornado and falling cotton prices. Greedy bankers and merchants. The film ends at church. People are gathered around the communion table, where they are celebrating their new life in Christ. Christ has come to them in the Lord's supper. As the camera goes from face to face in this climax, you notice something holy and joyful about the scene. Those joined at the table are not only the living, but also the dead; not only the white folks, but also the black folks; not only those who have been kind to each other, but also those who have done their neighbors wrong. Christ invites everyone to his celebration.

As we gather around Christ's table on this Second Sunday in Advent, let us come to celebrate the feast God gives us. Come to this time of joy with Compassion, Obedience, Music and Eating with one another. And you can keep your forks. There is more celebration and joy to come in this life and the next. Amen.