Rejoice !

A man had gone out driving to do some Christmas shopping, and his wife was at home watching the television when she heard the announcer say, "be very careful and watch driving on the M4 today, there is a motorist driving the wrong way"!

And so his wife got hold of him on his mobile phone to warn him, and his reply was: "You’re telling me, there are hundreds of them going the wrong way here".

Going the wrong way is something that is all too easy to do, particularly at this rather hectic time of year, but our readings this morning give us some guidelines on how we can put things on the right track.

This morning we have heard the wonderful words of Paul from his letter to the Philippians (4:4), ‘Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice…’ Now just for a moment let’s consider Paul’s circumstances – Paul had been a wealthy man who moved in the best circles, he had power and money, he had influence and probably a lot of friendships and acquaintances that went with his position – following his dramatic conversion he gave up that life to become a travelling preacher, with no money and probably not too many friends !

He was chased from place to place, attacked, abused, he had suffered in storms at sea – if he had a family before his conversion he seems to have left them behind, and now, as he writes his letter to the Philippians, he is in prison, probably with little food, and little hope of release.

In the circumstances I suspect that for most of us our first thoughts would not be about rejoicing ! This week I heard a sermon and the preacher likened Christians to a tea bag (not that flattering really, but as he was a Bishop it was best not to object too strongly !) – anyway Christians are like tea bags because you have to put them into hot water to discover their true flavour !

When Paul found himself in hot water, his real flavour came out as he sent out letters of encouragement and support to young Churches, and he did that because that was the measure of his faith – he knew that whatever difficulties he had to face, he had a Saviour in Jesus who was promising to be with him even in the darkest places, such as this prison in which he found himself.

And as well as telling his readers to rejoice, he also encourages them not to worry about anything, but instead to place all of their fears and concerns before God in prayer, and then they would know and feel the peace of God which is beyond all understanding.

From his prison cell Paul was offering a message every bit as blunt, but every bit as encouraging as John the Baptist had, as he preached in the wilderness all those years before. As John addressed the crowds and began to get people’s interest, they began to ask him what they should do with their lives, and John offered 3 simple answers.

The first (Luke 3:7-18) was that whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none, and whoever has food must do likewise. In other words John was giving a lesson in charity. And then he was asked by tax collectors and by soldiers what they should do, and he said that they should collect the right amounts of money, and that they shouldn’t take a bit extra for themselves as was the custom at the time, and they also shouldn’t extort money by threats or false accusations…

And so secondly John told these people to live good and righteous lives, being satisfied with what they were paid rather than taking advantage of their position of power to get some more.

And thirdly the people began to ask if John was actually the Messiah and he told them that one who was more powerful than him was coming very soon, one who will not baptise with water, but with the Holy Spirit and with fire. John spoke of the power, and the majesty and awe of Jesus.

And so from these 2 readings we learn some very valuable lessons about our Christian lives – the first is to Rejoice, casting onto God any worries. There are times when all of us feel good, and when all of us feel bad, and we don’t have to go around with permanent fixed smiles on our faces, but as people look at us as individuals, and as a Church, they must be able to see some of the joy that we feel as Christians – they must be able to see in our daily lives and in our worship some of the hope and peace that kept Paul strong in his prison cell – It’s easy to rejoice when things are going well – but remember the tea bag – it is when we are in hot water that our true flavour is revealed !

In those situations when life isn’t going so well, how do we react then ? And who do we turn to for our peace and our comfort in the bad times ?

And next we learn to be charitable – giving charitably must mean in terms of money when we can afford it, but it must also mean giving in terms of ourselves and our possessions. Following the Biblical teaching is uncomfortable because it demands of us that we are ready to give anything we have if it would help someone else – it’s uncomfortable teaching because it doesn’t really fit in with our culture, and certainly doesn’t often fit in with what we want to do. But the fact that it’s uncomfortable and difficult doesn’t mean it can be ignored.

And following on from that we are called to live righteous lives. Hopefully most of us will not break laws and will try to live good honest lives, but I think righteous means even more than that – it means going out of our way to make sure that we do the right thing – the right thing in terms of caring for and speaking up for those less fortunate than ourselves, the poor, the homeless, the addicts ; the right thing in working for justice for all people in the world, and in speaking up for peace in the world – Being righteous is not about judging others or condemning others, but rather about caring for others, and searching them out in order to offer them a message of good news – that Jesus loves them just as much as he loves any one of us.

And finally we learn from these readings just to sit back and recognise the wonder and the power and the incredible love of Jesus – There’s a saying that God couldn’t make himself any bigger to impress us, so he made himself smaller to attract us… All of the wonders of creation weren’t enough to satisfy us, all of the promises God made weren’t enough, and so he gave us Jesus – a child born to be a king, who brings peace and joy, and hope and light into the world and into our lives today.

And so as Christmas approaches (very fast !), let’s not be too busy or too preoccupied with other things to miss the most important birthday of all – that of our Lord and our Saviour Jesus Christ. AMEN