A Weary World…
A Weary World Rejoices - Part 1
Sunday, November 15, 2020
Ezekiel 34:1-31
I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.
Ezekiel 34:15-16
Yes, it is almost two weeks before Thanksgiving and yes, we are starting Christmas music in church this week, specifically the song “O Holy Night.” “O Holy Night” may in fact be one of the most popular Christmas carols sung in churches on or close to Christmas Eve. So why are we singing it now?
I must confess; I have traditionally been among those who do not play Christmas music until after Thanksgiving. I have frustrated worship leaders in previous churches by holding back on many of the traditional carols until at least the week before Christmas as we focused more on the Advent texts from the prophets in early December. Most years I reserve the traditional reading of “The Christmas Story” from Luke 2 for the Christmas Eve Candlelight service, leaving some who are unable to attend relying solely on Linus in a Charlie Brown Christmas for this annual taste of nostalgic beauty.
This year is different. This year is 2020. In January it was pumped up as a year of clear vision, and perhaps it has lived up to that promise in ways we would have preferred to avoid. 2020 has indeed opened our eyes and given us clearer vision. It has exposed our deepest fears and vulnerabilities. It has intensified the countless battle lines that divide us from our neighbors. And it has brought out both the best and the worst in everyone as we face one trauma after another and struggle to live into the unknown with hope.
Perhaps more than ever, we are a weary people living in a weary world.
That is why I am inviting us to Advent early this year. In his famous translation of the 1847 French poem, “O Holy Night”, John Sullivan Dwight declares the hope of a weary world rejoicing. He also identifies the ultimate source of our weariness in the line “Long lay the world in sin and error pining…”
More than anything else, 2020 has made many of us come face to face with this painful reality. Our sin, both individually and as a society, is as old as time, and yet we insist on keeping the fruit of the tree right in front of us as a constant temptation to decide for ourselves what, or maybe who, is good and what or who is evil.
We must come to embrace the reality of our own weariness and confess the ways it has driven us to fear, anger, and despair.
As we begin this extended Advent journey, we are invited to lament the state of our world and the state of our souls, to admit we are lost, and to stop pretending we are in control. The “shepherds” in Ezekiel 34 who thought they were in control ended up being the very ones who did the most harm to the rest of the flock. We must also acknowledge the ways we have harmed others as we have sought security for ourselves. Knowing we are lost is the first step to being found.
Listen to this week’s sermon here:
Video of the complete worship service available at http://asburyumc-huntersville.com/live
Check out my intro video to our Advent Series below.