October 13 2021
JOY
I love Frances, the no-nonsense Pope. He tells his clerical cohorts – who love to talk – to have 800 words sermons, because after 8 minutes the gathered flock falls asleep with open eyes, so stop then and there.
I have taken a hint from this: from now on I will make two changes in my writings: no more than 800 words, and once per week. Actually, I am used to that format: for over 10 years I wrote an 800 words weekly column for the regional daily: Back to that old routine: thank you, Papa.
800 words?
Jesus did even better: he started his preaching career with a world-less sermon: instead of speaking at all, he opened his “kingdom” mission by making 800 litres of kingdom wine, the most delicious drink ever made, signifying JOY. He knew Solomon’s words: wine ‘gladdens the heart’.
That’s what the Kingdom is all about. Jesus made water into wine when he attended a ‘seven days’ wedding celebration. Seven days? Only the very rich today can take off 7 days! But then….
The number seven signals eternity; this wedding feast became a symbol of that ‘kingdom’ eternity, a for-runner for the perfect wedding: the holy matrimony between humanity, including Jesus, as the groom, and creation, as the bride: the very last wedding ever, a ceremony that will take place when Jesus returns. Amazing! That’s how Jesus launched his ministry proclaiming the KINGDOM.
The Germans and the Yiddish speaking Jews coined: “Wein, Weib und Gesang”: Wine, Woman and Singing and dancing. That’s what Jesus wanted to see: celebration! The crowd, well versed in the Psalms, enthusiastically sang a version of Psalm 98:
Joy to the world! The Lord is come
Let earth receive her King!
Let every heart prepare Him room
And heaven and nature sing.
Not only are we looking forward to the DAY of the ultimate wedding. But so is creation, “Let Earth receive her King!” That song somehow crept into the Christian hymnbook as a Christmas song. In reality it’s a New Creation song: It correctly sees the world as alive, capable of JOY. It correctly signals to receive its maker. It correctly sees being a partner with humanity and forming a unity with heaven as well. Yes, Jesus tells us that the life of the Christian is a life of feasting: the Kingdom has arrived.
My concordance lists 250 texts with the word JOY in it, but only a few hymns: we need more joyful songs! The Westminster Confession, the cornerstone of the Presbyterian Church, tells me to “enjoy God forever”, but does not tell us how. We enjoy God when we enjoy his creation. We enjoy God when we walk in the woods.
Last week, sitting in my sunroom, I saw a fawn emerging from the pine forest. That is pure enjoyment. A good glass of wine, a delicious meal with friends and relatives: that’s enjoying God. Church services? Community. Among the many guests at that wedding, were also alcoholics, but in that crowd, they were on guard. Jesus also wanted us to show that discipline is important, best exercised in community where we look after each other.
Solomon always combines wisdom with discipline. Jesus wants us to be fully human: dance when the sound of music moves us, and deeply mourn when a funeral dirge is played. Indifference is total taboo for Jesus: be either hot or cold. He loathes the lukewarm fence sitters. Jesus in Cana gave a foretaste of the New Creation.
Luke 22: 10 tells us that “You will eat the most delicious food and drink the most delicious wine at the table in my kingdom in the new creation.” No wonder his opponents, the austere Pharisees called him, ‘a glutton and a winebibber’.
What to write is always on my mind. As a kid I wanted to become a missionary, so my parents sent me to the local university prep school, with an emphasis Latin and Greek. Thank God I did not become a minister. Helmut Thielecke, a well-known German theologian, wrote a book, “Kann ein Pastor selig werden?” (Can a pastor be saved?)
How to fill a service with an 8 minutes sermon? It is my experience that to write 800 words takes more thought as every word is precious. The remainder of the service should be prayer – communal not unilateral. And singing, of course, and reading Bible passages. Make new songs: we need them.
We must see the 8 minutes talk as an introduction to a general discussion, where we bring our questions, reveal our worries, share our doubts and encourage each other. That is something that we will have to learn. Break up in small groups. 800 words. Stop. | |
