The Dismals
Sermon
Daniel J. Weitner
And Other Reflections On Christmas
Object:
Teachers and preachers, take heart! Not everything you say
goes in one ear and out the other.
I've never forgotten a point that was made in a sermon that was given over 25 years ago. Bob Veon was pastor at a church in the little college town where I did my undergraduate studies. He was talking about the joyless attitude of a lot of Christians. He said he had recently read the musings of a cynic who wrote what was probably the most accurate assessment of the churchgoing masses: "It's noon on Sunday, and the churches of America are opening their doors and pouring forth their dead."
Joy and Christmas. They go together.
Or do they?
One day a couple of years ago, I prepared the various prayers and selected the several hymns that were to go into the next Sunday bulletin. I gave the draft to my secretary, who started typing the final form. However, after a couple of minutes, she began howling with laughter. Puzzled, I asked what had struck her so funny. Through tears and giggles, she finally managed to say, "It's in your order of worship. At the end, instead of writing 'The Dismissals,' you put down 'The Dismals'!"
It was a typographical error, but it illustrates something that I have been stressing from the pulpit for years. The Christian's worship of God is supposed to be noteworthy for its enthusiasm and joy. By the time a typical service is over, the people have sung God's praises, listened to and read God's Word, and asked God's blessing for what they will do in his name during the rest of the week. They have been in the very presence of God!
However, the demeanor of many Christians upon their leaving the service seems to contradict completely a sense of spiritual exultation and victory. Their mood is one of gloom and depression. They are grim and glum. They are joyless. "Dismal" is an apt description of what they look like!
Are you a "dismal" Christian? If so, let the words of the angel to the terrified Bethlehem shepherds resuscitate what may be for you a much-neglected but important part of your life in Christ: joy.
"Do not be afraid," he commanded them, "for see -- I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord" (Luke 2:10-11).
Note what the shepherds did. They did not say, "Woe is us!" They did not screw their faces into looks of despondency and dejection. They did not present a dismal face to the world.
Instead, they fairly tripped over one another in their "urgent haste" to do what the angel said to do: Share the glad tidings with everyone. And all who listened marveled at what the shepherds said, finding everything just as they had said.
Beginning right now, during this Advent season, resolve that if you are now a "dismal" Christian, you will no longer be so! More importantly, pray to the Lord that his Holy Spirit may infuse you with such holy joy that you will henceforth be unable to contain it. "Joy to the world! The Lord is come!"
I've never forgotten a point that was made in a sermon that was given over 25 years ago. Bob Veon was pastor at a church in the little college town where I did my undergraduate studies. He was talking about the joyless attitude of a lot of Christians. He said he had recently read the musings of a cynic who wrote what was probably the most accurate assessment of the churchgoing masses: "It's noon on Sunday, and the churches of America are opening their doors and pouring forth their dead."
Joy and Christmas. They go together.
Or do they?
One day a couple of years ago, I prepared the various prayers and selected the several hymns that were to go into the next Sunday bulletin. I gave the draft to my secretary, who started typing the final form. However, after a couple of minutes, she began howling with laughter. Puzzled, I asked what had struck her so funny. Through tears and giggles, she finally managed to say, "It's in your order of worship. At the end, instead of writing 'The Dismissals,' you put down 'The Dismals'!"
It was a typographical error, but it illustrates something that I have been stressing from the pulpit for years. The Christian's worship of God is supposed to be noteworthy for its enthusiasm and joy. By the time a typical service is over, the people have sung God's praises, listened to and read God's Word, and asked God's blessing for what they will do in his name during the rest of the week. They have been in the very presence of God!
However, the demeanor of many Christians upon their leaving the service seems to contradict completely a sense of spiritual exultation and victory. Their mood is one of gloom and depression. They are grim and glum. They are joyless. "Dismal" is an apt description of what they look like!
Are you a "dismal" Christian? If so, let the words of the angel to the terrified Bethlehem shepherds resuscitate what may be for you a much-neglected but important part of your life in Christ: joy.
"Do not be afraid," he commanded them, "for see -- I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord" (Luke 2:10-11).
Note what the shepherds did. They did not say, "Woe is us!" They did not screw their faces into looks of despondency and dejection. They did not present a dismal face to the world.
Instead, they fairly tripped over one another in their "urgent haste" to do what the angel said to do: Share the glad tidings with everyone. And all who listened marveled at what the shepherds said, finding everything just as they had said.
Beginning right now, during this Advent season, resolve that if you are now a "dismal" Christian, you will no longer be so! More importantly, pray to the Lord that his Holy Spirit may infuse you with such holy joy that you will henceforth be unable to contain it. "Joy to the world! The Lord is come!"
