Smile, Smile, Smile

 

Isaiah 60:1-6

 

     A man is having a rough year.  He thinks a psychiatrist may be able to help him so he sets up an appointment.  When he arrives for his appointment the psychiatrist has him lay down on the couch in his office.  The man appears as if all the burdens and troubles of the world had been piled on him.  He tells the psychiatrist his story and the doctor gives him the following advice, "You say your world is falling apart, and your life is a shambles and you say there is nothing you can do about it.  My advice to you is you might as well Smile, Smile, Smile."

 

      In our reading this morning the prophet Isaiah is sounding a little bit like the psychiatrist.  The people in and around Jerusalem were struggling.  The reconstruction of the city was not going as quickly as they hoped.  The people who had been exiled were finally allowed to come home.  But there was not a mad rush to return to Jerusalem.  It was more like a trickle of people rather than a downpour.  People lined the roads, hoping to see sisters or brothers but most saw only a few strange faces. They were beginning to doubt God's power and God's faithfulness to the covenant.

 

      Isaiah's advice to them, "Arise, shine."  Cease being weary, have a beaming look on your face.  You probably have good reason to be tired and weary.  But I have a better reason for you to be joyful. You may look at the world around you and give up all hope.  I have a better reason for you to be full of hope. God is coming and God will reveal God's glory not just to you but to all the nations. 

 

      A lot of people get excited about Christmas.  People party and shop and share gifts.  But the day after Christmas their joy is gone.  It's back to the day to day drudgery of life.  They can't see any hope for the future.  Christmas comes and goes and there doesn't seem to be any change.  And it is in the midst of that hopelessness that the church is called to Arise and Shine.  Don't let the message of Emmanuel die.   Paul put it this way in his letter to the church at Ephesus, "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light."

 

      The wisemen came bearing gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh.  The gold indicates a king, the frankincense a priest, the myrrh a prophet's death.  In the child Jesus they had before them a king and a priest who would die a prophet's death.  But the good news was that he was a new kind of king, one who actually cared for the people.  He would be a priest who would actually give his life for his flock out of his great love for them. 

 

      It is because of him we can Arise and Shine.  We are called to be a reflection of his love.  To just be what God created us to be, children of God.

 

      In 1723 Jonathan Edwards read the newsletters of other churches as they were published.  He wrote, "I had great longings for the advancement of Christ's kingdom in the world; and my secret prayer used to be, in great part, taken up in praying for it.  If I heard the least hint of anything that happened in any part of the world, that appeared, in some respect or other, to have a favorable aspect on the interest of Christ's kingdom, my soul eagerly catched at it; and it would animate and refresh me."

 

      The message comes through clearly in the refrain of the hymn We've a Story to Tell to the Nations.  "For the darkness shall turn to dawning, and the dawning to noon-day bright, And Christ's great Kingdom shall come on earth, The Kingdom of love and light."

 

      Epiphany means manifestation.  It means to reveal or to show or to make known.  With this bread and cup God feeds us in order to prepare us to go out into the world to be a reflection of God.  God's Spirit will work through our words and our deeds so that people will come to know who God is.  It is our responsibility to make sure that Emmanuel is not forgotten, to let people know that no matter how dark the darkness, the light is coming. 

 

      "Take, eat this is my body broken for you.  And the Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you."