If there is a theme that keeps emerging in today’s two lessons and the psalm it is celebration. The psalmist is celebrating that his prayers and faithfulness have been answered by God’s mercy and goodness. Much later, Paul begins his first letter to the Corinthians by celebrating the new life in Christ that the Christian community in Corinth now shares. And in the Gospel, Andrew and Peter celebrate because they have found the long-awaited Messiah.
Here we find three kinds of celebration: individual celebration, celebration of community and the celebration (of the beginning) of a very hopeful movement.
Often when we think of individual personal celebration we think of particular special events: a epic birthday, a marriage, a birth, an ordination, and we put much effort into that celebration. In the psalm, the writer reflects on a lifetime of celebration: “I waited patiently upon the Lord … and he heard my cry.” “He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God”. “Great things are they that you have done, O Lord my God.” The psalmist also wishes to share his joy and celebration with the whole community: “I have not concealed your love and faithfulness from the great congregation”. The celebration is rooted in deep personal faith that internalizes the law, not in the rote celebration of sacrifices: “I love to do your will, O my God, your law is deep in my heart”. The psalm is the summing up of a life of celebration of God’s love and faithfulness. It also extends to the future: “You are the Lord; do not withhold your compassion from me; let your love and your faithfulness keep me safe for ever.” We are encouraged to see our whole lives (past, present and future) as celebration, rather than concentrating on special celebrations and being, perhaps, a bit dull and depressed the rest of the time.
Likewise, Paul begins his first letter to the Corinthians by celebrating their life together as a community in Christ. In a way, every preacher or speaker to a Christian community should do the same. I celebrate our life together in Christ in this community. Paul extends the celebration of Christ beyond the Corinthian community to the global church of his world, “those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Paul celebrates God’s present ongoing grace in the Corinthian community, “so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift”. And that celebratory grace will continue to be poured out to the end.
The suggestion is that we are called to be not just individuals of celebration but communities of celebration. We celebrate that we are here this morning. We celebrate all that has been done, is being done, and will be done for Christ’s sake in this community. It is so easy to be a bit dyspeptic about church life and begin with complaints. Paul’s celebration is especially marked by confidence: even where there are problems, Paul is essentially a confident person. He was a confident Pharisaic rabbi; that confidence didn’t change, he became a confident apostle to the Gentiles. And he expected that confidence from the Christian communities he visited, oversaw and taught. We, too, do well to have confidence and a deep sense of celebration, rather than bemoaning difficulties, past, present and future, and being messengers of doom.
The Gospel for today tells of the moment of celebration when Andrew and his companion, and then Peter, recognize Jesus as the Messiah, turn away from their fishing nets, and follow him. It is the celebratory beginning of a movement, what the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church calls “the Jesus Movement”. Church history is plagued with exciting movements turning into bureaucratic and institutional nightmares. We are reminded to be open to forms of renewal of Christianity that are not so institutional, that emerge, for example, simply from a group of people wishing to follow Jesus more closely. Such movements might be study groups (Bible study or another approach) or prayer and meditation groups. They might be new commitments to mission, such as work with refugees or neighbourhood groups. They might be movements of radical hospitality. Our willingness to host a large All Saints funeral this Saturday with patience and friendliness will be, I hope, an example of such radical hospitality.
One of the burdens of our big old building is the amount of human energy the building sometimes takes; energy that could better be put into Christian mission and ministry that celebrate and exemplify our faith in Christ. Yet we celebrate too that we have parishioners with the skills and resources to look after this building. And there is no reason why it cannot be the home of many celebratory movements too. And I believe it is.
In all three passages of Scripture, the celebration is ongoing, a mark of the daily Christian life, not just the occasional blast which wears us out and may make us depressed afterwards.
Yet what about the low points? Can we still celebrate when we have human suffering and death, anxieties, poverty, uncertainty and other difficulties to face? Are we somehow just to laugh and joke in the face of these. The answer is, of course, No.
If we go back to the three passages, they all also include within themselves the honest struggle with low points. The psalmist declares, “He lifted me out of the desolate pit, out of the mire and clay, he set my feet upon the high cliff and made my footing sure”. There must have been a lot of suffering behind that reflection. The psalms are full of this dialogue between despair and celebration. The psalmist does not give up. With patience, faithfulness and perseverance, celebration emerges out of the deepest despair.
Likewise, Paul, after these very positive words of celebration, goes on to critique the weaknesses of the Corinthian church. But he does so with love, always urging the community to move from individual backbiting and point-scoring, to a common celebratory faith in Christ. And of course, Andrew and Peter are called to a movement of love and justice that leads to the Cross and martyrdom, in short, to a great deal of suffering before the Resurrection restores all to new life and celebration.
So, ours is not a cheap and superficial celebration – getting drunk in a bar and feeling good about the world, only to come home to a big hangover the next morning – but a celebration, a daily celebration, that is personal, community and missional (being sent out – or even sent in – as a movement of celebration), rooted and grounded in Jesus Christ.
So when we face travails – sickness and death, financial problems, relationship problems, unemployment, distance and loneliness, uncertainty about the future, world events, and so forth – we are given the power to step back and become re-grounded in Christ through prayer, mediation and participation in the sacraments; through mutual support in the community, through retreat from what stresses us (perhaps the social media, or too much work or travel, or taking on too many burdens, or making the wrong things idols). The Christian life is a marathon, not a sprint, and it is not a sin to slow down towards the end or when the road is too steep. Paul uses that “running a race” metaphor elsewhere. But it is a celebratory marathon, “whose yoke is easy and burden light”.
The flaw with the marathon metaphor is that it might suggest competition in which some win and others lose. But in the Christian race, the Christian Way of Life, we all race together, supporting one another, all celebrating together, and, in the end, we all win. The psalmist shares his story to encourage others, including us, so that we may join him in that experience of God’s love and mercy. Paul shares his letter to the Corinthians with the whole church as he wants to encourage the whole people of God. And, of course, Andrew and Peter and the other disciples follow Jesus out into the whole world of all cultures and all peoples, sharing the good and celebratory news of Jesus Christ.
So, let our lives be lives of celebration, day by day, even if there are very low points, points of despair and great sadness, even though the future is uncertain, despite world events, even if we have failed (God offers forgiveness): Let us be like the psalmist: “I waited patiently upon the Lord; he stooped to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the desolate pit, out of the mire and clay; he set my feet upon a high cliff and made my footing sure.” Thanks be to God.
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