Joy to All of Creation

 

                                                       Peaceable Kingdom -John August Swanson 

1 Joy to the world! the Lord is come:

let earth receive her King!

Let every heart prepare him room,

and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing,

and heaven, and heaven and nature sing.

2 Joy to the earth! the Saviour reigns:

let all their songs employ,

while fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains

repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy,

repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

                                 Voices United 59

We were up early yesterday (recurring theme) and in the gloom we decided to go for a walk, admittedly not the choice of some people -- the majority of people. We chose Belleville's waterfront trail because it is decently lit at an ungodly hour and the path is kept cleared.

It turned out to be a Godly hour as the sun rose above the low-lying clouds in various hues. Of course the sun doesn't rise at all but our planetary home spins on its axis and travels in orbit around this star. I do not like these days of brief, wan sunlight but I was enchanted by the dawn of a new day. 

Joy, including Joy to the World is the theme of this third Sunday in Advent and again today I want to be mindful of the marvellous interdependency of heaven and earth. When Isaac Watts wrote this hymn a little more than 300 years ago it was not meant to be for Advent or Christmas even though that's where it usually shows up in worship resources. It was his interpretation of Psalm 98 with an added Christological twist. 

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;
    break forth into joyous song and sing praises.
 Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,

 with the lyre and the sound of melody.
 With trumpets and the sound of the horn
    make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord.

Let the sea roar and all that fills it,
    the world and those who live in it.
 Let the floods clap their hands;
    let the hills sing together for joy
 at the presence of the Lord.

Psalm 98:4-8 NRSVue

Every year I wonder how I might give praise and thanksgiving to the God who loves the world in the person of Jesus, the Christ, during Advent. There are eco-faith resources for this first season of the Christian year but they are often very earnest about doing more to save the planet. Of course this is important as individuals, faith communities, and through our elected governments. Yet living with a foreboding of the curse of our relentless anthropocentrism can be soul-destroying. At the same time it is imperative that we express our wonder at the love of the Creator and Redeemer and Sustainer who as God in Three Persons enchants and animates all that is around us, every day. 

Thank you to Isaac Watts for this enduring gift. Thank God for the abundance and variety of Turtle Island. Let's repeat the sounding joy each and every day.  

3 No more let sins and sorrows grow,

nor thorns infest the ground:

he comes to make his blessings flow

far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found,

far as, far as the curse is found.

4 He rules the earth with truth and grace,

and makes the nations prove

the glories of his righteousness

and wonders of his love, and wonders of his love,

and wonders, wonders of his love.