"we Are Filled With Joy"

Text: Psalm 126 -- A song of Ascents.

Subject: How Can I Have Joy While Weeping?

Complement: Because Of Past Victories!

Big Idea: The Past Provides Joy for Today And bright Hope For tomorrow.

Preaching Idea: “We Are Filled With Joy.”

Introduction:

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room… an elephant so big—none of us can stop it… an elephant so methodical, we cannot even slow it down… and elephant that even God himself has made no promises to remove from human experience. You could fast and pray for 40 days and 40 nights and it won’t make any difference. Even though this elephant does serious damage to all of us…to our families and loved ones. This elephant casts a shadow over every decision we make. This elephant is expensive and relentless. This elephant cannot be conquered; it can only be embraced. It is why we take pictures. It is why we mark birthdays and anniversaries. It is why we take vacation. It is why we spend/”waste” money on boats and motorcycles and a thousand other hobbies and distractions. It is why we write poetry. It is why we come to camp. It is why we give money to the work of God. Like all elephants, this elephant is huge… maybe this elephant is the biggest of all.

What could it be?

This elephant is called “Aging.”

You …are getting old.

I …am getting older.

Are you aging well?

In July I visited NFLD… went up to an island in a bay called Placentia Bay. On this island my mom was born and raised. My grandparents built a home there. The community is now abandoned. Populated only with cottages where people go to get away from the hustle and bustle of rural Newfoundland. I brought home a piece of wood from the homestead and another piece from the school house where mom learned to read.

On that same vacation I made a trip up the coast of conception bay north to a little fishing village called Grates Cove. Its surrounded by the ocean on three sides. Not a single tree to be seen. The salt air and the rocky terrain makes tree growing impossible. My dad now 81, served as tour guide. He pointed out an outcropping of rock, protruding into the north Atlantic. There, right there. That’s where your great grandfather built his house. I jumped out of the car and scanned the site. Found the remains of the foundation—made of flatrock. I retrieved a sample and brought it home.

Life is too short…. It’s beautiful. Mysterious. filled with wonder.

But we are aging.

How do we age well?

How do we face the 2nd half

or the third period of our lives?

Is it the ninth inning…..Are we in extra innings?

Growing old isn’t for cowards – it requires courage.

We are all pilgrims…. On the journey of life…

Life is Road trip…

Sometimes Pilgrims get tired … bored… or anxious to get there….”are we there yet”?

Can we stop for ice cream?

Mom looks into the backseat of the mini-van and says…

“Read a book…occupy yourself with a book and the journey will go faster.”

Let me share with you a “pilgrim psalm”. ( “a road trip psalm”)

Part A: Laughter.

1 When the LORD brought back the captives to Zion,

we were like men who dreamed.

2 Our mouths were filled with laughter,

our tongues with songs of joy.

Then it was said among the nations,

"The LORD has done great things for them."

3 The LORD has done great things for us,

and we are filled with joy.

Situation: 70 years of exile …. Now…are finally over…

70 year captivity… Babylon. (597 1st deportation)

In the year 586 BC, the 4th month (April) , the 9th day, a breach was made in the city (Jeremiah 39:1,2), and the final assault began. King Zedekiah and his men fled from the city by night "by the way of the king's garden, through the gate betwixt the two walls," and made eastward to Arabah. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. They took him prisoner and brought him to Nebuchadrezzar at Riblah, where the king of Babylon first slew the son of Zedekiah, and then put out his eyes.

With the sons of the captured monarch were slain all the nobles of Judah. This time neither city nor temple nor palace was spared. Nebuzaradan "burnt the house of Yahweh, and the king's house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, burnt he with fire" (2 Kings 25:9).

2 kings 25:9-…13..16…

His soldiers, too, broke down the walls of Jerusalem round about. The treasure and the costly furnishings of the Temple, in so far as they had escaped the former spoliation, were carried away to Babylon. The ruin of Jerusalem was complete. The Book of Lamentations utters the grief and shame and penitence of an eyewitness of the captures and desolation of the Holy City: