Week 2 "From Somberness To Celebration” Series

Seismic Shifts

Session 2 “From Somberness to Celebration”

RBW (inspired from “seismic shifts” book)

Introduction:

+ Seismic Promo Video Clip

“Happy endings” clips (5mins)

+ Q: What did these clips have in common? Happy Endings.

We love happy endings. Don’t we? But, if you’re like me you hate the things in the movies that take forever to finally lead up to the happy ending.

E.g. There’s a guy who meets a girl (hi, hello), they’re attracted to each other (oooh, aahh). They date and quickly fall in love (birds are chirping, bells are ringing, the hills are alive with the sound of music), then war breaks out(bomb sound). He must serve his country (bye, bye, tears, cleanex, kiss kiss). She waits each day by the mailbox for a letter, for someway of knowing that he’s ok. Each day for the next 10 years she faithfully waits by the mailbox… and so does the rest of the movie theatre audience hoping that this movie will resolve… I paid $7.50 for this ticket and by golly I want my happy ending. Finally, three hours into our epic saga he comes back to their little town. The stereotypical bus that always drops off soldiers to their home towns pulls away, the camera zooms into his eyes… he sees her in the distance, camped out at the mailbox. She see him too. Camera zoom. His eyes, her eyes. From here on out it’s slow-motion as the two are now racing across a field of daisies toward each other’s embrace. It’s magical, It’s typical… and guess what? I don’t care because I got my happy ending.

We don’t care how corny the story becomes; I believe we are programmed into needing a happy ending!

Friends, this is the exact message of our Christian faith… no matter what we go through in life, if we have Jesus Christ - there’s always a happy ending!

People in the world have every good reason to be fatalistic, sad, grieving, fearful, without hope, without joy, without the motivation to truly celebrate… but not us! We know how the story ends… it’s just that the waiting can seem just too long!

+Seismic Clip main point 2

The next shift our author gives us in this session is: “From Somberness to Celebration”

Please stand for our Congregational Reading:

Romans 8:18 (NIV)

18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

Philippians 4:4-7 (NIV)

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

In 1945, Anne Frank was a young girl who hid with her family for 2 years in a hidden room during the Nazi invasion of WWII. One of her last entries was this: "Despite everything I believe that people are really good at heart." She was caught and taken to a concentration camp and died at the age of 15. And yet, Anne Frank chose to be joyful.

Ebenezer Scrooge. He had everything. He was the master of his own life. He called all his own shots. He didn’t hide from anybody -- people hid from him. And despite all his wealth and power and success, he had no joy at all. His thoughts on just about everything were as dark as the rest of his life: Bah, humbug!

David was a man after God’s own heart, but who’s brain was he after? Because He made some real stupid decisions in life. Think about it. How could he not have known he’d end up seeing this chick taking a bath. Her name was Bath-sheba, hello! But, He knew how to celebrate God!

2 Samuel 6:16 (NIV)

16 As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart.

Often, David just made a decision to be Joyful! Right in the middle of pouring his heart out to God, he gets an attitude adjustment.

Did you know that the term that the Hebrews said, that the first Christians said, and that we still say “Hallelujah” is a great word picture for our study today?

It’s a compound word: Halal, “to praise” and Jah, an ancient way of writing Yah, or Yahweh.

I.e. “Praise be to the Eternal God” But, that’s not the whole meaning. Halal comes from the Hebrew term, haghagh meaning “to move in a circle”, i.e. to dance. To Celebrate! Whenever you say Hallelujah you’re saying my heart and my life dances before God!