Roaring Camp Joy!

First Lesson: Isaiah 52: 7-10
Responsive Reading: Psalm 98
Second Lesson: Hebrews 1: 1-4
​Gospel Lesson: John 1: 1-14

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Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
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Let me tell you a story about Christmas with no shepherds, no manager, no angels, no wise men, no animals, nor any other element that we normally associate with the Christmas story[1].

The story, in fact, was not originally written to be a Christmas story at all but instead written to signify a different type of new birth. 

England 1674- Isaac Watts was born the son of an unpopular preacher and a refugee.  I imagine kids would pick on Isaac growing up because of this.  Isaac Watts was a short man no more than 5’1 and sickly all his life[2].  Isaac Watts being the son of preacher was frequently bored in church as a kid.  What Isaac Watts couldn’t stand more than anything else was the music.  Isaac Watts would complain to his father about the hymns all the time.  Finally, Dad being sick of young Isaac’s complaining said: “If you can do better then why don’t ya?”  At the age of 15, Isaac Watts wrote a hymn that became fairly well known called “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.” Isaac Watts’ story though as a hymn writer was not over and we’ll get back to it in a little bit.

Today as a congregation, we gather to celebrate the birth of Our Lord and Savior.  There is no greater event in life than seeing new life come into the world.  Every new life that comes into the world has the potential to bring families together, win the Super Bowl, cure cancer or be President of the United States.  Encountering new life in the form of a baby causes to imagine the world much different than what we see on this day. 

Let me tell you a story told by Edward Skidmore and Bret Harte[3] about how “new life” can change the world[4].  Roaring Camp was the meanest, nastiest, town in the wild, wild west.  In Roaring Camp, you’d hope they would just take your money; you’d hope they wouldn’t take your life.  The only people that would dare live in Roaring Camp were men that no woman would ever be foolish enough to marry.  One woman lived in Roaring Camp though named Cherokee Sal.  Cherokee Sal made her living the way that wasn’t honorable, but it was the only way for Cherokee Sal to survive in a place like Roaring Camp.

Cherokee Sal one day got pregnant and would soon give birth to a child[5].  Cherokee Sal then died in childbirth and anyone of the men in Roaring Camp could have been the Father.  The child presented a dilemma to Roaring Camp; now there was a baby present needing to be raised by men who knew nothing but drinking and fighting.  The men of Roaring Camp were the last people equipped to be nannies.  They decided though they should do something for this baby. 

At first, they gather what they could find in an old box and some dirty rags to place the child[6].  The men knew this situation wasn’t right.  So one of the men decides to take some of his previous bounties to a town down the road and buy a new Rosewood Cradle for the baby.  Putting the baby in Rosewood Cradle with filthy rags didn’t seem right though either, so another one of the men rode the other direction down the road to purchase some silk blankets.  The men then tucked the baby girl into the beautiful cradle, but then saw that the floor underneath was filthy as could be.  These were the type of men who had never cleaned a room in their life, but the next thing you know they are down on the floor scrubbing away.  Pretty soon the entire room is spotless from the walls to the ceiling to the dirty windows.  The baby’s room was looking better, but there was still a problem.

These men had known nothing but carousing for the last years of their life[7].  The men were smart enough to know that a baby needed sleep and you can't get much sleep with nothing but rowdy behavior around.  So the men worked on behaving better.  They even began to talk in pleasant, cheerful tones.  When the men went to work at the mine, one of the men was always put on baby duty so the baby wouldn’t be alone.  While the men worked they would look for shiny stones so they could show to the baby, as they played with her.  The men soon looked down and saw that their reflection within the baby’s eyes.  It was a sign of weakness in Roaring Camp to cut your hair or your shave your beard.  You might get called all sorts of names or worse for looking like a preacher.  The men soon realized that they didn’t want to look scary in the baby’s presence.  So soon, the general store in Roaring Camp sold out of shaving soap and other tools[8].  One baby with unexpected origins had changed the whole town of Roaring Creek.  So this leads us to ask the question “Whether one baby can change everything in our lives on this Christmas Day?” 

Today’s Psalm is the 98th Psalm.  Psalm 98 is a call for something new to come into the world.
“Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.  Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together[9]. "

Let me tell you the story of a young woman who this Psalm influenced[10].  This woman was going through troubles in her life.  She had received word that she had gotten pregnant.  She wasn’t sure, whether the man to whom she would be married was going to stick around.  She didn’t have much money to her name.  When she told people her story, no one believed her.  The world around her didn’t seem to offer a lot of hope as she lived under an oppressive political regime that would soon target the life of every baby born.  This young woman believed that new life would, as the case of the baby at Roaring Camp, change the world.  A few months into her pregnancy- she would feel her child singing and be compelled to sing a hymn of praise for what lay ahead in the child’s life.  The woman was Mary (The Mother of Jesus), and the Hymn was the Magnificat[11].

Mary was not the only person influenced by the 98th Psalm. The small, sick child who wrote hymns, he was also a fan of Psalm 98. 

The hymn that Isaac Watts wrote based on this Psalm, you may have heard and we sing today entitled “Joy to the World.” 

Here’s the thing about Joy to the World it was not merely written to celebrate the birth of Christ, it was meant to celebrate what Christ would become[12].  It’s not so much a hymn about Christmas as it is about Christ’s 2nd coming, how Christ will come back again in bodily form.   Isaac Watts like all people of faith was not merely celebrating what has taken place in the past but was eagerly anticipating that which is to come. 

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”-John 1:5. 

Watts in “Joy to the World” expresses our great hope as Christian people.  Christ will one day make creation whole again.  Every baptized child is marked with the cross of Christ as a reminder that one day God’s promises will come true.  The same baby born out of Mary’s womb in Bethlehem will come back.  The same God that promised Mary that she would conceive a child as a virgin promises to keep the word of his return.  We anticipate a day with no more sins or sorrows growing.  We anticipate a day when our Lord makes his blessing flow far as sin’s curse is found. 

So we eagerly anticipate a day when we can sing “Joy to the World” together with all those who have gone before us.  The day when the King of Kings and Lord of Lords shall rule the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove The glories of his righteousness, And wonders of his love.  Anticipating the following day is the good news of great joy to our world that we celebrate this Christmas.   Amen
 
 
 

[1] Hunter, Monica. “Story Behind the Song: Joy to the World.” A Godly Heritage. Dec.13.2010. Web. 13.Dec.2016. 
[2] Kalis, Robert. “Joy to the World.” Joy Bringer Ministries. 2006. Web. 13.Dec.2016. 
[3] Harte is the author of “The Luck of Roaring Camp” published in the August 1868 edition of Overland Monthly. This information was found on “The Luck of Roaring Camp.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation.Sept.16.2016. Web. 13.Dec.2016. 
[4]Skidmore, Edward. K. “Joy to the World.” Sermon Central.. Dec.13.2005. Web. 13.Dec.2016. 
[5] Skidmore, Edward. K. “Joy to the World.”
[6] Skidmore, Edward. K. “Joy to the World.”
[7] Skidmore, Edward. K. “Joy to the World.”
[8] Skidmore, Edward. K. “Joy to the World.”
[9]
[10] McFadden, Dave. “Joy to the World.” Sermon Central. Dec.18.2006.Web. 13. Dec.2016. 
[11] Luke 1:46-55.
[12] Hunter, Monica. “Story Behind the Song: Joy to the World.”