With Shouts of Joy

Preaching Notes

Focus Text: Psalm 126

Professor Samantha Gilmore of Wartburg Theological Seminary in Iowa advances a fascinating theory about Psalm 126. Her question is, “What if it isn’t a metaphor?”

“What metaphor?” you might be asking. Read the psalm again. It is a remembering psalm. It is a cry from a difficult moment, looking back to a better one. Remember when we often ask ourselves. But what does the psalmist want us to remember? It might be difficult to determine the specifics. Many argue that the reference is the return from exile. When the people of God came back to the land they considered their home and God’s home, there was unbridled joy, even though there was much work to be done. The rebuilding was not immediate; the restoration took time and effort. Perhaps that is why the psalmist described this joy as “being like those who dream.” When reality doesn’t match what is hoped for, it takes dreamers to see the potential. Driven by this dream, joy breaks out. Laughter and joy become possible even in desperate situations because the dream is powerful and real.

Remember that? The psalmist asks the singers to recall those days, even if it is a historical remembrance. Family stories tell of the return and the joy that was found in rebuilding the community, both the infrastructure and relationships. The dream was strong and sustaining. But now? “Restore our fortunes,” cries the psalmist and the singers. So quickly, we turn from a glorious, remembered past to a desperate present.

What happened? Who knows? Most likely, it was the return to the burden of daily living. Or it was the sense that instead of relying on the community, we are now on our own. Each one has the resources – it was assumed – to lead their own lives. Or perhaps instead of being enriched by neighbors, they began to be concerned about how others were living their lives. The neighbor became “other.” Instead of widening the circle, they shrank it. Instead of a sense of “we the people,” it became more of an “us-and-them,” an adversarial approach to those around them.

This polarization did not satisfy, however. The people realized that something was wrong. Something was missing. Thus, the song of Psalm 126. “Remember those days,” they said in their own hearts and then maybe to those around them. Remember how real laughter was, how profound joy was? Do you remember that? We shouted, they said to one another, actually shouted our joy. When was the last time you shouted for joy? We need to get that back. We need to be those people again.

Luckily, they were wise enough to know the source of the joy. Restore us, Lord. Restore our fortunes. Wait a minute. What is the request, really? Fortunes. How do we understand fortunes? Is this about material wealth? Of course, desperate people are seeking the resources they need to survive, perhaps even to thrive. There isn’t anything shameful about seeking restoration that involves financial stability.

Yet, when the opening verse remembered restoration as freedom, nation-building, and community gathering, surely the new dream is more than simply financial. It is about well-being and turning tears into shouts of joy. It is about coming home with hope, living in peace and knowing a joy so profound it cannot be kept inside. It leaks out in shouts and in laughter.

So, let’s go back to Professor Gilmore’s question. “What if Psalm 126 is not a metaphor, but a reality?” She is helping us answer the question of where this joy comes from. The psalm presents this joy as passive. We don’t generate this joy; it is given to us. Our mouths were filled … by someone from somewhere. But what would this look like today?

What if this is not a metaphor for something less intense, which is often an assumption in 21st-century United States, thinking-over-feeling contexts, but something that God really does? This language does not suggest a few stifled giggles in an otherwise serious gathering but uncontrolled, tear-inducing, knee-slapping, belly-aching guffaws spreading through the crowd! What kind of events might bring this about? -- Samantha Gilmore, Working Preacher, https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/third-sunday-of-advent-2/commentary-on-psalm-126-16.

Can we even imagine such a thing? Here we are in Advent, remembering the promise of eternity, but also remembering the inbreaking of the kingdom in a birth in a manger on a star-filled night. Who around you is filled with joy this season? Who among us knows what it is to be unable to keep joy contained? Maybe this is part of what Jesus meant when he told us we need to become like little children. Maybe he was suggesting that we need to be filled with joy, to let our mouths be filled with laughter, and to let it out every chance we get in shouts that serve as a reminder that something wonderful is happening, has happened, will happen, and therefore is happening. Psalm 126 wants us to let joy spill out like water in the desert. Our liturgical obligation this Advent season is to give space in worship and in work for shouts of joy.

Rev. Dr. Derek Weber, Director of Preaching Ministries, served churches in Indiana, Arkansas, and the British Methodist Church. His PhD in preaching and media is from the University of Edinburgh. He has taught preaching in seminary and conference settings for more than twenty years.