“Now the joy of my world lives in Zion”
Hope and disappointment go hand in hand. Excitement and disillusionment have been Spades partners since 98’. They get their hair done together, go shopping together, and will probably retire at the bingo hall together. Where there is one, there is the other. I experience this dynamic duo almost on a daily basis. It’s natural for my personality to want the most out of every experience. If I order food I’m hoping it will be the best version of that meal I’ve ever had even if I’ve had it a thousand times. If I’m hanging out with a friend I want it to feel like a catch-up after not having seen each other for years. I tend to look out at the future with optimism and plan for experiences hoping they will live up to every expectation I have pictured. As you can imagine, this is a set up for a world of disappointment. From soggy french fries to strained relationships and the dumpster fire 2020 has been, joy at times has seemed like a faint memory. Joy is the gauge that lets us know where our hope truly is. If our hope is wrapped up with the expectation that this broken world can meet our needs and fulfill our desires, we will constantly be disappointed. Joy for our soul is only possible when the hope of our world is placed in God.
Lauryn Hill’s Iconic jammy jam To Zion refrains, “now the joy of my world lives in Zion.” I’ve had this song on repeat the last couple of weeks and it’s been a sweet break from the foolishness going on in the world. Between me and my headphones, I can be black and unbothered before the Lord and get some well-needed rest. In the song, Hill tells the story of how she found herself unexpectedly pregnant in a rocky situationship at a young age. Then against the advice of those around her she chooses to keep her son and name him Zion.
“Woe this crazy circumstance/ I knew his life deserved a chance/ But everybody told me to be smart/"Look at your career," they said/ "Lauryn, baby use your head"/But instead I chose to use my heart”
L-Boogie’s hook expresses the joy in her life brought by her son. Oddly enough this time of year we celebrate the coming of another son born to another young woman preparing people for another Zion.
The Christmas story is a story about a poor girl who an Angel rolls up on with a spiritual pregnancy test determining God as the father. This woman is then shamed by everyone but her man and God himself. Only to end up in the big city 9 months pregnant for some taxes, and to give birth in a barn type thing because everywhere else was booked. I can’t imagine her expectations were met, yet scripture records the birth of Christ in this circumstance as, “good news and great Joy” (Luke 2:10). It’s good news because God’s people had been waiting hundreds of years for their champion. The Messiah. The one who was gonna’ tear down their oppressive government, set them free, and rule them with justice. They were tired, oppressed, and looking for a savior- and they got one. They got a baby covered (likely) with poo from an unwed teen mom. Probably not what they were expecting, and yet this baby was the king their soul desperately needed. They like us needed the man that baby would become.
Full-grown Jesus would stand before God on humanity's behalf and take all the guilt, shame, and wrath God rightfully has for us because of our sin. Jesus would replace us. Jesus' life would be the only trade where peace could come to us. This trade, when believed, makes us accepted by God. We become one of his children because his child would become a bloodied murdered man for us. As his children, we are then promised life in harmony with God and each other in Zion. In the Bible, Zion refers to Jerusalem aka the city of David. It’s God’s city where he lives with his people, and after a bunch of fancy bible handling (hermeneutics), it basically means heaven. Heaven for the follower of Jesus will be a place where we live with God in complete satisfaction, wholeness, and perfection. The reality of life with God in heaven is the only place our hope is safe and our joy is made unshakable. If we are going to have true joy, we have to check that it's not placed in anything or anyone other than Christ.
So, how do you know if your hope is placed here in the things of this world? You find your joy stuck swinging from extremes with every loss and every win. Your emotions are tied to the outcomes of your situations. When things don’t work out how expected despair shows up, or you make a desperate attempt for control. Disappointments are real. Your feelings of sadness due to loss are valid and should be felt. Happiness because of good things happening-is good. But the weight of your person and sense of self at your core isn’t meant to ride the waves of chaotic energy this world brings. This world will continually fall short of meeting your deepest desires. Earth is ghetto. This is not the place to hope for fulfillment. We need Zion. We need it’s King.
Christmas 2020 will be one to remember. It may be marked by socially distant or nonexistent family gatherings. It might carry the sorrow of great loss as family members who should be there, are not. Christmas 2020 will be a lot of things but let it be at least one thing. Let it be one marked by moments of packing up and moving your hope from desired outcomes and expectations on earth to its true home in Christ. This Christmas season I pray we all would be able to truly sing,
“Now the joy (Joy)
Of my world (World)
Is in Zion (Is in Zion, is in Zion)”
And mean it. For real.
Read on yo’ own: Luke 2, Revelation 19
Listen To Zion (ft. Carlos Santana)
What I mean by “Sin”: https://youtu.be/aNOZ7ocLD74