Sermon by Rev. David Roth

Lessons: Ten weeks ago I began our Spiritual Growth Campaign by asking a question. What if you could be free from attachments to possessions and fantasies about controlling other people, or the need for recognition and reward, or being driven by the need to be right, or by bodily appetites? Or what if you could be truly, deeply peaceful and content – and even joyful? Not in some far-off time in the future, but now, in your life. And what if you had complete control over how you acted and reacted to things, and weren’t shoved around by negative emotions? Or held in patterns of thinking by obsessive thoughts? And what if there was a program that taught you, and led you away from those kinds of hurts, into healing?

Well, as we learned, there is. The Lord’s plan for healthy life change is given in the Ten Commandments. Everything we need to know about our spiritual life is contained in those commandments as we found out. So we did a course called Rise Above It, and as you’ll hear from a few testimonies today, people’s lives have changed. They’ve started to change and be different – and that might be the same experience that you’ve had. They know there’s still work to be done, but progress has been made and they’re walking down a new path. It doesn’t mean they won’t fall off that path, or divert from it. But they are trying, and things have changed and are different. So we’ve journeyed together attempting, as the title of the course reads, to “rise above it.” So what is IT that we’re trying to “rise above,” that we’ve been working on?

There’s a word that’s not translated particularly well called “proprium”. It’s your proprium, your stuff, your baggage, the nasty side of yourself. Or your self when it’s led by self, instead of being led by the Lord. We have this side of ourselves – we have it, but we don’t have to be it, or listen to it, or be led by it. And the Lord can create in us a heavenly, or a new, proprium or “own”, when we follow His program, and live by His teachings. He gives us that ability to rise above it. And we can’t do it by ourselves. I want to say that again: we can’t do it by ourselves. People try to do it by themselves. Couples try to do it without help from the Lord, too. But as you find, it can’t be done.

The Lord says, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father, except by Me.” The Father is the Divine Good – all that is good and loving. And you can’t get to that place without the Son, which is His truth, His teachings, His Word. And He says, “I and my Father are One.” They’re not separate. Love and wisdom, good and truth aren’t separate, but you can’t get there without going through the Word, using the Word to get there. So the Lord invites us. He says, “Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me. For I am gentle, and lowly in heart. And you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”

So the Lord, with all of His resources - which are everything that’s good, everything that’s true, everything that’s loving – will be working for you and fighting for you. Listen to what the Writings for the New Church say about this. It says, “The Lord’s yoke is easy and His burden is light because we are led by the Lord and not by ourselves just to the extent that we resist the evils that flow forth from the love of self and the world. Because when we do this, the Lord then resists these evils with us, and removes them.” So the Lord is working for you, when you do that. He’s the one that’s removing them and He’s the one that’s helping you to resist them. But we have to participate and turn away from them when they rise up.

I love what it says in the Gospel of John. “He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And he who loves me will be loved by My Father. And I will love him and manifest Myself to him. If anyone loves Me, he will keep my Word, and My Father will love him. And we will come to him, and make Our home with him.” The Lord will make His home in your heart, in your life, as you attempt to keep His commandments. Wouldn’t that be good? Having the Lord dwell in us, making His home in us? Not in some far-away place but right here, in our hearts. The Lord will be in you, as His home.

It’s now the beginning of the Christmas season, and the story of Christmas is about the birth of unselfish love into a human heart, mind and life. And it happens for us when we create room in ourselves for the Lord to be born. Do you remember the story of Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem and they came to the inn, and there was no room in the inn? That always strikes me as a reminder of – “Well, do I have room in myself for the Lord to be born? And what are the barriers for me? What’s occupying that place where the Lord could be? What’s filling it up”?

When we create room for the Lord, He can be born in us. And that’s what keeping these commandments does. It creates space for the Lord to live and to dwell, to help us to grow, and to fulfill our lives, the way He wants us to live them. So the Lord gave these ten laws, and He said, You know, when you get these laws, talk about them. Talk about them with your children, when you sit down, when you rise up, when you lie down, when you’re traveling, when you’re at home. Write them on the doorposts of your house, so you’ll see them. Keep them on your wrists, and so on. It seems like a lot of reminders, but we need that. We need that to be written on our hearts.

So in our Spiritual Growth Campaign we did a lot of things. We asked you to listen to the sermons, to be in a home group, read a book, read the daily devotionals, keep the weekly tasks. That’s a lot of stuff to do. We need to create habits in ourselves of things that are good, because we won’t make time for it otherwise. So in one sense it’s helping to fulfill that idea of what the Lord is saying, you know – do talk about these all the time. I don’t know about you, but I need that reminder; otherwise I forget. It’s easy to forget.

But notice too – once the children of Israel got the Ten Commandments, what did they do with them? They built this ark for them, and they carried it with them wherever they went. They set up a beautiful tabernacle and they set them up every time they camped, and they would take it down again, and take it with them. And they eventually built a temple to keep them in.

That’s a good reminder for us too, to create a place in us, and always carry these teachings in our hearts everywhere that we go. Not just on Sunday, but every part of our life. Not just at home, but also in our work and every part of our life.

When darkness later started to shroud human understanding the Lord came again, and He came in His Word. He fleshed it out, and as we heard this morning, “the Lord became flesh and dwelt among us.” For example, He said, “You have heard it said of old ‘You shall not kill.’” That was the old law, and He said, Well, yeah, keep that, but let Me tell you something else. “Do not be angry at your brother without a cause.” Do not call them names, do not criticize. So He’s expanding, and fleshing out these teachings. He said, “You heard it said of old ‘Do not commit adultery.’ I say to you also, Whoever looks at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery in his heart.”

He’s saying it’s more than just this act. It’s about what’s going on inside of us as well. So it’s not just about keeping them literally in our external life, but also in our hearts and in our intentions. Because if it was only literal it would be pretty easy. I think back to some examples we’ve seen in our history of people saying, “Well I didn’t technically commit adultery. I didn’t technically do that.” But – did you want to? Did you do these other things? And it certainly expands the arena when we let the Lord’s commandments expand and flesh out what they’re really about.

When the question is, “Did you want to?” and the answer for us is “Yes”, then we have some work to do. But it’s not just about just observing the external law, but also inside of our hearts.

So when we take a truth and apply it to our lives, it becomes “the Word made flesh,” for us it becomes alive. And you’ll see this morning in a couple of testimonials about how people have taken some teachings that they’ve learned, and it’s helped them to bring these teachings alive for themselves. Their life has changed because of it. Not in dramatic, “I’m saved!” ways, but in ways that they’re making a difference in the way that they live.

This morning I want to briefly remind us of what we learned, and hear some testimonials about these commandments. If you remember back to the First Commandment – no false gods– the Lord is inviting us to examine ourselves and see what occupies our thinking. What do we dwell on the most? What do we spend our time thinking about? Because what we spend the most time thinking about becomes our god to us. So pay attention to where your mind drifts, to where it goes. The problem is, when we break this commandment we’re stealing time away from important things, and devoting it to things that actually don’t serve us or serve others.

So to help identify false gods in your life, notice what feelings or thoughts occupy your mind. What tends to rule the day for you? Do you find yourself dwelling on troublesome people in your life, or political problems, or financial concerns - and not really thinking about the Lord much? He doesn’t take much of your time, much of your space. Do you find yourself ruled by fear, or hatred, or greed, or lust, or self-satisfaction, self-pity, resentment? Pay attention to those things because they can become gods for us. So the First Commandment is asking us to identify something, identify what it is, examine ourselves and see.

The Second Commandment – do not take the Lord’s name in vain – asks us to honor the names of the Lord. Because each of those names pictures a quality of the Lord. Christmas time is a good time for noticing different aspects of the Lord – these names that are brought forward. You heard several of them this morning, like Child, Son, Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace. A few of those names … the name Jesus means “Jehovah saves.” That compassionate side of God (it sounds funny to say “side” because it’s all-encompassing) … The Lord’s compassion that, we read in the Scripture where it says, “You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” The Lord came to save us from our sins, to restore freedom.

The name Christ means “Anointed One”, the one who is chosen to rule, chosen to lead us. So the Second Commandment asks us to consider our attitude towards holy things, things like the Lord’s names. But it also invites us to pray to the Lord, and call upon the Lord in the different ways that those names illustrate. Picture someone who is suffering from an anxiety and they might pray to the Lord, “Oh Lord, Prince of Peace, please help me through this time.” And that name, Prince of Peace, evokes a certain quality of the Lord that can be with us at that time. So it’s an invitation and a reminder to pray, to call upon the name of the Lord.

The Third Commandment – to remember the Sabbath day. The Lord says, “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath.” He says you can work those days, but take some time to rest. Take some time to focus on what’s important. So, today is a day to look at our relationship with the Lord – a day to strengthen our inner person, a day to be in touch with Divine things.

Another way to think of it is a day to listen for God’s voice. There’s so much noise in our life, and I think the holidays kind of crank up the noise level a bit. And so, do we take time from that to listen for the Lord? If you’re the kind of person that only talks and never listens, it’s hard to have a relationship with another person. We have to be able to talk, and we have to be able to listen. Some people say you have one mouth and two ears, so you should listen twice as much as you speak. So the Third Commandment reminds us to quiet down and to listen.

The Fourth Commandment – to honor father and mother. I remember this being a powerful commandment for people individually, to really look at their relationships with their fathers and mothers on a literal level. What was that relationship like? And how can I honor them even if they’ve hurt me? What is the good in them that I can honor? And that was a good exercise for many of us.

It’s also a call for us to love our country and to honor our leaders. Our fatherland, as it’s called. It’s another way of looking at that commandment. The spiritual sense, though, asks us to honor the Lord as the Father of all things, and His church as our spiritual mother that cares for our spiritual needs and nurtures us. And these commandments are sort of summarized in this. “Honor your father” is loving God, “Honor your mother,” is loving the church, loving people in His church.

One of the things that we learned about was, on the highest level, this commandment is loving what’s called “the communion of saints” which is a word that means people all throughout the whole world, no matter what religion they are, no matter what belief system they are, that live by their beliefs. Those are all people that are headed to heaven, as the New Church teaches. And it’s a wonderful concept – that idea that all people who believe in their God and live as their commandments teach, go to heaven.

The Fifth Commandment started getting us into the dirty part of life, where we shall not murder. And most of us, since we’re not in jail, probably aren’t killing people. But we might criticize them. We might take their life through anger and hurtful words, or through hatred and revenge. And so it was a time to stop and reflect on that. Because if we can stop those feelings of anger and criticism inwardly, then they won’t break out into our life and hurt the people that we care about. So that commandment asks us to consider being life givers. How can I stop taking life? How can I be someone who gives life, in my relationships?

Please take a moment and read the following testimonial from Wendy Smith about how this commandment has affected her life.

“A preacher once asked me, ‘Do any of you know what the devil’s favorite time is?’ ‘Sunday morning.’ Why? I can tell you from lots of experience. As I try to get my children and myself out of bed, and fed, and dressed, and get everything we need gathered and into the car, things start to escalate. “Where are your shoes? You’re not wearing that to church. You spilled cereal on you clean shirt – go change it. Did anyone get water? Is the lunch in the car? Why do I have to do everything myself?

Sound familiar? My frustration tends to escalate, so at some point the devil wins and I blow up. Of course it’s possible I’m the only one who loses it as I try to get my children out the door for a beautiful experience and fellowship and worship.

It was actually a relief to hear this joke, and to realize that it is the evil spirits wreaking havoc with our plans for a heavenly experience with our children. And it’s not just Sunday morning. That’s maybe the worst, because we know we’re headed for church. But every morning, as I try to get them out the door, it’s an issue. So what do we do about it? We rise above it.

For me the small groups and the star chart we used for our Do Not Murder session of the Rise Above It campaign were really useful. The chart brought me to an awareness of how consistent I am in frustration and criticism as I try to leave the house in the morning with the kids. And the small group gave me accountability in my actions. After becoming aware of the pattern, I found that I could set an intention when I got up, say a prayer for help, and make it through the morning successfully without the criticism and blaming that usually comes out of my mouth.

It’s been four weeks and all of our departures have been much more pleasant. Instead of getting out of the house on time being the most important thing in my mind, keeping the commandment – do not murder – takes priority. And it doesn’t take any longer to get out of the house. I’m still sometimes late, I’m sometimes on time, but I’m more relaxed and it’s less stressful than the demanding frustration that used to rule over us. So what’s important for all of us as we prepare for our day? The most important thing is to remember that the Lord is guiding all of us, and that we love each other. When we remember His commandments, we can remember and share his love”.

That’s a very applicable example of… yeah, getting out of the house in the morning. That’s when you start to realize that you’re not a very good person, I’ve noticed – not her, me. So – do not murder. Try to give life rather than take life.

Sixth Commandment – thou shall not commit adultery. Literally talking about infidelity in marriage; trying to keep your marriage as sacred, and not breaking that covenant. But it also asks us to look deeper into feelings, thoughts and intentions. How do we look upon other people? What are our thoughts about them? And that certainly is something to consider.

But also, on a broad level, this commandment really invited us to look at something that’s called “spiritual adultery.” Because there is a true marriage – not just represented by people who get married on this earth, but a marriage that happens in each one of us as we take a true idea and a good desire and we marry them together, and something is born of that. Something that’s useful and good. That’s a good marriage, that’s a heavenly marriage.

But there’s a hellish marriage that happens when we have a negative emotion that gets married to false ideas or lies, and that starts to become solidified in our life too. So we create a marriage of evil feelings and thoughts. And that can happen in all kinds of ways. How many of you make meals for your spouse, or something, and you start to get irritated because they’re not home when you thought they’d be, so you have this negative feeling of irritation and it starts to collect thoughts to support it, right? “He’s so inconsiderate,” or “She’s so…. It happens all the time. He’s never here.” And so on. You start to see a marriage that’s created between these negative feelings and these negative ideas. And that starts to push out the true marriage inside. And you can see how relationships start to get hurt by that.

All kinds of examples you could think about. You’re feeling sad for yourself, you know - nobody cares about me. You have this feeling of self-pity. And you start to collect thoughts about how everyone is your life is inconsiderate and doesn’t care for you, and no one… it doesn’t matter. Sort of the “Eeyore” Syndrome, and so on. And that can escalate, certainly. So the Lord is telling us to watch for this marriage inside of ourselves, this infernal marriage. And He says, You know, the way to do it is replace those negative thoughts with true ideas. Even if you aren’t thinking true ideas, tell yourself true ideas, because you can’t have a marriage of what’s false and what’s good. You have to have a marriage of what’s good and what’s true. So if you fill your mind with those true ideas, it will change.

And also it was a great reminder that we are all vessels, and good and evil are flowing into us at all times. Think of us as a clearing-house where we get all this. These trucks are backing up to the docks of our minds and – “Hey, I’ve got a shipment of negativity for you today! I want to deliver it.” And you say, “No, thanks, take it back.” Or you can just say, “Well, okay….” You know, it’s like when you get a package, and you don’t know who sent it to you. You figure, “Well, someone sent it; I should take it.” Right? Well, no, you don’t have to take it. You can reject it. And when the good trucks show up with all the good feelings and affections and thoughts, say “Thank you, Lord” for this, and let it unload on your dock.

Another way we can be careful of marriage in ourselves is don’t meddle with the early delights we talked about. I thought about it this morning. I thought, you know, if you start to have this negative feeling inside and you’re starting to think some false ideas – don’t plan the wedding, okay? Call off the wedding. Don’t go there. Just cancel it, right then. Think about it that way.

The Seventh Commandment – do not steal. We all know we shouldn’t take other people’s things, and that’s something you’ll learn from that commandment. But also, don’t take things from people like their self-esteem. Don’t take their honor, don’t take their reputation. And that’s a very important thing, of course, to think about as parents too. How do we take from our children things that are valuable to them – their sense of self, and so on – by letting our anger spill out on them, or whatever it is.

But this commandment also reminds us that there is this acknowledgement that we have to have in ourselves, that everything that’s good and true is from the Lord. Don’t take credit from the Lord for those things. The Lord said, “Without Me, you can do nothing.” “I am the Vine, you are the branches.” Everything that’s good and true we have from Him. And we steal credit from the Lord when we take credit for those things as our own. You can certainly be grateful for them, but don’t say that you’re the source of them, because when you do that, it spoils the gift from the Lord.

And some people, on the other hand, are unwilling to acknowledge that they have any self-worth. And that’s also stealing from the Lord. He created you for a wonderful purpose. He created you because He loves you and He knows you have good gifts to give. You’re stealing from yourself and from the Lord when you don’t use those talents, when you don’t let those talents come to bear.

I grew up as a very shy child, and I think about all of those things I lost, because of that controlling me. People I was unable to talk to, afraid to talk to. Not being willing to be in school plays and so on, or not being willing to share music because of that painful thing. I think of how that steals from not only myself, but also from other people, or from the Lord. So the idea of letting, just acknowledging…. “I’m created for a purpose. I’ve been given these gifts by the Lord.” Let’s use them. But thank Him for them, don’t take credit. If we just always say, “Thank you, Lord,” we don’t have to worry about being too prideful. So be a credit-giver; give credit to other people, give credit to the Lord. And give credit to Him for all those wonderful emotions we feel.

The Eighth Commandment asks us to not bear false witness. This acknowledgment that the Lord is truth itself - when we speak the truth, we’re speaking about the Lord, and the Lord is invited by that. And when we speak about the Lord and His truth, He’s welcome - we invite Him into our life.

When we speak lies and bear false witness, we’re turning away from the presence of the Lord. We talked about all the different kinds, or forms, of lying – like saying to yourself, or to another person, what’s not true. That’s a simple example. But rationalizing, making excuses for our behavior by lying to ourselves or other people. Exaggerating. Ever do that? Sure. Talk with authority about something you don’t know anything about – that type of lying. Or saying things that are true with the intention of misleading somebody. Or gossip, I think, falls into that category. Or lying by omission. Certain things that we omit, and in that sense are lying. Or telling “nice” lies. We struggled over whether that was good or bad, but it all comes down to our intention. What are we trying to do with what we’re saying?

So the task for that commandment was to tell the truth: to be true to ourselves and to live in integrity. And now, you will read a testimony that one of our members wrote, but was unable to be here to share with us from Anna.

“I went out shopping last Friday, Black Friday. My intention was to be out for only an hour or so, but I got caught up in Christmas shopping, and finding some things for myself. As I was leaving the mall I saw what time it was, and I knew that my husband who was home with our daughter might be getting worried that I was not home yet. On the way home I got stuck in traffic. It turned out there had been quite a bad accident on the bridge, and I ended up sitting there for half an hour. Sitting there, I found myself thinking, “Now I have a good excuse for why I’m late. I can tell my husband about the car accident, and I don’t have to mention the extra shopping”.

Then I remembered our task for the week – do not bear false witness. I realized that I wanted to exaggerate the time I was stuck in traffic, and make myself look better, rather than admitting that I’d been shopping all that time.

When I got home, I chose to rise above it, and I simply said that I got carried away shopping, and mentioned the accident without exaggerating. Not being on my guard before, for even such a small, simple thing, it felt more natural to say that I was stuck in traffic. But actually, it ended up feeling good to not say it, to simply follow the commandment.

This brings up a good point, how alluring it feels to do the wrong thing, and how freeing it is when you do the right thing. Talk about how choices … at any moment you can choose the wrong thing or the right thing. It’s just as easy to do the right thing as it is the wrong thing. So, listening to those commandments and going, “Yeah, it’s worth doing the right thing here.”

The commandments nine and ten are combined in the idea of coveting. Coveting is a really important commandment – like all of them – because it’s not just about… it’s not an outward thing; you can’t see someone coveting. I can’t see any of you out here coveting anything. It’s something that happens inside of us. So this commandment invites us to look at ourselves about what are our desires. What things do we want to control, and possess, that other people have? So coveting our neighbor’s house is longing to possess things of the world by means that are dishonest, being willing to do dishonest things to get things from other people. That desire to have it.

And the wife – coveting someone’s wife, servants, livestock, and so on, is longing to control people and their feelings. Trying to control outcomes in situations. So this commandment forces us to look at our thoughts, our motives and desires, not just our actions. Because it’s those things that will actually break out at some point in an act. Or after death, when we become our true inner self, we’ll start to live that way even if we’ve hidden them in this world. So we have to look at those things inside of ourselves. This commandment invites us to do that: to cleanse the inside of the cup and the dish – not just the outside, but the inside as well. And when we do that the Lord can flow in with all of His gifts.

In our men’s group this past week we were talking about coveting, and I talked about the idea of control. And I realized that, you know, I’m controlling my children by using the word “No.” They ask for simple things and my gut reaction is, “No.” It’s almost like I buy time to think about it. But I just immediately say, “No.” And also, it does control them. I have the authority, so I can say “No” and just… for all kinds of things. But I said, You know, I’m going to work this week on saying “Yes.” Or at least not saying anything until I’ve thought about it.

We have this new gate at the top of our steps, because our son’s learning to crawl, and my seven-year-old likes to be lifted over it, instead of actually having to climb over it, or move it. And I climbed over it and started to walk down the steps – you know, I’d taken a couple of steps, so I was far away. And he said, “Papa, cold you life me over the gate?” And I said, “No”, and then I said, “Wait, I could do that. Yes, I will do that.” Picked him up, lifted him over. It was the simplest thing to do. But, you know how you can talk yourself into…. I’ve taken three steps down already, oh, it’s going to be so hard to go back up…. It’s just pathetic. But it really was a wonderful experience to have talked about it in the group, and to have this idea in my mind of “You know, I can say ‘Yes’, instead of ‘No.’ And he was so …. It was this little thing that made him happy, that could have been, like – pfffft – for him. But it was noticing the gut reaction (No) and changing that. So there’s power in groups and in this testimony you will know how important the small groups have been for him.

“There are times when it’s very easy to be overcome by your day-to-day struggles, and feel as though you’re all alone with them. Before I moved to Colorado, I belonged to a church with a huge congregation of over 9,000 people. I felt very alone, where even trying to find a niche for a small group was very difficult.

After joining the New Church and participating in small groups, especially the Rise Above It group, I found out that my day-to-day struggles as a father, a husband, a person were not unique to me. I learned that other men share those same struggles and were dealing with them just as I was dealing with them.

For example, there was a day when I had really been struggling with my children. They seemed to be doing everything in their power to frustrate me and provoke a reaction from me. Near the end of the day I blew up, and raised my voice. When I saw their scared faces I immediately felt guilty and then started feeling bad about myself. What kind of father would ever lose their temper with his kids? I thought, I must be a horrible person to do such a thing. I’m sure none of the other dads in our community would do this.

That night I had a men’s group, and shared about my days in the “How are you’s. I was talking I saw other men nodding. I learned that I had not been the only one who had raised their voice with their children that week. This, to me, not only made me feel better – I was not the only one with these problems – but it gave me a tremendous amount of support and strength, knowing that these people were here for me. And just as important, that I could be there for them as well. We can support each other in being more patient with our children, and being better fathers, husbands, and so on. These small groups have made me feel that I have found a community that is my family.”

I want to encourage each and every one of us to consider, at the end of this campaign and as Christmas comes, that you’ve taken some steps. Whether you’re in one of these groups or not, you’ve taken some steps in your life. Don’t leave the journey unfinished. You can leave the bondage to slavery, and disorder and selfishness, and head towards the Promised Land of kindness, love and compassion. And the Lord will assure that for you, if you work with Him. He wants that to happen, and He’s waiting for you to invite Him into your life, to do that.

The Lord wants you to feel joy, He wants you to feel bliss. He wants you to feel the delight of living in good. And that feeling can come when we give up living just for self, and start to think about how we can be of service and good to other people. These commandments help us to stop thinking only of ourselves and start thinking about how to live for the Lord, and live for other people.

So if you’ve experienced growth, no matter how small it is, it’s that grain of mustard seed. Continue it. Continue with the steps. Continue with the groups. Because there’s such a power in those groups.

Don’t slip back into apathy or feeling like you need to do it by yourself. Christmas is a time for miracles. It’s a time for hope. And, if you think about it – into the darkest time on the face of this planet, the Savior was born. A tiny baby, with a name that means “Jehovah saves.” He is Wonderful. He is your Counselor. He is your Mighty God. He’s your Everlasting Father, your Prince of Peace. He is a light that shines in the darkness. And that can happen not just globally, but can happen for you. All those things can start to take root. And the Lord can be born in you, and grow in spirit and in strength.

See what Psalm 126 says about the joy of the people; “When the Lord restored His exiles to Jerusalem it was like a dream. We were filled with laughter, and we sang for joy. And the other nations said, ‘What amazing things the Lord has done for them!’ Yes, the Lord has done amazing things for us. What joy! Restore our fortunes, Lord, as streams renew the desert. Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, bringing their sheaves with them.”