Grace, peace, and mercy are yours from
the Triune God. Amen.
The Third Sunday of
Advent is traditionally known as Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete, when
translated from Latin, means “rejoice”. We know that Advent is a season of
waiting and today we are called to be joyful as we await the coming of Jesus
Christ.
God, through Zephaniah,
offers us glimpses of this hopeful future and calls us to “Rejoice and exult
with all our heart.” Isaiah reminds us of the ways God has delivered us, is
delivering us, and will deliver us. He invites us to shout aloud and sing for
joy because we shall “draw water with rejoicing from the springs of salvation.”
And our cheerleader, Paul, strongly urges us to “Rejoice in the Lord always;
again I will say, Rejoice.” Despite the fact that Paul is writing from prison,
there is a lot of joy to be found throughout his letter to the Philippians.
What kinds of things,
events, or people has brought you joy in the past?
Are these the same
things that bring you joy now? Are there different reasons that you feel joyful
now?
I wonder….is there a
difference between joy and happiness?
It feels like happiness
is something we chase, something we’re constantly pursuing. And usually, when
we finally find happiness, it’s wrapped up in material things. But joy is
something completely different. Joy is deeper, a sense of longing, a feeling
that pulls at your heart.
And quite often, joy is
a whole lot harder to find that happiness, especially amid the great anxieties and
expectations of the world, anxieties and expectations that are sometimes heightened
during the Christmas season.
Thinking about these
lines from Philippians reminds me of the musical Come From Away. Has
anyone here seen that musical, or knows the story behind it?
Come From Away tells the true story of 38 planes that
landed in the tiny town of Gander, NFLD on September 11, 2001. The kind folks
there took in thousands of people from all over the world, giving them food,
shelter, and clothing, taking care of all their needs for a few days until US
airspace reopened.
Talk about anxiety! The
people on the planes were anxious. The people in Gander were anxious. The whole
world was anxious!
The entire story is
filled with anxious people who lean on their faith to make it through the 5
days they spent in Gander, but there is one story in particular that sticks out
this morning. People were taken on buses to various locations where they would
be housed. One bus was filled with people who were from Africa. They pulled
into their temporary home where they were greeted by people who were wearing
their Salvation Army uniforms which, to the people on the but, looked like
military uniforms. They were terrified.
The bus driver stops,
and motions for the passengers to get off the bus. The man at the front of the
bus doesn’t move. He doesn’t understand the bus driver’s language and he doesn’t
trust him. The bus driver notices that the man’s wife was clutching a bible and
asks her to hand it to him. Anxiously, she does so, and the bus driver flips to
Philippians and points at chapter 4, verse 6. “Be anxious for nothing.” The man
and the bus driver rejoiced because, through these simple words from Paul to
the community in Philippi, they were able to communicate and ease their
anxiety.
The Philippians are dear
to Paul and his letter to them is considered to be a friendship letter. The
community has been generous in supporting Paul’s ministry and he cares for them
very deeply and wants them to succeed. But they are a people full of anxiety. They
have been suffering. There has been conflict. There has been internal and
external strife.
Paul’s letter reminds
the people of Philippi that they are not alone. Paul knows what it means to
suffer and to be anxious. He is writing from prison after all! Despite all of
this, Paul calls his friends to gentleness, to not fall into anger, vengeance,
quarreling, hatred, bitterness. Paul calls his friends to pray, not as a
disregard of anxiety but as an invitation to bring their anxieties to God. Paul
calls them to rejoice, knowing that the peace of God will guard their hearts
and minds to focus on self-giving love.
But how can there be joy
at a time like this? How can we find joy in a world that is so full of violence,
hate, and uncertainty? The same way Paul did. Paul rejoiced because he looked
forward to the Lord’s coming, and he also rejoiced because the Lord is always
near. Paul seemed to have experienced the Lord’s constant presence in his
imprisonment. And so, he could say, “Rejoice!” Paul carried the joy of Advent
with him wherever he went – even in a Roman jail.
Advent is a time of
preparation, a time of looking for the coming of the Lord, for the fulfillment
of God’s promised restoration, for the peace that overcomes all violence, and
for that perfect love that casts out fear. On this Gaudete Sunday, as we are
called to wait and prepare, we are also called to rejoice. We, too, can look forward
to the Lord’s coming while rejoicing that the Lord is always near. And that
knowledge can bring us peace in this topsy-turvy world. God’s peace protects us
by drawing us deeper into relationship with Christ, the source of our joy. As
Paul says, “The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard
your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Amen.
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