Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all
circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thess
5: 16-18)
The third Sunday of Advent is traditionally called Gaudate
Sunday. Gaudate, in Latin, means rejoice. In a season that traditionally was one
of repentance and contemplation on the reason for Christ’s coming to be our
Savior, the third Sunday was a moment of brightness. The darker hued purple or
blue candle is replaced with the bright pink. This is true today, as well. The Christmas
celebration draws closer and closer and, for many, the excitement is palpable –
just ask any child. “Tis the season!” “Joy to the world!” “It’s the most
wonderful time of the year!!!” Parents and grandparents, too, are almost as excited
as the kids and grandkids, practically ready to burst in anticipation of
Christmas Eve and Day. You’ve found the perfect gifts. You have been playing
your favorite Christmas albums on the radio and whether it’s Linus and Lucy on
full blast or Handel’s Messiah soaring in etherial wonder, joy abounds.
But for others, “rejoice” just doesn’t hit quite that way.
In fact, it’s the opposite. Christmas has “bled back” all the way into October.
Some are, simply, tired of tinsel and trees. Ask someone who works in retail
who has had to deal with crabby and demanding customers for almost three months.
Or, ask parents whose budgets are tighter than ever but don’t want to let down
their kids who want the latest and greatest like everyone else in school. Ask someone
whose job is in danger, and he or she is wondering what will happen after the
New Year. Ask someone whose table will have an empty spot this year. There is a
lot of pressure right now, to get the perfect gifts, make it to all the
parties, invite the right people, and not omit a card to someone who does not take
omissions lightly. There’s the anxiety of the extra expense for gifts and food
and clothes. There are concerns for travel arrangements. People get very
frustrated. Tempers flare. Relationships, already frazzled and frayed, get
broken. The wrong word at the wrong time to the wrong person and the warmth of
Christmas becomes a roaring fire of anger.
As a pastor, I empathize with people who struggle with the so-called
“Christmas spirit.” I’ve said before, I love the Nativity of Jesus, but I
struggle sometimes with Christmas.
I tell you this so we all understand Gaudate Sunday, the
Sunday of Rejoicing, means different things to different people. For you who
are already filled with joy so that it is overflowing, today will be the
whipped cream and sprinkles on your mug of joy. For you who are struggling to
find joy, any little drop of joy at all, I pray that you are reminded of the
reason we as God’s people rejoice in the first place. I’ll give you a clue:
while it involves Jesus’ birth, that is not where you will end today.
When Paul urges Christians to “rejoice always,” he does so,
not because it’s Christmastime, or because all is good, right and salutary in
the world; it’s because, Paul says, this is the will of God.
We know the will, the desire, of God for us because of the
Scripture. The greatest desire God has for all mankind is to be saved and come
to the knowledge of the truth in Christ Jesus. Salvation is the entire purpose
of Christ coming into the world, which we prepare for in Advent. His salvific
work in redeeming the world with Himself as our substitute is the plan God had
in place from the beginning of time. There is great joy in this gift of God in
Christ, and it is His desire that all know, believe, trust and rely on His Son
alone for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life.
Therein is joy: God’s son, for you, redeeming you and making
you His own.
I think we sometimes think of joy in a future tense: I will
have joy one day. Sometimes, we push that “one day” all the way out to the day
Jesus returns, as though joy is unavailable and unattainable until the day of
the resurrection of all flesh. True, that will be a day of greatest joy – if it
helps, think of it with joy with a capitol J – but we have joy already because in
Christ, God is already at work, doing all things for good. He loves you. He has
made you His own. He sacrificed His Son for you, even while you were still a
sinner, Christ dying for you. You are
now, present tense, a forgiven child of God. You are now, present tense, made
whole in Christ. You are now, present tense, in Christ, a new creature. You are
now, present tense, completely redeemed so that even your joy, however great or
small it may be, is made complete in Jesus.
I suspect that a litmus test for our joy-fill-ness is the
old glass half-full or half-empty question. You can answer this if you want… How
many of you are glass half full people? How many of you are glass half empty
people? Here’s the secret: it doesn’t matter. The secret is that the glass can
always be refilled. The same is true of joy. Whether you are filled and overflowing
with joy, or whether there are only a few precious drops in the bottom of the
cup, the Lord fills you with His joy. Remember the scene in the novel, Oliver
Twist when Oliver asks for more porridge and he is denied? Our Lord never
denies the request. In fact, He already begins to fill our cups and bowls and
sacks and hearts and minds and lives with joy before we even ask.
But, if you feel a little less than joy-filled right now,
then pray – without ceasing. It’s not a chore; it is, in fact, a joy that you
can carry your burdens to the Lord in prayer. When there is anxiety about what
the kids want, pray. When there is worry about the family squabble bubbling up
and over, pray. When there is stress about work, pray. When the perfect Norman
Rockwell Christmas turns into more of a Al Bundy Christmas, pray. Cast your
cares upon Him because He cares for you.
Remarkably, Paul also encourages us to give thanks in all
circumstances. If rejoice always sounds daunting, give thanks in all circumstances
sounds impossible. Notice, he doesn’t say give thanks for all circumstances.
Neither Paul nor the Lord are sadistic, filled with pleasure in someone’s pain.
You don’t give thanks for being laid off, or for a family member not speaking
to you, or for the death of a loved one. But, even in the midst of these
difficult moments in life, when the cups of joy are down the thinnest of drops,
we can still give thanks because in the fulness of time, God entered into our creation
in flesh. Jesus was born to be our Savior.
That’s important to remember: we do not merely rejoice because
it’s almost Christmas. We rejoice because in Christ, we are God’s children.
Likewise, we do not merely give thanks because it’s almost Christmas. We give
thanks because in all things, God works for the good of those whom He loves,
and whom does He love more than those for whom His Son to die?
Our joy, our prayers, our thanksgivings are not bound by the
seasons, or our circumstances, or the world in which we live. They are all
grounded in this: Jesus is Immanuel, God with us. Not just on this Gaudate
Sunday, but every day. And, paradoxically, not just into eternity, but now, on
this Sunday of joy.
May your joy be full, in Christ, your Lord and Savior.
Amen.
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