Dare to Rejoice ~ December 13, 2020
Isaiah 61: 1-4, 8-11
The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favour, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3 to provide for those who mourn in Zion— to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, to display his glory.
4 They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.
8 For I the LORD love justice, I hate robbery and wrongdoing; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. 9 Their descendants shall be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge that they are a people whom the LORD has blessed. 10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my whole being shall exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.11 For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.
1 Thessalonians 5: 16-24
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise the words of prophets,[a] 21 but test everything; hold fast to what is good; 22 abstain from every form of evil.
23 May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound[b] and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.
I had a really interesting experience this week. I was talking to a couple of friends and family members, and they asked how my mum was doing. They were concerned about her with new restrictions as she lives alone.
So I assured them that Mum was doing really well. I said that her Advent routine was helping her deal with Covid stresses. I explained how each day she opens the online Advent calendar we gave her, and leaves it open because it has lovely music. Then she opens her traditional Advent calendar, followed by lighting her Advent candles, reading the daily reflection in the booklet from the church, reading the daily online reflection from Richard Rohr and ending with prayer.
Their reactions to this were fascinating. My friend who is a person of faith thought that was wonderful, she felt inspired to create more of a routine for herself. The others weren't sure how to respond, in fact, one of them almost seemed annoyed. My mum was supposed to be struggling, not thriving or heaven forbid, enjoying the enforced changes brought about by Covid.
I realized that what I am hearing from people of faith is very different from what I am hearing from people for whom spirituality is less familiar. A number of people in this congregation have told me that as hard as the Covid restrictions are, they are finding small blessings, that it is actually pushing them to go deeper spiritually this Advent.
More people have created an Advent wreath or are lighting a candle daily, more people are doing a daily reflection, following a daily spiritual practice, taking more intentional time for prayer, embracing the traditions of this season in a more spiritual way.
This doesn't mean we are ignoring the downside of Covid. Of course we all feel the pain of not seeing family and friends, of not gathering at church and so on. But we're doing what this third Sunday of Advent is all about, we're daring to rejoice in the face of darkness and despair.
Because that's the deeper meaning of this Sunday of joy. Another name for today is Gaudete Sunday. I always thought gaudete just meant joy in Latin, but a number of years ago I discovered the true meaning is “dare to rejoice.” That phrase struck me and has stayed with me.
Normally these weeks before Christmas are almost hyper focused on joy in our society, aren't they. Modern Christmas music is all about being happy, incredible energy goes into shopping, parties, music, concerts, dinners – all with the focus of making us feel happy. And yet if we really think about it, how much do all those usual Christmas things and activities have to do with the kind of joy we see in today's readings? Or have to do with faith?
While the Christmas hype can be pleasant and even fun, that simple phrase “dare to rejoice” reminds us that the kind of joy Jesus brought and taught and inspired was very different.
Jesus was all about the kind of joy described in the readings from Isaiah, in fact he quotes from it in Luke and says, this is what I'm here to do: bring good news for oppressed, comfort for those who mourn, liberty for captives, to help righteousness and praise spring up from the nations.
If any group had the right to throw up their hands in despair, to give up hope and collapse in a heap, it was the people to whom Isaiah spoke these words originally. We talked about them two weeks ago. They had returned to Israel after 70 years of exile in Babylon. Israel had been destroyed, Jerusalem was in ruins. The exiles returned with little in the way of material wealth. It would have been easy to give up and refuse to even try rebuilding.
But Isaiah tells them, you can do this. All of you who have been oppressed and imprisoned and bereaved, you can turn this into a nation of righteousness and praise. The Spirit of the Lord is upon you, rejoice and be glad.
The people of Thessalonika to whom Paul writes had also gone through tough times. They had been persecuted for their beliefs, harassed. Life was not easy. But Paul says to them, rejoice, pray, give thanks, don’t ever stop. Don’t quench the Spirit by giving up hope. What appropriate readings for us today.
Daring to rejoice is more than, “things could be worse,” or “look on the bright side.” Daring to rejoice is looking deeply at where you are and seeing God, seeing hope, daring to believe that things can be different and that through the Spirit we have the power to make them so.
Daring to rejoice is an act of power. It's proactive, not passive. And I think that's what we're doing by gathering to worship, by embracing this online worship rather than just enduring it, by singing our hymns, lighting our candles, doing our readings and praying and doing so on our own and together through worship.
I love that line in 1 Thessalonians, “do not quench the Spirit.” I think that's what we're doing as people of faith this Advent. We're making sure that Covid isn't quenching our Spirit. We're looking this pandemic square in the eye, and we're saying, ok, what can we learn in this unusual time? Where is God in this pandemic Advent? How is God trying to reach us, to teach us? And how is God calling us to help others revitalize the presence of Spirit in their lives? Most of all, where and how are we being called to dare to rejoice?
Last week I encouraged you to find a peaceful practice for Advent. This week I'd encourage you to find a joyful one -and it may be the same as the peaceful one! Find something that makes you joyful and do it every day. And more than that, find a way to share it with someone else, or to do something joyful with or for someone else. It probably won't be in person, but the spirit of joy works just as effectively through zoom, old fashioned cards and letters, e-mails and the phone, heck, even Facebook can be a way of sharing joy!
This Advent may we join Mary & Joseph on their journey to Bethlehem, a journey where the road is rough and isn't necessarily taking us where we expected to go.
And as we journey with them, may we dare to rejoice even in these Covid times.