Advent
III + C 13 December 2015
(Gaudete) Rejoicing in the Lord Always
In the Church Kalendar, we call this "Gaudete
Sunday". The
name "Gaudete Sunday" is taken from the words of the introit, Gaudete
in Domino semper, "rejoice in the Lord always."
Today, we read in Philippians: "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice! Over
and over in the Older Testament we have the admonition to live a life of
rejoicing. This is not some sort self-hypnosis, not some "power of
positive thinking:"mantra," this is at the core of the
Judeo-Christian faith. If you would
consider for a moment some of the mantras of other major world faith
traditions. The
Introit for Gaudete Sunday, in both the Traditional Latin
Mass
and the Novus Ordo
or the modern Roman Catholic Mass, is taken from Philippians 4:4,5:
"Gaudete in Domino semper"
In all major world religions, there is a fatalism, a trying
to escape futility in karma in Hinduism, In Buddhism, the faithful seek to
attain the highest level to purify one's heart and
to let go of all yearnings toward sensual desires and the attachment to
oneself. and to
overcome unending rebirths. The so called "New Age" seeks to find a celestial path though a myriad
of faith traditions' In the Islamic
tradition, the follower seeks to live a life of trying to live up to Allah's
expectations and keep five life goals to perhaps make it to heaven with a God
who does not love you but you serve in eternal subjugation. Allah, a word that
means "the god" is wholly
other, not remotely like humanity, impersonal, rather than personal.
In contrast to all of these traditions, the Judeo-Christian
God stands alone in the proclamation of joy. Over and over the children of Israel are told
to rejoice in the Lord! What brings joy
in the human heart? Innumerable forgiveness
of wrongs we have done; unconditional
love; the second chance to the one thousandth chance that you have wronged another
and are loved unconditionally each and every time you screw up? The proclamation that "Jesus loves me,
this I know" is an alien concept to other world religions. No reason, no way to make him love more or
less, just love, love, love. "Love"
is the first of all basic human needs. Unconditional love is a proclamation nearly
unknown in human love. It is Divine
love. Only the Christian proclamation speaks of a God who is our: "Maker, Defender, Redeemer and
Friend" to quote, Robert Grant, the
Anglican hymn writer in "O Worship
the King." Only Christianity
has the temerity to proclaim in John's first epistle that " Whoever does not love
does not know God, because God is love."(I Jn 4:8)
Jesus is the One who is
"our peace who has broken down every wall" as Paul proclaims in
Ephesians 2' The collect says we are "sorely
hindered by our sins," but Jesus is a sinner's Savior. He takes away the
"hindrance" of our bondage to the will anchored to selfishness and
every form of degraded love as one spiritual writer once wrote.
But where does the
Apostle Paul get off positing some Pollyannaish efforts to jump-start joy? The Tradition says that Paul wrote to the
Philippians from prison in Rome. When Paul encourages the Philippian Christians
to rejoice, he is in a captivity of his own. This gets to the heart of the
power of the Christian gospel. The peace of God which passes all human
understanding is an inner calm not determined by outward circumstances, but
mediated by the Spirit of God. It is that inner barometer that has allowed our
contemporary martyred brethren to go calmly to their deaths, murdered by the
purveyors of the so called Moslem Caliphate.
For some, the rose
candle represents hope. Advent is itself
a season of hope. The good news of Jesus
is about hope and promise. It is the inner peace God plants inside of our souls,
it is a peace born from ineffable joy. What hinders us from it? Don=t
most people want it? The season of Advent 2015 comes with a certain expectation
of joy. We're supposed to rejoice around Christmas time, aren't we? It's part
of the prescribed program. Corporate America has capitalized on this sense of
holiday joy, promising increased joy with every purchase. Or at least, a way to
buy off some guilt. And if you aren't joyful, for whatever reason, you run the
risk of being with uncompassionate Scrooge or the Grinch who stole Christmas. But
is this the joy that Paul speaks of to the Church at Philippi? Or have we been brainwashed or worse, fooled
into something that isn=t
Ajoy@ at all? Joy is a deep
sense of inner confidence, unshaken by the uncertainties of life. Joy is a state of being, not of mind. Joy should characterize the Christian and if
not, then we have some serious homework to do.
In a moment, John the Baptizer will give us some help with our homework.
A famous preacher was
trying to teach his students to make their facial expressions harmonize with
what they are speaking about. "When you speak of heaven," he said,
"let you face light up, let it be irradiated with a heavenly gleam, let
your eyes shine with reflected glory. But when you speak of Hell – well, then,
your ordinary face will do." The
gospel reading hardly seems to be one reflecting hope and joy. He begins with threats and concludes with a
directive toward hope and promise. The
hope and promise in Jesus Christ is not to ignore the realities of life, to
point to a path to overcome them. The
scripture is again, not Pollyanna but realistic. Let us remember soberly the
words of Jesus: "You will leave me
all alone. Yet I am not alone,
for my Father is with me. “I have told you these
things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you
will have trouble. But take
heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16)
In my experience, there
is not a better prescription for Holy Joy than what Paul gives us in this
reading. John gives them some good
spiritual counsel: "AAct
your way into right thinking.@
Part of the doing is controlling our thinking. An act of the self. You can=t always think yourself
into right acting. The mind is like the
crew of a vessel that has mutinied and having put the Acaptain@ (the human will) down
in the brig, is now running the ship.
After this the
prescription follows: Do
not worry about anything: What! whatever
would I do with my time? My
therapist? To quote the saintly Charles de Foucauld: "the thing that we
owe absolutely to God is never to worry about anything." Another I have
heard: "worry is an insult to your father." The prescription
follows "in
every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your
requests to God." Don't dismiss this too quickly if you have
not tried it because the promise is a wondrous healing of the human spirit. The
promise is what we so often hear in the final blessing will be our result or
should I say God's." The peace of God, which
transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ
Jesus
In
a world where there is no outer peace. we
have the Prince of Peace, God with us who despite all temptations to believe
the opposite, has everything under Divine control. He says to his children in his Redeemed for
the Father's glory, Peace, be still.
This peace which one day He promises will pervade the whole world,
begins as He embraces us and we Him. In this season of the already but not yet
in our hearts and the hearts of all who love him may we rejoice in the Lord
always and evermore for hope is ours; the promise is ours and His perfect peace
and joy are for all who call upon His Name.
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