Third Sunday of Advent 2009 - Joy

"If you aren't outraged you're not paying attention." Perhaps you have seen this bumper sticker. Perhaps on this Third Sunday of Advent you find yourself feeling as though a sense of joy is so distant as to be unattainable. After all, the season is ramping up to full frenetic pace. There are meals to prepare. There are parties to host. There are parties to attend. There are gifts to buy. The malls are crowded with people that certainly do not seem to be filled with joy and just TRY finding a parking space at the mall. These things are very real and present to many of us.


Perhaps you are contemplating the season with the backdrop of multiple wars weighing heavily on your mind and soul. You may disagree with the wars for any number of reasons and therefore feel deep outrage. You may agree with the motivation of the wars and / or the desired outcome yet also be attuned to the grief of the family and friends of those wounded or killed in these wars.

Some of us are facing illness of one type or another in either ourselves or our families. It is true that there are times in all of our lives where joy seems to be far away. There are times when it is difficult to even bear the joy of others around us. Yet it seems that even in these times there is something that will come along in the midst of all that weighs us down and we find ourselves surprised by joy. We hear our favorite song. We get a note or a call from a loved one. We are refreshed by the crisp wind or reinvigorated by a warm cup of coffee or tea on a cold afternoon. The world briefly fades away and time is suspended as we are held by one that we love.

It is a Holy Mystery that we humans can experience multiple emotions at once. Perhaps it is this mystery that JK Rowling had in mind when she had Ron Weasley say "One person can't feel all that at once, they'd explode." So it is with us. We can hold multiple contradictory feelings in our heart, mind, and soul concurrently - and yes sometimes we may feel that we are about to explode. We have been created as complex creatures. It is possible to be both outraged and joyful. Perhaps the secret is to find a way to let some emotions motivate the change for which you work in the world - and let others more strongly influence how you go about that. Changing the world usually requires influencing other people. Is it not easier to hear a message that is imbued with undercurrents of joy than with the strident screeching of outrage?

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines Joy as "the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires. / The expression or exhibition of such emotion." I have a deep appreciation of this definition because it highlights that Joy can come from either the realization of or the anticipation of what one desires. I also appreciate that the object of desire may not be material. This definition also seems to invite the question of whether part of experiencing joy is a matter of adjusting ones expectations - not so low that life becomes so self-focused as to not contribute to the life of others but to be open to the blessings all around us each moment. I love the way that Martin Buber expressed this idea in his small book The Way of Man According to the Teaching of Hasidism:

There is something that can only be found in one place. It is a great treasure, which may be called the fulfillment of existence. The place where this treasure can be found is the place on which one stands.

...

We nevertheless feel the deficiency at every moment, and in some measure strive to find -- somewhere -- what we are seeking. Somewhere, in some province of the world or of the mind, except where we stand, where we have been set -- but it is there and nowhere else that the treasure can be found.

...

The Baal-Shem teaches that no encounter with a being or a thing in the course of our life lacks a hidden significance. The people we live with or meet with, the animals that help us with our farm work, the soil we till, the materials we shape, the tools we use, they all contain a mysterious spiritual substance which depends on us for helping it towards its pure form, its perfection. If we neglect this spiritual substance sent across our path, if we think only in terms of momentary purposes, without developing a genuine relationship to the beings and things in whose life we out to take part, as they in ours, then we shall ourselves be debarred from true, fulfilled existence. it is my conviction that this doctrine is essentially true. The highest culture of the soul remains basically arid and barren unless, day by day, waters of life pour forth into the soul from those little encounters to which we give their due; the most formidable power is intrinsically powerlessness unless it maintains a secret covenant with these contacts, both humble and helpful, with strange, and yet near, being.

This quote also calls out the need to be attuned to holiness all around us. It also brings to mind the writings and work of Joseph Campbell and the admonition to "Follow your bliss." It seems that in following one's bliss that one stacks the deck toward being attuned to the mystery of life through which we walk. I think it is especially important that we each follow our bliss and honor the fact that we are not all called to do or be the same thing. This truth is well expressed by Rabbi Zusya who said

In the world to come I shall not be asked: "Why were you not Moses?" I shall be asked: "Why were you not Zusya?"

With these thoughts as backdrop I turn to one of our Lectionary passages for today:

Philippians 4:4-7

4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.

4:5 Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.

4:6 Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

My prayer for all of us especially on this Third Sunday of Advent is that regardless of our circumstance - regardless of the things which weigh us down - regardless of how real these things may be and regardless of how dark life may seem from time to time - that we will be open to the blessing which comes upon us where we stand. I pray that we will be open to the joy of the time we have together. And when our earthly time with a loved one has passed that we will find ourselves breathless with the joy brought by the remembrance of the life we shared.

The balance of our readings today call to mind the reasons that God's people have to be joyful:

Zephaniah 3:14-20

3:14 Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem!

3:15 The LORD has taken away the judgments against you, he has turned away your enemies. The king of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; you shall fear disaster no more.

3:16 On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands grow weak.

3:17 The LORD, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing

3:18 as on a day of festival. I will remove disaster from you, so that you will not bear reproach for it.

3:19 I will deal with all your oppressors at that time. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth.

3:20 At that time I will bring you home, at the time when I gather you; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says the LORD.

Isaiah 12:2-6

12:2 Surely God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid, for the LORD GOD is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation.

12:3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

12:4 And you will say in that day: Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known his deeds among the nations; proclaim that his name is exalted.

12:5 Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be known in all the earth.

12:6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

Luke 3:7-18

3:7 John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

3:8 Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our ancestor'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.

3:9 Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

3:10 And the crowds asked him, "What then should we do?"

3:11 In reply he said to them, "Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise."

3:12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, "Teacher, what should we do?"

3:13 He said to them, "Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you."


3:14 Soldiers also asked him, "And we, what should we do?" He said to them, "Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages."

3:15 As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah,

3:16 John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

3:17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

3:18 So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.