A reflection on the lectionary readings for the Third Sunday of Advent.
Stir up your power, O God, and with great might, come among us!!! What an expression of joy! Don’t you think?
It’s so hard to feel joy right now. I’ve been singing along with Christmas music on the radio a little more enthusiastically than I have in previous years in an effort to stir up the Joy that is part of the anticipation of Advent. If you haven’t guessed it already, the word for this third Sunday (can you believe it?!) of Advent is Joy.
With all of the anger and hate in our country, I want more than anything for God to come among us with God’s great power of Love. John the Baptizer wanted it too. I know we are supposed to be preparing for Christmas but our Gospel reading for today is in the middle of the story of Jesus’ earthly ministry and John is in prison. A challenging place, for sure, to reflect about Joy.
John had done as God had asked, he was faithful and humbly (albeit directly and energetically) pointed all who came to him to the Messiah. He didn’t take credit for any of it, didn’t look to get rich or famous or even have a fancy wardrobe or be seated at the best tables. John the Baptizer faithfully did what was his to do in God’s Kingdom-on-earth-as-in-heaven. He was in prison because he made those in power uncomfortable because he knew true power wasn’t the thrones of this earth but the love of God for all people. John the Baptizer was a messenger of Joy.
Joy is found in the deepest part of us that remembers that we are created good as God’s beloved. Joy is the feeling of wholeness when we realize the way God came to us as a helpless infant to grow and live as we do, when we comprehend that God finds us worthy to, well, find us where we are, as we are. Joy is knowing that God says our lives are worth more to God than God’s own life. What great power there is in knowing this.
The only appropriate response to this most powerful love is to live a life sharing this love to the best of our ability and with God’s help. Even in the hard times, especially in the hard times, God’s love is present to us and the more we share it the more we have to share. And, yes, we mess it up. A lot. We are hindered by our egos that mistakenly tell us we are worth more or less than anyone else. And God comes to us to remind us who and Whose we are. And God forgives us and loves us.
I was recently on a walk with my 7 year old granddaughter and she was trying to “feel” God. She’d asked me earlier if God was in heaven and I said yes, and that God is also everywhere and in us. We stopped at some lovely flowers and asked her how she felt when she looked at them and she said flowers made her happy. And then I asked how she felt when she hugged her mommy and daddy or played with her sister. She thought for a while trying to find the right words and said she felt love and I said that’s what God feels like. Of course, I went on to say that God isn’t just with us when we are happy but also when we are sad (this is why I don’t teach children, y’all, I never know where to stop), that God is with us always even if we don’t feel God. She looked very thoughtful for a while as we walked and I was waiting for what she would ask next but instead she got distracted by a lovely display of Christmas decorations in the neighbor’s yard. I was grateful for the distraction as we finished our walk in our own thoughts.
In her childlike questions and ideas, I found deep joy – the presence of God with us in her desire to understand this amazing world God made and my adult fumbling in trying to provide the ‘perfect’ explanation. This is how Joy shows up. In the midst of the ordinary happenings of our days when we catch a glimpse of the beauty of God’s creation and childlike delight. When we feel love even when the world is harsh and unkind. When we are content just to be with another person. When we are content just to be who and Whose we are.
In this Advent season, as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, look for God to show up in the ordinary moments of your day. When you are feeling stressed by so much to do or what’s happening in the world, look for God to show up in the simple routines and rhythms of waking and eating and drinking and talking with others. And when you doubt that God can show up where you are, ask someone to remind you.
John the Baptizer sent people to ask Jesus to reassure him and Jesus told them to look at what they could see – all the ways God’s love disrupted what people thought was the status quo. Jesus told them to look at all the ways God’s love breaks through the pain and suffering in this world and the way God is present in this world. God’s love is good news to those who need good news. God’s good news upends what we think we know about who is first and who is last and what true greatness means. The good news of God is that all are beloved children whom God comes to to reminds us of the goodness in us.
So, this third week of Advent, let Joy come to you. Listen to your soul remind you of God’s greatness, of God’s love for you.
To close with, I’d like to share this poem I came across this week. It’s appropriately titled “Joy”:
Amen.
Mother Nancy's Coffee Thoughts 