On twitter earlier this week I saw this tweet from Fleming Rutledge.
I must admit that while serving in a parish I promoted the idea of giving names to candles in the Advent Wreath in order to link that candle-lighting to the rest of the service. Now that I’m out of parish ministry without the need to explain the lighting of Advent Wreath candles to the congregation, I’m tending to agree more with Fleming Rutledge. In fact, looking back at the previous two Sundays online sermons1, I see that on Advent 1 I wrote on ‘the Three Comings’ which includes the coming of Christ at the end of time, so it seems to speak about ‘Death’ and how we need to be ready for the coming of Christ to us even before the Final Trumpet is heard. Last week I wrote about ‘Change’ and how we need to change. Change is something that judgement brings. If we just carry on without that change then we will be judged again and again till we do change.
This week the word given by that tweet is ‘Heaven’. The readings for this Sunday seem to ring out about rejoicing and if (or when/) we get to heaven, we will be rejoicing! This comes through so clearly in the three readings.2
The First Reading tells God’s people to shout for joy. Zephaniah 3:14
14 Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem!
The Second Reading exhorts Christians to rejoice always. In fact, this passage gives the name to this Sunday Gaudete Sunday .3
Philippians 4:4,6 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. … Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
I well remember singing Henry Purcell’s anthem Rejoice in the Lord, always (also known as The Bell Anthem) at St Margaret’s in Fish Hoek with the rector, Canon John Aubrey singing the Bass solo part in the verse and Mr Charles Foot singing the tenor. I can’t remember who sang the alto part.
Even the Gospel Reading that has that usual prophet of doom4 John the Baptist preaching, doom but more importantly Good News to the people. Christ will ‘baptize you with the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit will then dwell in you. 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. 17His 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.’ Luke 3:16-17
We all know the famous question, ‘What do you want to hear first, the Good News or the Bad News?’ When thinking about what is Good News, it helps to have some sense of what the bad news is.
Notice in the Second Reading that the call to rejoice is followed by an exhortation to have no anxieties. Do not worry about anything v6. My thinking then, is that the bad news is everything that raises those anxieties. The First Reading spells out some of those anxieties. There are enemies; there are misfortune—sickness, poverty, unemployment, natural disaster, and all the rest. It is possible to find some peace about all these things by bringing them to God in prayer and putting your trust in him. Eleonore Stump says: ‘At any rate, that is the antidote to these anxieties recommended by this reading.’5
Although I agree that this is the antidote, I am not sure how she sees this in the reading. This reference brought to mind an Advent sermon of the late Dean Ted King that I was reading the other day. He was exploring how Advent was a time for self-examination and he commented on how we brush off people and events with remarks like, “‘Of course I will pray for you, my dear’ – but we don’t. ‘You are often in my prayers.’ We say it, but they are not”. 6
But a person can have anxieties that are harder to bring to God. There are the relationships that have broken, the wreckage that is happening in our home, the failures that we are culpable for at work. Sin can paralyze any effort at joy, in loving relationship with God and others. Eleonore Stump makes a telling comment, ‘We can put our trust in God; but what happens when we know that God can put no trust in us? What happens to joy, in the face of this thought? That is the bad news.
But what is so interesting is that this is also where the good news comes in. The First Reading from Zephaniah promises that Godwill rejoice over you. Why? The answer is also in the First Reading: God will renew you; and when he does, you will be so lovely that God himself will make songs about you and for you, and God, Gods-self will sing these songs to you.
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
18 as on a day of festival.
v17,18
That is amazing good news, isn’t it? But there’s more, as the TV adverts say about any special offers. In the Second reading from Philippians, the writer tells us:
7And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
But how can it be?
This is where the good news from John the Baptist comes in. He tells his hearers that Christ will baptize with the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit will then dwell in us. Christ is Emmanuel, God with us, and he brings God the Holy Spirit into us. When God is with us and in us, how can we ???keep from singing for joy?
Certainly, Henry Purcell could not help singing for joy.
This reflection is based on an idea of Eleonore Stump from: https://liturgy.sluhostedsites.org/3AdvC121221/reflections_stump.html
- Are they sermon which are never preached? They are an opportunity for me to think more about my faith but I am loathed to call them meditations? ‘Thought-piece’ sounds a bit pretentious so if any of you can think of another name for them do let me know. [↩]
- For full versions of the readings go to: https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=97 [↩]
- Gaudete Sunday is the third Sunday of Advent. The name comes from the Introit for Gaudete Sunday, which is taken from Philippians 4:4,5 Gaudete in Domino semper, or “rejoice in the Lord always.” On Gaudete Sunday, having passed the midpoint of Advent, the Church lightens the mood a little, and the priest may wear rose vestments. https://www.learnreligions.com/what-is-gaudete-sunday-542429 [↩]
- Luke 3:7,8 ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8Bear fruits worthy of repentance.’ [↩]
- https://liturgy.sluhostedsites.org/3AdvC121221/reflections_stump.html [↩]
- Edward King. Discovering God: A selection of sermons by Edward King, Cape Town, privately published, 1988, p.40 [↩]
