December 13, 2009

Rejoice!

A message for the Third Sunday in Advent

Delivered December 13, 2009 by Scott Cooper

St. Andrews Episcopal Church, Prineville, Oregon

The third Sunday in Advent is traditionally referred to as Gaudete Sunday.  Gaudete, from the Latin, “guadeo”, a verb meaning “rejoice.”

We do things a little differently today than we do during the rest of Advent. For one thing, we light the rose candle on the advent wreath. Were an ordained priest standing in my place, she or he would be wearing rose colored vestments in place of the usual white vestments called for in this season. The well-dressed priest would also be wearing his or her dalmatic—the richly embroidered outer garment worn over a tunic, and this would be in stark contrast to the rest of advent when sobriety is the order of the season.

Sobriety because Advent is traditionally celebrated as a time of somberness.  Historically, Advent began as a penitential feast leading up to Christmas—a sort of second Lent if you like. Originally, fasting was called for during Advent, although abstinence was substituted for fasting from the Twelfth Century on.  In earlier times, the organ was never heard and flowers were not allowed on the altar during Advent—except for this one Sunday, Guadete Sunday, when the people were allowed to take a little break from all that somberness.

Guadete Sunday has a counterpart during Lent. It is called Laetare Sunday. It also occurs mid-season, and it also offers a little break from all the doom and gloom that surrounds the rest of the season.

If you were listening during the lessons today, you noted the emphasis on joy.

Zephaniah begins “Shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart” and the passage goes on to proclaim that “the Lord is in your midst” and to promise that he will “save the lame, and gather the outcast, change shame into praise, make you famous and restore your fortunes before your very eyes.”

The canticle appointed in place of the Psalm, ends: ” Cry aloud, inhabitants of Zion, ring out your joy, for the great one in the midst of you is the Holy One of Israel.”

Philipians carrys on the theme, beginning: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice!”

Are you getting the idea yet?

And then we come to the Gospel reading, where you would expect to be something like angels wafting around singing something like “Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men,” or something else appropriately to Gaudete Sunday. However,  that is not quite what you get. Instead we get John the Baptist ranting and raving and shouting out "You brood of vipers!” What a buzzkill.

Lest we get too cheery, John goes on to deliver the cheery news that “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!" and in case you are not scared of John  he adds for good measure that Jesus is coming right behind him, and that he will be bringing his winnowing fork, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary and to throw the chaff into the unquenchable fire."

And on those joyous and uplifting thoughts, the Gospel concludes: “So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.”

Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t find this passage particularly joyous or uplifting, nor do I consider the threat of being tossed in the unquenchable fire to be “good news.”

So what are we to do with this Gospel? How are we to square it with the tradition of this day and with the rest of the readings with their messages of hope?

Perhaps we are to understand that true happiness is seldom obtained without some effort at self-reflection and self-awareness.

Certainly, that was one theme John the Baptist was suggesting. For after he threatened them with fire, and he finally had their attention, they cried out “What then should we do?” And John told them:

If you have two coasts, share with someone who has none.

If you have food, share with someone who has none.

If you have the power to take money, take what you are owed and no more.

If you have power over people, as a soldier does, take no more than is due.

And lastly, be satisfied with what you have.

Now honestly, when I think about the passage like that, it seems a lot more reasonable and palatable than talk of grain and chaff and unquenchable fires.

And despite all the Johanine dramatics, that’s probably how John intended his audience to understand his words too.

He wasn’t trying to scare the people into loving God. God doesn’t want you to love him out of fear. God wants you love him because that’s what your heart tells you to do.

And God doesn’t make it difficult to love him. That option is continuously available to us. Regardless of how much or how little you have done in the past to walk more closely with God, that invitation to walk even more closely with him is always. That’s what John meant when he calls the people to “Repent. Repenting need not involve a dramatic production. It doesn’t need to involve a big production and a lot of dramatics. It’s just a decision that you take right now, on  Gaudete Sunday, to live your life more in concert with God and the beloved Son he sent, not to tell us how the world is but to inspire us as to what it could become.

Repenting and Rejoicing are two sides of the same coin. Repenting is saying to yourself, “What I’ve been doing isn’t working.” The rejoicing starts when you decide to do something else and follow through.

Maybe it has never occurred to you to share with somebody else. Well, there’s a Salvation Army bell ringer somewhere in this town looking for your pennies, and St. Vincent DePaul or The Oasis or the Senior Center or that poor family next door will take what you are willing to give.

Maybe it never occurred to you to think about taking what’s yours and no more. Well, when you order that 3,000-calorie meal at a restaurant after church today, knowing full well that you will leave half of it on your plate, think about ordering the senior plate or a just a half-order of fries and leave something in the supply chain for those who don’t have enough to eat this season.

And when your Christmas doesn’t quite work out as planned because an insensitive son- or daughter-in-law or an ungrateful child or in irritating parent does something you don’t like, just keep in mind that there are many people out there this season who have no family at all with whom to spend this special time of year.

And when you open your credit card bills in January and realize that you spent a lot more than you thought you had and now you will have to make do for a few months with spending less in order to pay for your excesses, don’t get mad. Be glad. Be glad that you had credit to spend, because many people this season don’t. Be glad that you had a Christmas tree under which to pack too many gifts. Because many people this year have no place to put a Christmas tree. Be glad that you spent too much on Christmas dinner. Because many people had nothing special on Christmas Day or the day before or the day after.

Let us Rejoice then, this day, in what we have. This is the day when Christ and his Church invites us to Repent—to stop dwelling on what we do not have and rather to see with new eyes how truly blessed we are.

Our Gospel ends today with an exhortation to proclaim the Good News. So do it, not through your words but through your words and deeds. With heart and soul and voice and hands, let us go forth this day and Rejoice!

Amen