"Joy"

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,

because the LORD has anointed me;

he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,

to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives,

and release to the prisoners;

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,

and the day of vengeance of our God;

to comfort all who mourn;

to provide for those who mourn in Zion—

to give them a garland instead of ashes,

the oil of gladness instead of mourning,

the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.

They will be called oaks of righteousness,

the planting of the LORD, to display his glory.

They shall build up the ancient ruins,

they shall raise up the former devastations;

they shall repair the ruined cities,

the devastations of many generations.

For I the LORD love justice,

I hate robbery and wrongdoing;

I will faithfully give them their recompense,

and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.

Their descendants shall be known among the nations,

and their offspring among the peoples;

all who see them shall acknowledge

that they are a people whom the LORD has blessed.

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD,

my whole being shall exult in my God;

for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation,

he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,

as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,

and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

For as the earth brings forth its shoots,

and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,

so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise

to spring up before all the nations. 

1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 

Rejoice always,

pray without ceasing,

give thanks in all circumstances;

for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Do not quench the Spirit.

Do not despise the words of prophets,

but test everything; hold fast to what is good;

abstain from every form of evil.

May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely;

and may your spirit and soul and body

be kept sound and blameless

at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The one who calls you is faithful,

and he will do this. 

Luke 1:46b-55

"My soul magnifies the Lord,

and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

for the Mighty One has done great things for me,

and holy is his name.

His mercy is for those who fear him

from generation to generation.

He has shown strength with his arm;

he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,

and lifted up the lowly;

he has filled the hungry with good things,

and sent the rich away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel,

in remembrance of his mercy,

according to the promise he made to our ancestors,

to Abraham and to his descendants forever." 

        

SERMON   “Joy”

Chances are you know the Dr. Seuss story, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” Chances are you have either read it yourself, or to your children or grandchildren, or you have seen it on TV or at the movies, whether it’s the animated one from the 1960s that was narrated by Boris Karloff, or the more recent one where Jim Carrey starred as the Grinch. Chances are you’re pretty familiar with the story of how the Grinch descends upon Whoville, pretending to be Santa, while everyone is asleep, with that poor little dog pulling his miserable sleigh, and he quietly takes away all the decorations, all the presents, all the food waiting to be feasted upon. And then he waits, happily imagining the cries and the howls and the despair that will come when all the moms and dads and children awaken on Christmas morning and find – nothing left.

But – that’s not what happens, is it? As the dawn breaks, and all the Whos come out of their houses in Whoville, that Grinch still hears the sound - of sweet singing, songs of welcome for Christmas, the Christmas he thought he had removed - eliminated.  And he ponders this for a long time, not able to figure out how this could possibly be?

And then Dr. Seuss writes these beautiful words, describing that “a-ha!” moment as it comes to the Grinch:

“‘Maybe Christmas,’ he thought, ‘doesn’t come from a store.

‘Maybe Christmas … perhaps … means a little bit more!’”

This is the third Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of Joy. It’s the pink candle Sunday. It’s pink to show a shift from the other purple weeks. The color purple is the color of fasting – of being somber, quiet, waiting for what is about to come. But on this third Sunday, we take a break for Joy. This Sunday is sometimes called Gaudete Sunday, with Gaudete being Latin for “rejoice”. The Catholic Mass begins with that word – as part of the phrase, “Rejoice in the Lord always”.

In Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, this letter written around 50 AD, that is the most likely the earliest piece of writing to be included in the New Testament, we hear this message too. “Rejoice always!” he tells them. “Pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances.” In the midst of darkness, in the midst of waiting, in the midst of sorrow and loneliness and oppression, right here in the midst of Advent – Rejoice always. Give thanks no matter what. 

That’s what the “Whos” were doing in Whoville, weren’t they? That’s what confused the Grinch so much – that they were joyful, thankful, singing happy songs, even when their Christmas seemed to have been completely taken away.

The gospel reading today is known as Mary’s song, or the Magnificat – again with the Latin. Magnificat means “magnifies”. Mary begins her song with that word – My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my savior.

Rejoicing again. The whole song is a song of joy, an ode to joy. Her joy comes from the salvation of God, from the wonderful mystery that is happening within her, from her awakening to what it means that she was chosen to bear God, and from her realization that this child she carries is the Messiah who frees the people walking in darkness.

In this mighty, self-giving act, God has lifted up the lonely, and has filled the hungry with good things. But that’s not all. She proclaims, just as the prophets did in the past, that the world is about to turn.   God has also brought down the powerful from their thrones, and has sent the rich away empty. She speaks, or rather sings, that this has already come to be. Her song is full of mystery and joy.

And who is hearing her sing this song? Well, it’s Elizabeth.

In the verses leading up to her song, an angel has just revealed to Mary that she has found favor with God, and that she will conceive and bear a son who will ascend to the throne of David. The Son of God. And as if that were not enough, she also learns that Elizabeth, her aging relative, is six months pregnant. And so as soon as the angel departs, Mary goes to her. We can imagine that Mary would want to seek out a kindred spirit, that she would know that a miracle had occurred with Elizabeth, and she would expect that Elizabeth might just believe Mary’s story, a story that Mary just had to share with someone. And as soon as Mary rounds the corner, and comes into view, the child growing inside Elizabeth leaps with Joy.

And Elizabeth cries out with Joy, “Mary, you are blessed among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And how is it that the mother of my Lord has come to me?”

And in response, Mary sings this song of Joy. Her soul magnifies the Lord. Of course it does. Through her, the almighty God arrives among us as a tiny baby, with fingers and toes and ears and nose, able to be examined and touched and held and rocked and fed and cared for, up close and personal. This is God magnified, as with a magnifying glass, so that through Jesus, we can see God most clearly.

C.S. Lewis, who wrote the Chronicles of Narnia and many other books, became a Christian sometime after the age of 50. He wrote a memoir about his early life and his experience of conversion, and he called the book “Surprised by Joy”.  In the book he writes this: “Joy must be sharply distinguished both from Happiness and Pleasure. Joy, in my sense, has indeed one characteristic, and one only, in common with [happiness and pleasure]; the fact that anyone who has experienced it will want it again … I doubt whether anyone who has tasted [Joy] would ever exchange it for all the pleasures in the world, if both were in his power. But then Joy is never in our power and Pleasure often is.”

So Joy is much different from personal happiness. Its only real connection to happiness is that it is a reflection of the happiness that comes from knowing we belong to God. And we have good reason to be filled with Joy, because we know the end of the gospel story. We know the Good News in full.

Mary sang her song of Joy, not knowing anything, really, about what would lie ahead. She sang her song of Joy with no idea of the suffering her child would endure throughout his short life.

But we know how the story goes. We know that what begins with the stable and the manger and the very human birth ends with the arrest and the cross and the very human death. But we also know that because of the resurrection, death does not have the last word, that sorrow and suffering are not the last word. We know that Joy remains, Joy abides, no matter what. So we rejoice always, give thanks in all circumstances, recognize ourselves to be blessed no matter what is going on in our lives, pray without ceasing, in good times and bad, and live in the Joy that is ours, always. Because Jesus was born, and Jesus lives, and Jesus still abides among us, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and Jesus will come again. Rejoice always! Amen.