Rejoice: Third Sunday of Advent

As we light the rose colored candle on this third Sunday of Advent we rejoice that the time is near but not yet here!

Third Sunday of Advent

Morning Church.  If you are happy to be here, say Amen! Today we celebrate the Third Sunday of Advent.  We light the pink candle as a sign of us rejoicing in the midst of the journey.  We have one more week to celebrate Advent, but we can rejoice that we are almost finished, Amen?  Today the Word of God presents us with three words for us to think about during our Advent journey: Rejoice, Patience and Unexpected.  What are those three words? Rejoice, Patience and Unexpected.  Now turn to the person next to you and tell them those words: Rejoice, Patience and Unexpected.  Excellent Church, you are listening!!!

The prophet Isaiah reminds us to rejoice! Isaiah reminds us that even though everything may not be as we want it to be, Gods promise to us is that our life will be abundant.  In God’s vision for our world there will be plentiful, rejoicing, abundance, singing and dancing.  The weak will be made strong, the lost will be found, the blind will see, the lame will leap, the deaf will hear, the mute will sing and sorrow will turn into joy and gladness.  This is the promise of the future and yet we may see glimpses of this in the present day.  In God’s plan, all shall be well.  That is Good News, Amen? So, even though all is not one hundred percent well right now, it does not mean that we have to wait to rejoice.  We can rejoice right now, Amen? We rejoice in the promise.  We rejoice in the hope.  We rejoice that our God cares enough about us that He shares this vision with us.  And so too we rejoice this third Sunday of Advent.  We are not yet at Christmas, but we can rejoice right now.  We can rejoice that we have prayed, sacrificed, read Scripture and helped others during these past three weeks in anticipation of Christmas.  Our lives may not be perfect right now, but we can still rejoice, Amen?  Turn to the person next to you and say: Rejoice!

In the letter of Saint James, the author uses the image of a farmer waiting for the produce of the harvest.  The farmer waits with anticipation for the harvest and does not do anything prematurely to hurry along the harvest.  The farmer patiently waits.  We too must patiently wait.  We may want something right now.  We may want Christmas to come tomorrow.  But, we must wait for the right time and season.  Patience is difficult, Amen?  And in today’s world of technology patience is even more difficult because we want things and answers right away.  Patience is a discipline and teaches us humility.   Patience helps us make our hearts firm as Saint James tells us today.  When our hearts are firm we can endure all sorts of trials, Amen?  In many ways, patience reminds us that we are not in charge, and that can be difficult, Amen? As the farmer waits for the harvest, so too we wait for the Day of the Lord.  Patience is part of the journey.  Close your eyes right now and ask the Lord to give you more patience.  Open your eyes and turn to the person next to you and say: I am going to try and be more patient!

And finally the Gospel reminds us that sometimes we do not receive what we may want or desire but we receive the unexpected.  For the Jews, the coming of the Messiah meant that he was going to liberate them from the bondage of foreign rule and restore Israel to former greatness.  But Scripture always pointed to the Messiah as the one who came to serve and not be served, as the one who brought peace and not war, as the one who brought others to a deeper relationship with God.  The people had certain expectations of the Messiah.  John the Baptist had certain expectations of the Messiah, and Jesus did not meet his expectations.  Jesus was different.  Jesus was not what the people expected.  Jesus reminded the people of all the things he had accomplished.  The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are clean, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life and the poor have good news preached to them.  These are the works of the Messiah, not military power! I am sure we have all had experiences of the unexpected in our own lives, Amen? It is not what we expected but that does not mean that it was bad, just different.  This Messiah is different and we come to realize that when we celebrate Christmas and we honor a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger.  Now that is really unexpected, Amen? So maybe today, something unexpected may happen to you.  Think about Jesus when it happens!

So we celebrate this Third Sunday with words like Rejoice, Patience and Unexpected.  We are one week away from the celebration of Christmas.  It is so close and yet so far from us. In a world of instant gratification it is difficult to be patient and wait.  There is still work to do, but we can rejoice today, Amen?