Sermon

St. Philip's Episcopal Church, Durham, NC

December 17, 2006 - Third Sunday of Adevent

The Rev. Harriette H. Sturges

Let us pray:

Reflections on this third Sunday of Advent.  Year C in our Lectionary.  Year 2006 in chronological time measured by our calendar.  Gaudete Sunday, Latin for joy signified by a rose-colored candle.  Our readings reverberate with joy.  Rejoice in the Lord always!  Rejoice and exult with all your heart! Ring out your joy!

How can joy be a preparation for the Incarnation?  How can joy be the work of Advent, the work of waiting and expecting?  How can the repentance that John the Baptist preaches bring joy?

One of my favorite prayers in our prayer book is from the last service of the day, Compline:

Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and
give your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for your love's sake. Amen.

Shield the joyous? We often pray for joy or yearn for it but this is the only place I know of where we pray for protection for those who have joy.  This makes sense.  We so often talk about kill-joys, wet blankets who smother the joy of the moment, someone scornfully saying, “Well, the honeymoon will soon be over.” Fairy tales when the clock strikes midnight and the coach turns back into a pumpkin.  Poems that admonish: Gather your rosebuds while you may.  Philosophers who teach: Eat, drink and be merry; for tomorrow you may die. So shielding the joyous seems an appropriate prayer, a necessary one. A prayer that I wouldn’t have thought of myself as even a moment of joy is gift enough.

But is joy always to be so fleeting?

Our scriptures contradict this. Even in exile, they are to rejoice.  In the wilderness they are to be joyful. In prison, they continue rejoicing and singing praises to God, the God who is in the midst of them whatever the circumstances. Indeed, Zephaniah goes even further and says that God rejoices over you with gladness. Joy then is a state of being? Even in the hard times? In the darkness?  In the waiting? The work of Advent, therefore, can be to practice joy so you'll know how to dance, to sing, to rejoice with vigor and wait in the darkness for the morning to come.

Then I read Luke's gospel about John the Baptist.  John with his brood of vipers condemnation of those who think too highly of themselves.  John is not subtle.  He does not answer questions with questions for you to ponder like Jesus does.  He does not speak in parables to engage your imagination but in the parlance of John Wayne, this John shoots from the hip, speaks from his heart with all the exuberance and surety that is disarming, without apology or pretence but full of joy.

He has the joy and assurance of knowing who he is.  Not the Messiah, but John.  His mission is to baptize with water. He is without guile or the need to impress or the fear of disappointing others.  He is authentic and clear about what he believes and hopes for and has good news to share that will bring joy if we are ready, prepared and maybe even if we're not.  He prepares the way for us, for the one who dwells in the midst of us.

Learning to live in joy, expecting joy, offering it to others is therefore the work of Advent.  Isaiah and Zephaniah tell us that God offers us joy.  Paul and John tell us how to recognize true joy in ourselves and in others.  Be gentle. Don't worry.  Pray. Make your requests known to God.  Bear good fruit, the fruit of repentance.

Like the soldiers, the tax collectors, the crowd, we ask, “What must we do?” Basically what John tells them and tells us is to limit ourselves. Limit what you own, limit what you eat, limit what you earn and what you demand from others. Going beyond the limits of God always brings disaster and despair.

Adam and Eve refused to limit themselves to all the trees in the garden but one.  People in the time of Noah went to extreme excesses and were destroyed.  At the Tower of Babel, the builders exceeded their limits.  King David overstepped his limits as king and killed to have another man’s wife.  Solomon let glory rule him instead of the wisdom he first desired and became a despot. Time and time again, the prophets called the people back to limits, to honesty and justice for the poor and the land without results. Exceeding the limits never brought joy to any of them. Furthermore it harmed their neighbors, defaced God's creation and separated them from God.

Setting limits does not mean returning to a dictator or to a feudal or caste system where limits are imposed. Limits offer the whole system freedom to live without fear of war and poverty. Can the concept of limiting ourselves become a virtue, a way of living in God’s will?  Can our limits change so as not to suffocate ourselves or exclude others but without exceeding the resources we have and deceiving ourselves? Will the limits we impose on ourselves through our rule of life, regardless of what the political and economic powers do or not do, allow us the generosity and gentleness to share, to be content without abuse or exploitation? 

What must we do?

Limit yourselves by observing the Sabbath in all you do and allowing others to observe it as well. Let the Holy One dwell in the midst of you. Finally, beloved, whatever if true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is  pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things and the God of peace will be with you. Your joy will be complete.

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