Sermon Seeds: Again…Rejoice

Sunday, December 15, 2024
Third Sunday of Advent | Year C
(Liturgical Color: Purple/Violet/Blue )

Lectionary Citations
Zephaniah • 3:14-20 • Isaiah 12:2-6 • Philippians 4:4-7 • Luke 3:7-18
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts/?z=a&d=3&y=384

Focus Scripture: Philippians 4:4-7 in conversation with Luke 3:7-18
Focus Theme: Again…Rejoice
Series: A Righteous Branch (Click here for the series overview.)

Reflection
By Michelle L. Torigian

Each year, I cheer on my beloved St. Louis Cardinals, hoping with all my heart they will win the World Series. And each year, I become more frustrated as we move farther away in time from the most recent win of the beloved pennant in 2011. While they’ve had many successful seasons, even clinching the National League Central Division in 2022, we know we must wait at least a year before another successful post-season is on the horizon.

It’s that way for many of our teams. (My husband, who once lived in Cleveland and is a fan of the Guardians, reminds me that it’s been a long 76 years since their last win. We are cheering them on from afar!) Such hope extends to our fandoms as well as we wait for new seasons of shows to watch and anticipate that our storylines will be wrapped up in a joyous ending.

In the meantime, we seek morsels of joy from won games to new episodes or movies in a series. We find joy connecting with fellow fans and celebrating when an outcome lines up with our hearts.

While there still may be grief with life’s simple defeats like with our sports teams, such losses are often a drop in the bucket compared with the great losses in our lives.

Whether it’s the death of a loved one or relationship, this grief tears at our souls. When we are facing a health crisis with a long road or no road to recovery, we deal with the back-and-forth of our hearts as we process the news and our body’s response. As we ride the rollercoaster of emotions, we see the ways the expectant denial, anger, and depression rages through our hearts, minds, and spirits.

For a while as we endure these struggles, joy seems to be moving farther away from our own realm. And yet, for some, joy is still a part of their everyday lives – even in the midst of grief.

In the featured text, Paul is writing from prison to the church in Philippi. The letter is one of two that are confirmed as letters written from prison, the other being Philemon. According to the text In Search of Paul, John Dominic Crossan and Jonathan L. Reed note that the word “imprisonment” is translated into English as “chains.” They write the following:

“Paul was held in military custody, chained to a soldier. Everything thereafter depended on what friends could do what custodians would allow, and on how humanity and bribery might prevail over inhumanity and cruelty. According to Josephus’ Jewish Antiquities, for example, Herod Agrippa I was placed under such a guard in 37 CE when he rejoiced too openly and too early upon the Emperor Tiberius’ death.”

Throughout the letter to the Philippians, Paul inflects a more positive tone which points to a tone of rejoicing even in imprisonment. Crossan and Reed note the following:

“We will see below that Paul’s confident tone may have been more to console the Philippians than to reassure himself and that the terror of that imprisonment was far greater than we glimpse from those letters to either Philemon or the Philippians.”

Paul still speaks of joy, even in his time of imprisonment. Even enduring trauma, he recognizes glimmers of God in his midst. This is not to say that Paul is embracing toxic positivity, but continuing to embrace a vision of hope both for his fellow travelers on the journey and for himself.

Paul’s mindset of always rejoicing in God gives him a path to liberation even before being released from prison. Paul is able to embrace spiritual deliverance prior to the powers-that-be setting him free. While power is still held in the hands of his captors, Paul is able to spiritual break free from their control of his soul, rendering him agency. And he wants to pass along that gift to anyone facing hardship in Philippi. Through refocusing his spirit, he is able to embrace the peace of God “which surpasses all understanding” (v7).

Struggle through the ages is seen over and over again throughout scripture. Even before Israel returned to their homeland after the Babylonians exiled them, they still found ways to rejoice in their circumstances:

“For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.” (Isaiah 55:12)

This Sunday, many of our churches are lighting the pink candle which often indicates joy. Some years, the song of Mary in Luke 1:39-56 is included as one of the lectionary texts. (It will be one of the texts during Advent 4C.) Even in the most peculiar of circumstances, Mary’s “spirit rejoices in God my Savior” (Luke 1:47). She sings of the marginalized finding empowerment and the ones who are proud being brought down from their power and pride. Joy begins to take hold, not only as an agent of hope and peace, but also a means to stand against anything which attempts to take away our power and dignity.

I believe folks across our world at this time are facing a number of crises. As the humanitarian crisis grows for our Palestian neighbors, we wonder how one may find their joy among destruction. And yet, there are moments of joy when two people are reunited or when folks are able to share a meal together. Such joy is an act of resistance against anyone who hopes to oppress.

As our political climate changes and our neighbors feel a heaviness of what could come, finding ways to still experience joy is not in an effort to embrace a toxic positivity. Quite the opposite. Our neighbors will still experience pain, but they will explore the ways to rejoice in hope to lift one’s spirit and stare marginalization in the face.

The ability to “rejoice always” is not dismissing heartaches from divorce or breakups. It’s not dismissing the tears after a diagnosis or during treatments. It’s not leaving behind the memory or grief after a loved one dies. Instead, it’s being in life’s valleys, and having a certain hope and determination that a path forward is possible. We are given the opportunity to stare down life’s pains knowing that losses are not the last word.

I always recall the weeks after my dad died in 2017 how my face looked wearisome in photographs. I lost the spark behind my eyes. A few weeks after his passing, there was a festival of art and light in Cincinnati called “Blink.” I gathered with my friends over a long weekend, and we walked around downtown Cincinnati enjoying the lighted fixtures and murals projected onto the side of buildings. These little bits of light helped to break up the intensity of grief in my heart. I began to rediscover joy even as I was grieving at the same time.

And I knew that there are tomorrows full of joy again.

Reflection from Voices of People of African Descent
The 33rd General Synod adopted a Resolution to Recognize the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024). As part of its implementation, Sermon and Weekly Seeds offers Reflection from Voices of People of African Descent related to the season or overall theme for additional consideration in sermon preparation and for individual and congregational study.
“the garden of delight”
By Lucille Clifton
for some
it is stone
bare smooth
as a buttock
rounding
into the crevasse
of the world

for some
it is extravagant
water mouths wide
washing together
forever for some
it is fire
for some air

and for some
certain only of the syllables
it is the element they
search their lives for

eden

for them
it is a test

For Further Reflection
“If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things of nature have a message that you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive.” — Eleonora Duse
“Keep fighting for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don’t forget to have fun doin’ it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce.” — Molly Ivins
“Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity.” — Henry Van Dyke

Suggested Congregational Response to the Reflection
If you light the Advent wreath, return to the pink candle and open space for sharing glimmers of joy. (If your tradition does not include the Advent wreath, choose any candle to represent the light of joy in this season.)

Worship Ways Liturgical Resources
https://www.ucc.org/worship-way/advent-3c-december-15/

The Rev. Michelle L. Torigian (passtormichelle@stpaulucc.org) is the senior pastor of St. Paul United Church of Christ in Belleville, Illinois. She writes at michelletorigian.com.

The Rev. Dr. Cheryl A. Lindsay, Minister for Worship and Theology (lindsayc@ucc.org), also serves a local church pastor, public theologian, and worship scholar-practitioner with a particular interest in the proclamation of the word in gathered communities. You’re invited to share your reflections on this text in the comments on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SermonSeeds.

A Bible study version of this reflection is at Weekly Seeds.