Weekly Seeds: Praying with Joy

Sunday, December 8, 2024
Second Sunday of Advent | Year C

Focus Theme:
Praying with Joy

Focus Prayer:
Righteous God, hear our prayer and infuse our prayer…with joy. Amen.

Focus Scripture:
Philippians 1:3-11 in conversation with Luke 3:1-6

Philippians 1:3-11

³ I thank my God for every remembrance of you, ⁴ always in every one of my prayers for all of you, praying with joy ⁵ for your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. ⁶ I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. ⁷ It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I hold you in my heart, for all of you are my partners in God’s grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. ⁸ For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the tender affection of Christ Jesus. ⁹ And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight ¹⁰ to help you to determine what really matters, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, ¹¹ having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.

Luke 3:1-6
3 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, ² during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. ³ He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, ⁴ as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,
“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
make his paths straight.
⁵ Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough ways made smooth,
⁶ and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

All readings for this Sunday:
Baruch 5:1-9 or Malachi 3:1-4 Luke 1:68-79 Philippians 1:3-11 Luke 3:1-6

Focus Questions:
What prompts you to pray?
How do you pray?
Does joy enter your prayers?
How do you engage in public ministry?
How does the prophetic voice show up in your ministry or faith community?

Reflection
By Cheryl A. Lindsay

Are pen pals still a thing? I had a couple when I was much younger. For those who aren’t familiar, pen pals were two people, often strangers, who started writing to one another. Some lived in other states; both of my pen pals lived in other countries. I corresponded the longest when I was in junior high school with another teenage girl who lived in Argentina. Fortunately, she wrote fluently in English. At first, we wrote to one another every few weeks, then months, until eventually, while in high school, we just stopped. Those letters were nice glimpses into the similarities and differences of our lives, but I cannot say that we ever became friends through those letters. We would probably have continued writing if we had. Maybe we would have found each other on social media or texted from time to time. Still, those letters were interesting, and I appreciated them while they lasted.

If someone read those letters, they could follow along. Not much context would have been needed because our conversations did not go deep enough to become private even if we had moments of vulnerability as we bemoaned the challenges of transitioning from childhood to adulthood. Still, I wrote each letter to my pen pal, for her reading only, not as an essay or personal reflection for the world to read. The letters weren’t really private, but they were personal.

Paul wrote letters to groups of people. They were also personal. He mentioned people by name and addressed the events of the day. His letters were not sent daily but as he had access to messengers to carry them to the various locations throughout the region. As a result, his letters rarely covered one topic. At the same time, they were brief enough to be read before the gathering of the faith community.

The stimulus for writing the letter may have been that Epaphroditus was about to return to his native Philippi and could act as a messenger (2:25). He had brought Paul news from the church in Philippi and had been a help to him during his imprisonment. Paul wanted to respond to the news and to thank the members of the church for their financial generosity. As a pastor, he wanted to encourage them to maintain their Christian unity and love, following the example of humility set by Christ. There was also a need to warn them of the possible danger that could come through false teachers, such as the Judaizers. The keynote of this epistle is joy. In the form of either a verb or a noun, the word ‘joy’ is found sixteen times.
Eshetu Abate

As one of the pastoral letters, Philippians, in particular, reads like an extended prayer service. Paul even includes a hymn. In response to his, the church and the world’s circumstances, Paul turns to worship, and worship leads him to joy.

Recently, I was interviewed by a news columnist on the subject of clergy well-being. At the end of our conversation, the columnist asked me about a related study he’d found in his research that reported that regular church attenders self-identified as happier and more content than people of faith who do not regularly participate in worship. The reports supplied the data but did not offer analysis of the reason or contributing factors that led to a greater sense of contentment and well-being among regular worshippers.

The columnist wanted my thoughts, and my first one was that worship offers community. When we gather (and there was no indication of a distinction between onsite and online worshippers), we share in prayer and song. We remind each other that we are not alone, and the connection is forged with the divine and each other. Our common condition strengthens bonds, and our unique challenges invite us to empathy and solidarity.

Paul’s letters to the churches of his era and to the church today, remind us, across time and distance, that our faith is shared. Our journey is communal. If we are called to be a righteous branch, we recognize that branches are connected to a tree, bush, or vine. From the advent of creation, the Creator declared we are not meant to be alone. That is not good. Paul’s pastoral approach appropriately emphasizes the relational nature of the church, and that is beyond good. It is a source of joy.

The effect of such a generous epistolary opening is to affirm Paul’s long relationship with the Philippians in the past (1:5), their mutual support in the present (1:7), and God’s ongoing work in them for the future (1:6). Paul highlights the Philippians’ sharing in his practice of prayer and his work in the gospel through their support of his ministry (1:7), and he uses the language of Greek friendship between two equals, and then extends this friendship to the entire community and to Christ; it is “Christ’s love” that Paul has for the Philippians (1:8). In addition to the Greek topos of friendship, Paul also draws on the ancient understanding of virtue ethics, that the mind controls the passions and the actions of the body. “It is right,” then, for Paul to think about the Philippians with thanksgiving, and to “long for” them with the “passion of Christ” (1:8) since they, too, share his “heart” for them (1:7)….Finally, Paul’s reflection on and interpretation of koinōnia functions to counteract his physical and mental suffering in prison. The richness of positive, emotional language communicates Paul’s confidence in God, to whom he gives thanks, and also his confidence in the Philippians, that they are standing firm, sharing with Paul in his suffering (1:7; 4:10–11), as Paul shares Christ’s suffering (1:13).
Julia Lambert Fogg

In his writing, Paul demonstrates how the relational support found in community, exemplified in the Philippian church, fortifies the purposeful action and ministry of the community. In that, his writings throughout the epistles also proves to be prophetic. Separation of the pastoral and prophetic presents a false disconnection. The pastoral is prophetic, and the prophetic is pastoral as also illustrated in the ministry of John the Baptist that ushers in this era for the faith community.

With the temporal phrase that begins 3:1, the narrative leaves behind the period of (childhood) preparation of prophet and Messiah and abruptly jumps to the activity of the adult John. Now it is his time to prepare a people for the coming of the Messiah. After locating John’s prophetic ministry in time and space, and in relation to the governing powers of his day, Luke situates John in God’s ongoing work of salvation announced by the prophet of Israel’s exile (Isa 40) and characterizes the prophetic ministry of John as an urgent summons to repentance and justice, so readying the people for the Messiah, who will complete the work begun by John.
John T. Carroll

Of course, John was not the only prophet identified in the gospel narrative. As Robert L. Brawley notes, “Like Elizabeth, Mary, Zechariah, Simeon, and Anna, the Baptizer plays a prophet’s role within this imperial setting.” By the middle of the first century, the imperial context only became stronger, and Paul, while clearly an evangelist at heart, understood the assignment of inviting new disciples into the purposeful ministry of redemptive love for transformation of the world. From his perspective, his work involved preparing people for the second coming of Christ as John prepared them through the ministry of repentance and the public introduction of Jesus.

Both Paul and John shared an urgency and earnestness in their public ministry. Both devoted the fullness of their lives to the gospel. Neither served as an apprentice in the way of the twelve first called by Jesus. Yet, their bookends to Jesus reflect a continuity and particularity of message and ministry. That same continuity and particularity remains the legacy for the church in every generation to follow: to be a righteous branch…connected to the same vine and sustained by the same roots.

Is it any wonder, as Paul puts his thoughts down to paper, that his consistent response is prayer and his disposition is joy? He believes the message he has heard. Paul has been, from his perspective, an unlikely recipient of God’s grace. Because of his faithfulness to his calling, Paul has participated in the spread of the gospel throughout northern African, Asia Minor, and southern Europe. He finds his joy in the Holy One, the fruit of his work, and in the community of believers despite persecution, imprisonment, limited resources, physical infirmities, and temporary isolation.

Perhaps the letters, which have been immortalized in the biblical canon, had an internal outcome as much as he wrote with external purposes. The process of writing, of collecting thoughts to be communicated to others, may have helped him work through his own doubts and concerns. Perhaps, that explains how much of his letters are peppered with prayer. As he considered, remembered, and named the past, present, and hoped-for future, he began to pray…with joy.

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.

“sorrows”
By Lucille Clifton
who would believe them winged
who would believe they could be

beautiful who would believe
they could fall so in love with mortals

that they would attach themselves
as scars attach and ride the skin

sometimes we hear them in our dreams
rattling their skulls clicking their bony fingers

envying our crackling hair
our spice filled flesh

they have heard me beseeching
as I whispered into my own

cupped hands enough not me again
enough but who can distinguish

one human voice
amid such choruses of desire

For Further Reflection
“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” ― Thich Nhat Hanh
“I have drunken deep of joy,
And I will taste no other wine tonight.” ― Percy Bysshe Shelley
“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.” ― Rumi

A preaching commentary on this text (with works cited) is at //ucc.org/SermonSeeds.

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 below this post on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SermonSeeds.

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Weekly Seeds is a service of Local Church Ministries of the United Church of Christ. Bible texts are from the New Revised Standard Version, © 1989 Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.