December 13, 2015

The Third Sunday of Advent

        

            Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice! The Lord is near. I wonder sometimes that scripture has to repeat truth because it so hard to believe. This week we remember joy. We light the pink candle. We hear the command of the collect to stir up our hearts – maybe we also know this as stir up Sunday when we all go home and give our Christmas pudding a good stir. (No pudding? It’s all the fun of the season!)

            There is a part of our season that is all about generosity and gifts. We look forward to what we will do and whom we will see. We also live in difficult times. We are afraid and uncertain. The news is filled with danger and ugly words. Our joy seems misplaced.

            This is why we are commanded to have joy. Of course there are times when we get good news or some great reward. At those times we can’t contain our joy. We delight in the newborn baby. We celebrate a graduation. If only our times had more of this good news and less of the bad. Yet we are commanded.

            I listen to the radio in my car when I’m driving around. On NPR this week, a family from Newtown was being interviewed, as it has been three years since that awful day in Sandy Hook. They shared their pain and their loss. They also shared how they were standing against the choice to hate or to give up. They were still determined to make the world a safer place. They wanted to remember the good gifts of their present life (especially their surviving son.) They held no hate, instead they kept on repeating their motto, “love always wins.”

            They spoke about the importance of connection. They reflected that if Adam Lanza and his mother had not been so disconnected, and without resources, perhaps there would have been a different story. The answer isn’t simply more laws or better security. We need a different society, where we look out for each other. We need to create a world where we see that everyone gets what they need.

            The motto, “love always wins,” is not always easy to see in fact. The world seems full of people who give in to hate and fear. It is not easy to see how our actions can effect how others choose to live their lives. In this advent season we are confronted with the need to choose faith over fear and love over hate. Paul reminds us to rejoice. This Sunday reminds us of joy.

            John the Baptist seems to be a little short on joy. Yet even with his harsh words, the gospel says that he proclaimed good news to the people. He calls them all vipers. This is an illusion to apocryphal writing that describes the evil men who will be judged at the end of time. This is a time of decision. This is a time of action. It’s time to choose a side. Who will you follow and how will you act?

            The people are asking John this very question. What should we do? He does not list a variety of acts of self-discipline or denial. He basically tells them to be fair. He tells them to act decently to one another. Whoever has two coats should share with someone who needs one. If you collect taxes, take no more than you should. A soldier should not take anything by force but be content with his wages.

            Then John introduces a dire warning about the one coming after him. This one will bring a winnowing fork and separate the wheat from the chaff. Which are you, wheat or chaff?

            The good news is: we are wheat. So we need to act like it. At the very least, we should act decently towards our neighbors. Beyond that, what do we believe? We know that Jesus saves us and gives us eternal life. We have nothing to fear. Jesus is reconciling the world to God and we have been invited into this same ministry of reconciliation.

            Even though we are surrounded by fear and violence, we can choose faith and we can choose love. We will not stop every violent event. We cannot convert any hateful person. We can create a culture around us of acceptance and love. We can choose to know our neighbors and look out for their welfare. We can love the stranger, the outcast, and the refugee. We can also proclaim that love always wins, because it does.

            This is God’s promise to us.