Advent 3: Rejoice
Christ has died, Christ is risen. The Third Sunday of Advent is Rose Sunday, Gaudete Sunday, Rejoice Sunday.
It's Pink Candle Sunday, but the Pope never imagined it would be Pajama Sunday when, in history, he authorized pink liturgical color for the day instead of penitential purple, to lighten the Lenten feeling of deep penitence that Advent used to hold. It goes with the Proper Introit of the Latin Mass for Advent 3,
"Gaudete in Domino semper"
“Rejoice in the Lord always”.
And we DO rejoice, we ARE happy,
Christ has died, Christ is risen - -
Christ comes again,
or CAN come again, if you make it so.
Stir up your power, O Lord, a “stir-up Collect”, it's called. Brings to mind the old Collect for the Sunday Next Before Advent:
"STIR UP, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may by thee be plenteously rewarded".
Stir Up Sunday, fruit of good works, the day to go home from church and stir up the cake batter for fruitcakes. In my family, I was oldest child, obedient son; this season of year I was kitchen helper, stirring up Christmas candy and homemade fruitcakes .
And today’s Collect,
“Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us”.
I have many faults, of which I’ve admitted some, others are obvious without our discussing them, the rest are none of your business. But one IS that I am NOT sorely hindered by my sins. In fact, these eighty-five years and more, sin has added immensely to my joy in life.
Nor do I find Christians around me, including you, feeling sorely hindered by your sins. Indeed, the notion of sin is too touchy to preach, has been exiled from Christian consciousness. Jesus loves me, God loves you, and if we confess our sins (even liturgical rote while thinking of a martini and Sunday dinner) God seems quick to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness - - in our tradition by the wave of a priestly hand.
But the Third Sunday of Advent!!
The first two Advent Sundays were solemn warnings of the great and terrible Day of the Lord, a day of darkness, not light, of darkness and judgment for our sins (there’s that word again). The Day of the Lord: a cataclysmic notion originating for Christians in Jewish thought, for us, especially Paul, about the End of Days and the coming Messianic Age.
Someone wrote that
“Advent is a season of SIGHS, especially this year: we do not pine for a Second Coming that will bring the world to an end. We pray for the indwelling of Christ that will enable the world to continue”.*
This is how that indwelling comes about:
Christ has died, Christ is risen.
Christ comes again, NOT from beyond us, as in Holy Stories, with the sound of a trumpet, clouds, and angels, but from within us, from your life as a Christian keeping the vows of your Baptismal Covenant:
Prayers and breaking bread together,
Resisting evil,
Your daily living is such a proclamation of Christ that people see Jesus in you.
Loving people who are different from you, where Love is not a feeling, but how we treat other people, meaning no hungry families and no American without a place to sleep tonight.
That you strive for justice and peace to overcome hatred and division. That you treat people who don't agree with you, respectfully and with lovingkindness.
Christ has died, Christ is risen.
Christ comes again in you or never and not at all. If you are not keeping your Baptismal Covenant, Christmas is a pagan Winter Festival of sin, darkness and excess, and Jesus never comes except in religious myth, hopeless longing, and endless waiting.
But Christmas is real,
and Christ comes again
if YOU make it happen,
and heaven rejoices
because Jesus comes in you.
+++++++++
* Richard Lischer, Christian Century online November 24, 2020
Advent 3 homily by the Rev Tom Weller, Holy Nativity Episcopal Church, Panama City, Florida, December 13, 2020.