3rd Sunday of Advent –
Year C
Zephaniah 3: 14-18a; Philippians 4:
4-7;
Luke 3: 10-18
Today
we hear a bit of a change in tone from the readings of the past two
Sundays. The previous two weeks we’ve been hearing phrases like
“repent and make straight the Lord’s path.” We’ve heard
about John baptizing in the desert – a baptism of repentance –
preparing the way of the one who is to come. But today we hear
“Shout for joy, O daughter Zion! Sing joyfully O Israel!” It’s
a bit of a change. Look at our advent wreath – today our candle is
a different color. We have a rose colored candle symbolizing joy
amidst the purple candles of repentance.
So
today we are supposed to feel joyful. We are supposed to feel the
warmth of God’s unending love for us. Sometimes that is easier
than done.
This
season focuses on gift-giving – but many people are out of work or
struggling financially; many are torn between not spending enough and
spending too much without the means to pay for everything.
This
season centers on the joys of being with family – but many people
have lost loved ones during the past year; many live alone or are
estranged from families that have caused more pain than joy.
Two
days ago, we had another senseless massacre in one of our schools,
this time in Connecticut.
So
how do we tune out these distractions? How do we deal with the
loneliness, the pain, the anger that we are all feeling?
How do we
find the joy?
In
today’s gospel, people come from everywhere to hear John the
Baptist – and they are all asking the same question: “Teacher,
what should we do?” Maybe John’s answers will serve us too.
John said “Whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who
has none. And whoever has food should do likewise.”
Maybe
the first step to finding that joy is to stop thinking about
ourselves and focus our attention outward. I know of no other
activity that will boost morale and self-esteem better than
volunteering our time for those less fortunate:
- Start a drive to collect food for those who are hungry
- Collect blankets and coats for those who go without
- Visit someone in the hospital or the nursing home
- Sent a Christmas card to someone in prison or to a soldier overseas
When
I was twelve years old, I hung around with a group of kids about my
same age – all except for one – his name was Jimmy but we all
called him “Tag” because every time we turned around, he was
there. Jimmy was eight years old and was not welcomed into the group
with open arms. We used to sneak off when Tag wasn’t looking.
That summer, one of the neighborhood girls, Jeanette, got and
in-ground swimming pool. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to
guess where we hung out that summer. We would spend hours in that
pool every day. Tag wanted to come too, but he didn’t know how to
swim. So Jeanette took matters into her own hands – while we were
playing games in the deep end of the pool, Jeanette was teaching Tag
how to swim in the shallow end. She never gave up, never lost
patience, and by the end of that summer, Tag could swim well enough
to play in the deep end too. That winter, Jeanette’s father was
transferred out of state, and we lost our friend and our pool
privileges. But Jeanette’s influence was still felt in the group.
After that summer, Tag became part of our group.
Seeing
Jeanette in action makes it easy to see God’s love for us through
her. Scripture is full of images telling us to exalt – to sing to
God in love and worship for all that God has given us. Today’s
passage from Zephaniah puts a new twist on that sentiment. I had not
heard this passage before this week, but it has quickly become one of
my favorites:
He
will rejoice over you with gladness and renew you with his love, he
will sing joyfully because of you, as one sings in
festivals.(Zephaniah 3:18)
Can
you imagine – God is singing joyfully because of you! God loves us
so much, that HE
is singing for joy! I absolutely love that image.
But
how do we know that
God loves us? Where is the proof? That’s an easy question to
answer. Look into the eyes of your spouse. Look into the faces of
your children. Look into the heart of your best friend. Is that
enough? Can you see it now – or do you still need more? There is
one sure way of knowing God’s love for us - and you already know
it! It’s imbedded in your mind. It’s written in your heart like
the lyric of a song that you’ve heard your whole life:
God
so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who
believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.
(John 3:16)
That’s
the good news that we should all be singing about.
Deacon Darryl J. Diemer
Third Week Of Advent - Year C
December 16, 2012
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