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Today we see the beautiful roses and the rose vestments,
\nand the rose colored candle that represent the third Sunday of Advent.<\/p>\n
These are visible reminders that no matter what we are going through,
\nno matter what is happening around us,
\nas Christians we are always people of Good News.<\/p>\n
And when we receive good news, how do we react?
\nWe rejoice.
\nAnd that\u2019s why this Sunday is dedicated to rejoicing. Why?
\nBecause we now know that the one we long for,
\nthe one our soul longs to encounter,
\nthe one who can make us whole,
\nwho can give meaning to our life,
\nhas come, is coming, and will come again.<\/p>\n
And in the face of this incredible news
\nthat God is getting so close to us,
\nthat he is intimately connected to us,
\nwhat do we do?
\nWe rejoice.
\nAnd we\u2019re going to rejoice from now
\nuntil Jesus comes back again.<\/p>\n
That is what we are supposed to be doing.
\nThat is what scripture commands.
\n\u201cRejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice.\u201d
\nWhy?
\nBecause we are people of the good news.<\/p>\n
And what a great witness to give to people
\nas things are so difficult right now,
\nthat we are still able to rejoice,
\nin spite of what is happening in the world now,
\nand in spite of whatever happens in the future.<\/p>\n
One of the difficulties we have in understanding this Sunday
\nand the whole topic of rejoicing and joy
\nis the fact that we confuse pleasure and happiness with joy.<\/p>\n
Pleasure gives us feelings and emotions of happiness
\nbut emotions come and go.
\nJoy is a state of being,
\nsomething that remains inside of us
\ndespite what goes on around us in life.<\/p>\n
So if we\u2019re having a good time we rejoice,
\nand even if we\u2019re not having a good time we still rejoice.
\nWe might not be happy,
\nbut the state of being, like peace, stays there
\nand that\u2019s what we\u2019re going to focus on.
\nThat\u2019s what we must reclaim.<\/p>\n
This is something that Ebenezer Scrooge didn\u2019t understand. At school we\u2019re doing a family read-along of A Christmas Carol<\/em><\/a>, You see, Scrooge is confusing joy with happiness. But Fred answers with a true understanding of joy. Scrooge has all this money and he still has no joy. But as we know, he does eventually learn the difference In the gospel John the Baptist tells the people The solution to Scrooge\u2019s misery is right in front of him, The Spirit of Christmas Past takes him to see his childhood, What if the Spirit of Christmas Past Then we might we whisked ahead a few centuries And if the Spirit of Christmas Past came to you and me individually And there\u2019s more in store for Scrooge. The Spirit of Christmas Present takes Scrooge Where would the Spirit of Christmas Present take us? Now, the final visitor for Scrooge is, as you remember, He looks at what where he\u2019s going, That\u2019s the call for us this Gaudete Sunday If you\u2019re looking to rekindle your Christmas joy, This is the reality that changes our lives,
\nWe\u2019re all familiar with the character Ebenezer Scrooge
\nfrom A Christmas Carol<\/em> by Charles Dickens.
\nScrooge is so famous that his name is in the dictionary.<\/p>\n
\nreading one chapter a week and then talking about it.
\nAnd there\u2019s this scene in the first chapter
\nbetween Scrooge and his nephew Fred,
\nwhen Fred comes to visit his Uncle Scrooge at his office,
\nand he\u2019s just so full of Christmas joy.
\nFred is the embodiment of rejoicing.
\nHe doesn\u2019t have much money, he lives a modest life,
\nbut every year he invites his Uncle Scrooge over for Christmas diner.
\nSo he enters Scrooge\u2019s office and says,
\n\u201cMerry Christmas Uncle!\u201d
\nAnd of course his uncle responds with that famous line,
\n\u201cBah! Humbug!\u201d
\nAnd Scrooge goes on to say,
\n\u201cWhat right have you to be merry?
\nWhat reason have you to be merry? You\u2019re poor enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nAnd we have to be careful we don\u2019t make the same mistake.
\nYou see, Scrooge might just as well say to us,
\n\u201cWhat reason have you to be merry? You\u2019re in the middle of a pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nHe says, \u201cWhat right have you to be dismal?
\nWhat reason have you to be morose?
\nYou\u2019re rich enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nFred understands, and his trying to get his uncle to understand,
\nthat joy isn\u2019t about external circumstances
\nlike wealth or comfort or good health,
\nbut it\u2019s a state of being
\ncaused by the incredibly Good News
\nthat Jesus has come, is coming, and will come again.
\nAnd Scrooge doesn\u2019t get it.<\/p>\n
\nbetween happiness and joy
\nwith the help of three spirits who can help us understand, too.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cthere is one among you whom you do not recognize.\u201d
\nJesus is among them but they don\u2019t see him.<\/p>\n
\nbut he doesn\u2019t see it.
\nAnd so he is visited by three spirits
\nwho help him to look at his past, his present
\nand his future through new eyes.
\nThey force him to examine his life more closely.<\/p>\n
\nhis youth, and he looks at those years with different eyes now.
\nThe lonely Christmases of his past,
\nthe relationships he let lapse,
\nbut also the joyful times and the graces he had forgotten about.
\nHe sees the things that made him into the man he is
\nand also the things he turned away from.<\/p>\n
\ntook us on a journey to our past?
\nBecause we, too, have a history,
\nboth a communal history of God intervening in the lives of his people
\nand our own personal history of God entering into our individual lives.
\nThe Spirit might whisk us away to the middle east where we would see
\nGod making his covenant with Abraham,
\nestablishing a people who are the apple of his eye.
\nAnd then we might be whisked away to Egypt
\nto see God freeing them from slavery,
\nleading them across the Red Sea
\nand caring for them until they reached the promised land.
\nBut we would also see how those chosen people
\nworshipped a golden calf, how they complained in the desert,
\nand fell short of living up to the covenant.<\/p>\n
\nto a humble stable in Bethlehem,
\nwhere God sent his only begotten son,
\nthe answer to the world’s longing,
\nborn as a tiny baby,
\nthen grown up to preach and teach and heal,
\nto forgive and show mercy.
\nA son who suffered for us, and died for us,
\nand then rose from the dead.
\nBut we might also see a member of his inner circle betray him,
\nand one of his closest friends deny him.<\/p>\n
\nand took us on a journey to our own past,
\nwhere would we be taken?
\nWhat events from the past
\nwould the spirit show to you and to me?<\/p>\n
\nThere\u2019s the Spirit of Christmas Present.
\nThis spirit takes Scrooge to visit those people in his present life
\nwho understand true joy:
\nHis employee Bob Cratchit with his wife and children,
\nespecially their youngest son Tiny Tim, who needs crutches to get around.
\nAs Scrooge watches them and their humble and difficult existence,
\nhe sees that they still are able to rejoice at Christmas.
\nThey don\u2019t have everything they want,
\nthis isn\u2019t the Christmas that they hope for,
\nthey are striving to make things better for themselves.
\nBut they’re still able to take time at Christmas
\nto rejoice over their blessings.
\nAnd he wants to help them.<\/p>\n
\nto several other places,
\nplaces that you may not know about
\nif you\u2019ve only seen the movie or TV versions of the story.
\nPlaces like a solitary lighthouse,
\nwhere the two lighthouse keepers are all alone
\nand yet are still able to celebrate Christmas.
\nOr like a ship far from home,
\nwhere the sailors, too, are celebrating.
\nThe Spirit also takes Scrooge to a hospital and to a prison,
\nwhere the spirit sprinkles his Christmas cheer on them
\nbecause Christmas joy is a state of being
\nthat doesn\u2019t depend on external circumstances.<\/p>\n
\nWhat would we see in our lives today
\nthat we might have overlooked?
\nWho are the Bob Cratchit\u2019s and the Tiny Tim\u2019s among us,
\nfull of joy even in the midst of this challenging time?
\nIt is our call to seek out the poor, the afflicted,
\nthose suffering in body and soul,
\nand to care for them,
\nto serve them, and above all recognize the presence of Christ in them.<\/p>\n
\nthe Spirit of Christmas Yet to Come.
\nThis silent and forbidding spirit takes Scrooge to see his future,
\nor at least one possible future.
\nAnd it frightens him.
\nScrooge\u2019s future holds no rejoicing.<\/p>\n
\nhe looks at where he\u2019s at,
\nhe looks at where he\u2019s been,
\nand he finally comes to understand.
\nHe understands Christmas joy.
\nIt changes him
\nand he rejoices,
\nfinally able to proclaim, \u201cMerry Christmas!\u201d<\/p>\n
\nto take the next two weeks
\nand look at our past, our present, and our future,
\nremembering the God who has come,
\nwho is coming, and who will come again.
\nTo recognize Christ in the needy and to help them.<\/p>\n
\nyou might take some time in the remaining days of Advent
\nto read A Christmas Carol<\/em><\/a>,
\nor watch one of the many movie or TV adaptations.
\nIn fact, our local public radio station KPBX<\/a>
\nis airing a special radio play version
\nperformed by the Spokane Civic Theatre.
\nIt will be airing several times between now and Christmas Eve.
\nAnd as you read or watch or listen,
\nimagine those spirits taking you to your past, present and future,
\nand take the time to examine God\u2019s presence in your life.<\/p>\n
\nthis is the Good News:
\nthat the Lord of our longing is near,
\nnearer than we realize.
\nAnd regardless of what is going on around us,
\nin the face of that Good News,
\nwe rejoice.<\/p>\n