The Lucknow Sentinel, 2013-12-18, Page 44 Lucknow Sentinel • Wednesday, December 18, 2013
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Lucknow United minister shares Christmas greeting
Late in her life a grandmother
started attending a church different
than the one in which she had been
raised and that she had attended for
most of her years.
When asked about her new church
home she said she liked it there
because of the positive message she
received. For the first time in her life
she felt God's loving presence. "God
wants me to be happy" she said. "I
never knew that before. I thought
church was about keeping me from
doing what I was not suppose to do.
And I never felt like I was good
enough." Late in her life this woman
had heard God's grace spoken to her
and experienced a joy she had never
known before. She began to heed
Paul's instruction to the church in
Philippi; "Rejoice in the Lord, always;
again I will say rejoice.
This grandmother's awareness of
the joyful nature of the Christian life is
consistent with the tone of the third
Sunday of Advent, known tradition-
ally as Gaudete Sunday which in the
Latin means it is "Rejoice Sunday"
The third Sunday of Advent is a day
not to be troubled. It is a day to bask
in the assurance of God's peace that
passes all understanding. Wouldn't
we all love to bask in the assurance of
God's peace. The image that comes to
mind is a beautiful winter's day and
you lay down in the snow to make
snow angels. As you lay there making
the snow angel the sun envelops you.
You feel the warmth of the sun's rays
on your cheeks, and all the cares of
the world seem to be gone and your
heart is aglow.
Yet, the experience of joyful peace
is not always easily found among the
great anxieties and expectations that
the season brings upon us. For the
grandmother I spoke of previously,
she had a straightforward need to
hear a joyful word near the end of her
life, and that is a different circum-
stance from the one in which others
may find themselves this advent sea-
son. For some people there is not a
more anxious time of the year. Some
people will be laboring under mount-
ing pressure to have everything "just
right " for the holidays as Christmas
draws even closer. There are school
Christmas concerts to attend, work
Christmas parties, family functions
before Christmas and during the holi-
days, the house to be decorated, a tree
to be purchased and decorated, as
well as gifts to be bought and deliv-
ered; and all of that has to happen in
two weeks without taking anytime off
work, and most likely without getting
much sleep either. It is time for the
Energizer bunny to appear. For oth-
ers at this time of year the world
intrudes in even more jarring ways.
The Christmas holiday season is not
always a joyous time for everyone.
This time of the year brings the high-
est rate of depression as well as the
highest number of suicides. It is a
lonely time for many. It is also a time
of the year when, while many families
are celebrating with each other, many
other people mourn the loss of those
no longer present at their Christmas
table. Still others face the reality that
they have no gifts under the tree for
their children and no food for their
Christmas dinner.
At this time of the year pain and
heartache can overwhelm. Sorrow
and tragedy cannot necessarily be
held at bay, even on days reserved for
rejoicing. Amid the calamity and
demands of the world "the Peace of
God" can prove very illusive.
It is during this advent season that
we must make a very important dis-
tinction between the material happi-
ness that the commercial world
promises and the abiding joy of the
Christian faith that cannot be bought
at the mall but can sustain us come
what may. The joy that emerges from
a deep connection with God, our spir-
itual source, is a far cry from the fleet-
ing rush achieved through the acqui-
sition of the season's latest toy.
Happiness is something to be pur-
sued, and happiness is tied up in the
pursuit. But joy is something else
altogether. Joy is not a requirement
of Christian discipleship. For those
who think it is, you might hear a state-
ment like this, "Christians are sup-
pose to have their mouths filled with
laughter and tongues with shouts of
joy and I don't . I'm not joyful, there-
fore I must not be a Christian." Joy is
not a requirement of Christian disci-
pleship, it is a consequence. It is not
what we have to acquire in order to
experience life in Christ; it is what
comes to us when we are walking in
the way of faith. The intimacy or
friendship that Paul shares with his
readers is their common "Joy" in the
Lord.
One of the most interesting and
remarkable things we learn as Chris-
tians is that joy does not exclude
weeping. Christian joy is not an
escape from sorrow. Pain and hard-
ship still come, but joy is not driven
out of those whose joy is in their rela-
tionship with the Lord. Joy comes
because God knows how to wipe
away tears, and in his resurrection
work create the smile of new life. Joy
is what God gives, not what we work
up to. Sometimes we think we can
have joy for ourselves by depositing
our quarter in a vending machine.
Today I will deposit my quarter and
what will bring me joy. Now what are
my choices again...oh yes...I can go to
a movie, I can go to a comedy show,
the ballet, the theatre, I can go on a
trip, or out for dinner...These kind of
choices never penetrate our lives or
Submitted
Lucknow United Church Minister Lynne Wilson addresses a
crowd at the recent Lucknow Carolfest.
our being and never change
us permanently. The effects
are extremely temporary- a
few minutes, a few hours, a
few days at the most. When
we run out of quarters the joy
trickles away and we cannot
make ourselves joyful. Joy
cannot be commanded, pur-
chased or arranged. Joy is an
overflow of Spirits that comes
from not feeling good about
yourself but about God. We
find that God's ways are
dependable and are sure.
"Rejoice in the Lord always;
again I will say, rejoice." So
how does one rejoice in the
Lord and yet not pursue indi-
vidual happiness? The
answer may be found in
Paul's words to the Phillippi-
ans "Let your gentleness be
known to everyone." Gentle-
ness in this case can be trans-
lated as " having considera-
tion for others". We are
always reminded of this dur-
ing communion where the
communion table captures
the vision of Christ's table
where all are welcome. And
the Table lives in the present,
for all who gather around it
become family. Jesus was
well-known for eating with all
kinds of people — rich and
poor, society's elite and soci-
ety's outcasts, saints and sin-
ners. Jesus was very clear in
his call to his followers, as
well — they are to extend the
widest possible invitation.
Jesus showed us that by offer-
ing who we are and what we
have we can practice consid-
eration for others and rejoice
in the Lord always.
Paul also tells us that " The
Lord is near. Do not worry
about anything, but
in everything by prayer and
supplication with Thanksgiv-
ing let your requests be made
known to God." It is a call to
take all of one's anxieties to
God in prayer and allow God
to refashion them in a way
which Paul tells us will lead
us to Joy and it will be a joy
that brings us Peace. " And
the peace of God which sur-
passes all understanding will
guard your hearts and your
minds in Jesus Christ:' This
peace is rooted in God. It is a
positive peace. It is not sim-
ply the absence of conflict or
strife or anxieties but the
active pursuit of being in right
relationship with God. It is
also a peace which passes all
understanding - Joy in the
Lord leads to a peace that
finds its ultimate fulfillment
both within and somewhere
beyond the realm of human
reasoning. It is a peace that
may pass our understanding,
but in God's realm is bless-
edly within our reach.
This third Sunday of Advent
reminds us that God wants us
to be happy but happiness is
not the purpose of life; doing
God's will is. During this week
as you think about the joy of
the advent season may you
be able to give thanks for your
relationship with God and
the joy that it brings to your
life. May you be able to show
your gentleness to everyone
you meet and when your anx-
ieties rise take them to God in
prayer knowing he will
refashion them into a joy and
a peace which passes all
understanding.
Lynne Wilson
Minister
Lucknow United Church