Finding Joy
Luke 3: 7-18
We spend a lot of our time in anticipation of what is to come and what may happen - it’s a part of life. There are things we wait for and look forward to with excitement, and there are things we wait for with anxiety and worry. We wait in anticipation for celebrations such as marriage, the birth of a baby, moving to a new house, going on vacation, meeting someone special. And we also wait in anticipation for news from the doctor, or of some encounter that we wish we could avoid.
Waiting in anticipation is a part of life, but just what is involved in such waiting?
For most of us, the word ‘anticipation’ has been reduced to mean a feeling of expectation. However, the original meaning of the word speaks not just of a feeling, but of action and preparation. It literally means “to foresee and to act in advance of and in preparation for.” To anticipate is not to wait passively for what is to come or may happen – whether good or bad; it is to prepare as best as we can for such.
The season of Advent is all about anticipation. It is a time that calls us to prepare for the work of God in our lives and in our world. A time that calls us to prepare to encounter God in expected ways and places. That is an important element of our faith…waiting on God, having a spirit of anticipation, believing that God is going to accomplish God’s purpose and will in ways that we may not foresee, and preparing as best as we can for what God will do.
Sometimes it seems that the importance of our Advent preparations has become lost as we get caught up in our preparations for the Christmas holidays. We seem to have lost the seriousness of preparing for Emanuel - God with us.
That is not to take away from the joy and merriment of Christmas, rather it is to enter into that joy in a deeper, more meaningful and more enduring way, and not to settle for the fleeting and seasonal joys often associated with the Christmas holidays.
The promise of joy that was given at Christ’s coming, was meant to be the everyday reality for all. It was meant to be a condition that define our lives and characterize our experiences.
We are meant to be joyful people, living joy-filled lives. That is why the apostle Paul, in the passage from Philippians that was read says: “Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice”. (Philippians 4:4)
When Paul speaks of rejoicing, he is describing that joy that is more than a mood or emotion. More than a state or feeling of happiness. Although it includes these, the joy that Paul speaks of is a way of seeing life in God, a perception of the reality and presence of God that generates hope and endurance, in ease and prosperity as well as in affliction and struggle.
Such joy is not a fantasy that is out of touch with reality. It is not a life that is lived in denial of the real pains and the urgent needs that confront us. It is not a life of mere fun and happiness that is insulated from failures and misery. It is not a life that does not know pain and tragedy.
It is a life that is profoundly aware of both joys and sorrows, but which is grounded in the transforming and renewing love of God. It is a life that is lived in meaningful relationship with Emmanuel - God with us.
And God with us, is best experienced and expressed as God working through us. That relationship with God results from a life that is reoriented towards God, and the love that is shown to us and demanded of us by God. It begins with what John preached about in the wilderness – repentance. Having a change of direction, a turning away from sin and error - from that which alienates, and a reorienting our lives toward God and right relationships.
In our Gospel reading from Luke, John was in the wilderness of Judea preaching a message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. He challenged those who came forward to live lives worthy of repentance, and when they asked what they needed to do, he pointed out to them what repentance looks like in their daily lives and relationships.
To the tax collectors he said, “Collect no more than the amount you are entitled to.” To the Soldiers he said, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.” And to everyone he said: “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.”
In short, threat each other right.
That is what repentance looks like - a commitment to right relationships with God and with our fellow human beings. A repentant life will reveal itself in right living, because a turning to God must result in a turning to others. Genuine repentance produces in us an ethic of generosity, and it is in such generous acts of kindness and justice that we find deep and lasting joy.
Such enduring joy results when we confront our failings, face up to our wrong doings and address that which causes alienation. Such joy is experienced as we reject all that gets in the way of love for God and neighbor – when we get rid of selfishness, fears, suspicions, prejudice - and turn towards God's redeeming and reconciling love.
When our lives are so reoriented towards God, there grows within us a heightened awareness of Emmanuel; God with us and God working through us. And our own joy increases as we help others to find joy.
It is when we present ourselves to God, for God to do God’s work of love in us and through us, that we come to experience a joy filled life.
When we reach out to others in their sorrow or time of crisis and need, they are able to experience the joy of companionship and caring that connects them once again to the Christmas story of hope and love.
There are people all around us this Advent for whom we need to be a visible reminder of this truth. People who are waiting to be freed from their fears and burdens.
When John was baptizing in the river Jordan, the people were still waiting all those years later. Luke tells us “The people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah.” (Luke 3:15) The people lived with an outlook on their faith that meant they were always on the lookout for evidence that the Messiah might be just about to arrive in their lives.
Have we stopped looking? Have we stopped preparing for the Jesus for all times who is waiting to be born in our hearts and lives? He cannot be born in us without our hearts and lives being prepared; he cannot arrive if we have simply stopped expecting him to be made real in our lives.
Perhaps we could relearn about the joy of anticipation from our children. Each year they approach Christmas with a new expectancy and joy.
When Jesus was born in the stable in Bethlehem, his arrival was greeted with joy. He was welcomed into the hearts of Mary and Joseph, and the shepherds – simple people who opened their lives to the power and joy of God’s presence.
So, I’m asking you in this Advent season to shift your perspective. Prepare your mind for the joy of new insights, new liberation, and the fulfillment of hope. Reorient your life towards God. Make a commitment to live in right relationships with God, with our fellow human beings and the rest of creation.
It is when we present ourselves to God, for God to do God’s work of love in us and through us, that we find deep and enduring joy.
