Rejoice in the
Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.
Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in
everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be
made known to God. And the peace of God,
which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in
Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:4-7)
In
John’s gospel, in his final hours with the disciples, Jesus reminds them that
joy is the culmination of life in God:
I have said
these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be
complete.
(John 15:11)
Very truly, I tell
you, you will weep and mourn…you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy. (John
16:20)
Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete. (John 16:24)
Jesus succinctly instructs what Paul so eloquently
counsels.
Today,
the third Sunday in Advent, is traditionally known as Gaudete Sunday. Latin for Rejoice Sunday. A reminder that we rejoice in waiting for God
just as we will rejoice in greeting God.
And yet, on Friday with sighs too deep for words we, with God, bore witness – again – to unspeakable acts and incomprehensible grief. And the words of scripture, of Jesus, seem impossible this idea of pain being transformed to joy.
Perhaps
some of you know the name Kate Braestrup.
Braestrup is a chaplain in the state of Maine to the Warden Service, the
agency that polices roughly 17 million acres of wild land. As their chaplain Braestrup accompanies game
wardens to accidents and on search-and-rescue operations in the Maine
woods. In her first book, Here if You
Need Me she shares poignant and moving stories of her ministry. But she begins by telling her readers how it
is she came into that line of work.
Her
husband and the father of their 4-children was the one with the calling. As a career state trooper he was towards the
end of his seminary studies about to become a full-time Unitarian Universalist
minister when he was killed on the job, in a car accident.
Braestrup
describes in detail the story of that day, remembering the fact that after she
returned home from the scene of the accident, numb – her doorbell rang and the
friend that was staying with her went to answer it.
There on the doorstep was a young man “clad in a spiffy dark suit” holding out a pamphlet. “Have you heard the Good News?” he asked. To which her friend instantly and rightly responded by closing the door. A few minutes later, the doorbell rang again. This time it was an elderly neighbor, pot holders on her hands clutching a pan of brownies, tears rolling down her cheeks.
Eventually,
writes Braestrup, I was able to name the truth that was present in that dark
time – “I did know good news. I
knew it through those who came to clean my house, do my laundry and care for my
children. I knew it through the embraces
and listening ears that assured me that I would not be abandoned to do the
labor of mourning alone. I knew it through a neighbor standing on the front
stoop with her brownies and her tears: she was the Good News.”
A
year later she found herself enrolling in the Bangor Theological Seminary. And as I said, she is now the chaplain to the
law enforcement and game wardens of her community. She is the one they call when someone riding
a snowmobile crashes into a tree; when someone decides to go skating on a
beautiful moonlit night and falls through the ice and drowns; when a child or
an elderly relative is missing or lost in the vast woods.
In
an interview I heard her give[i]
she said that as she gets older her theology gets simpler. She keeps coming back to simple Good News -
God is love. Because how she sees God, how
she knows God, is in the small and particular loving actions of the people in
the dramas and tragedies to which she ministers. She sees God in that. She sees God when she sees love in
community.
And
Braestrup speaks of the deep joy she experiences in finding God in this way,
again and again. Rejoicing, through her
tears, in this God who is made known by helping others, supporting others; through
the small miracles that happen every day when a heart is grateful and love is
restored.
Rejoice in the
Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.
Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.
Paul’s
words, Let your gentleness be known,
remind us that we are the assurance.
We are the ones who manifest the truth – the Lord is near.
Yesterday
I listened to an interview with Rabbi Shaul Praver of Temple Adath Israel in
Newtown, Conn[ii]. He was on the scene. A member of his congregation lost a
child. When asked, “Rabbi you know the
question, why do these things happen, will be asked of you. How will you respond?”
Rabbi
Praver replied, “I don’t know the answer to that. I never try to present a theological answer to
that. I think that it’s more important
to have compassion, humanity and hold someone’s hand and hug them and cry with them. I never liked theological answers to things
like that personally, so I don’t try to solve it like a math equation.”
Faith,
love, hope, joy - these are not conveyed with words either. They cannot be explained like a math
equation.
Rejoice in the Lord
always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let
your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.
We
have a baptism today! We rejoice with
Claire and Jason, with their family and friends that Emmaline is joyfully
brought into the body of Christ. What a
gift to celebrate together.
Rejoice
in the Lord! We have a new priest! We rejoiced with Josh on Thursday and we
continue that celebration today. The
celebration of expectation of the gifts that will emerge from our mutual
ministry.
The
Lord is near – so pray. Pray. Pray. And
listen. Take a few moments each day and
listen for the stirring of God’s joyful song in your heart – and for how God is
asking you to share that song, that good news.
Rejoice
- Give thanks. Give thanks for every simple
and small gift you experience today! Family,
friends, food. The opportunity to pray,
sing, visit with neighbors and strangers.
Rejoice
and sing! We will gather at 5:30pm
today, rain or shine to make a joyful noise in our corner of the earth. Join us!
It
is right, good and a joyful thing always and everywhere to give thanks to the
Lord! Be a bearer of good news today –
and in the days ahead. Practice your compassion
and gentleness. Be a witness to
humanity’s goodness. Help God’s love be
made complete in you and in the world.
And
hold fast to what is too often a fleeting awareness of what a precious gift the
joy of simple actions and gratitude brings.
Rejoice in the
Lord always; again I will say Rejoice. Let your gentleness be made known to
everyone. The Lord is near…And the peace
of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and our minds
in Christ Jesus. Amen.
The Rev. Arianne R. Weeks
Rector
[i] “On
Being with Krista Tippet” Public Radio International.
[ii] Morning
Edition, NPR 12/15/12
