Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel has come… and calls us to action.

We are called today by church tradition to a break from any sober reflections and penitential proclivities that might be a part of our Advent awaiting.  Granted, for many of us ‘modern’ Christians here in the United States, today’s break will be more likely from holiday hurriedness or seasonal stress.  Our lighting of the rose/pink candle today, rather than another purple candle, is symbolic of calling our attention to something else.

Today is the midpoint of our Advent season.  It’s a Sunday that has come to be known as guadete Sunday (gaudete is Latin for ‘rejoice’, the first word of the Indroit often sung on this day).  Some communities might also refer to this day as “Stir up” Sunday because of the first words of the Collect for today:  “Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us…”

"Rejoice" by sculpture D.E. McDermott

Outwardly, we are fast approaching the midpoint of the winter season – the winter solstice – a moment in time when the earth’s axis is tilted farthest from the sun; the time of the shortest day and the longest night. 

Yet, inwardly, it is at that very moment in late December, when it’s the darkest, that church tradition has placed the remembrance of the birth of our Savior Jesus, calling us to celebrate a new light breaking into our dark world.  To paraphrase a popular adage attributed to a 17^th Century Theologian (Thomas Fuller), it’s darkest before a new day dawns.

We’re called today – midway in Advent – to pay attention to the stirring up of God’s power through the reign of Christ our King.  We’re called to action in his new kingdom.  And, we are to rejoice in this.

We might say that the stringent and strong prophet John the Baptist was born to preach in anticipation of the coming messiah.  We’re told that even while he was still in the womb of his mother, he leapt with joy when he sensed their proximity to his yet unborn cousin, Jesus, in the womb of Mary.  

John rejected the conventional world to thrive and preach from the wilderness against corrupt and hypocritical religious royalty, ceaselessly calling people to repentance in preparation for the coming of a new judge and king who would restore God’s honor and reign over Israel. 

Near the end of his life, John reencountered Jesus who had come to him for baptism at the Jordan.  Again recognizing something special about Jesus, John proclaims that it is, in fact, Jesus who should be baptizing him.  John’s sense is validated later as he hears more about what Jesus is up to and how this rabbi’s movement is growing.  John must be thrilled at the thought that the long awaited messiah has come to restore Israel.

But, soon after baptizing Jesus, John finds himself in prison.  In the darkness of his jail cell, shadows of doubt begin looming – is Jesus of Nazareth the messiah we’ve been waiting for, or are we to wait for another?

Jesus hears of John’s questioning and answers him not with a simple yes or no, but by addressing his concerns through invoking prophetic visions from Isaiah and psalmist poetry that would have been familiar to John and asking his followers to then witness to what they’ve seen and heard as they’ve journeyed with Jesus.  Essentially, his message to John is, in the words of Isaiah, “say to those who are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear!’ God is among you.”  And, the witness of his followers offers evidence of this.

Giovanni di Paolo di Grazia: Saint John the Baptist in Prison visited by two Disciples

Jesus then speaks to the crowds gathered near him, affirming John as the greatest prophet and telling them that John has prepared the way for the kingdom that has indeed come.

What did the prophets and psalmists say happens under God’s reign?  The blind and the lame are healed; the deaf are made to hear again; the poor and hungry are fed; the imprisoned set free; the barren lands blossom again; and a Holy Way is established, along which no danger lurks, and upon which no traveler is ever be led astray again.

Indeed, the followers of Jesus gave witness to such miracles and this must have gladdened John’s heart – bringing light amid the darkness of his cell, even as he faced his own death.

Interestingly, the next chapter of story of Jesus doesn’t match expectations of the messianic, conquering king that John might have imagined.  The rule of those in power in their time was based on domination by fear and violence – so, it could have been easily imagined that the coming messiah was supposed to conquer Rome with political and military might. 

However, the kingdom of heaven as lived and proclaimed by Jesus, was about victory in the mind and heart through peace, acts of good will, and radical inclusivity.  This counter-cultural vision of a new type of kingdom, in the short term, seemed to only infuriate those in power and earned our Lord a crown of thorns and death on a cross.

Of course, for us, the story doesn’t end there.  We believe that our Lord was raised from the dead so that he might lead a spiritual kingdom in this world, but not of this world.  He leads us now through a reign of repentance where goodness and mercy prevail, and justice is delivered through charity and forgiving love.  Amid any earthly darkness, he comes as divine light with the power to stir up new life within us and restore well being among us.  This is worth rejoicing, indeed.

Jesus reassured John and his followers that the kingdom of God had indeed come.  And Christ continues to work through us to advance the kingdom today.

Every time we come to this table, we are reminded that we’re living members of his body.  We feed on him in our hearts with spiritual food and are sent into the world in peace, with new strength and courage, to love and serve our neighbors as Christ, with gladness and singleness of heart.  God’s kingdom is come when we accept Christ into our hearts.  God’s will is done on earth when we act with Christ to fix our world, starting with the repair of broken relationships. 

This morning we take a moment to step out of the hurry “the holidays” and potential stress of the season.  We’re here to acknowledge that we’ve been called to action as disciples of a newborn king.  We rejoice for what is possible in our families and communities when God’s love is stirred in and among us.

Profound transformations are possible in our lives, the lives of our loved ones, and in the lives of our neighbors when we, following our Lord, share the gift of patient faith, remain steadfast with hope amid pain, and, even when it costs us something precious, compassionately work to relieve suffering and restore dignity. 

Amid the darkness of the approaching winter solstice, let us celebrate the light that has come into the world… a perpetual light that lives in and warms our hearts. 

I invite you to close your eyes. 

Take a deep breath.

Imagine that we’re in the stable with Mary and Joseph.  Coming into the world is life that will bring greater joy than we’ve ever known. 

As this newborn king grows in our hearts, may we will be stirred to action in his name by his example. 

May we love God with all of who we are and with everything that we have. 

As we truly begin to love our neighbors as Christ loves us, imagine what gifts are possible through our actions in his kingdom:

• All around us, people can be restored to health and wellness.
• Those who could hear nothing before can begin listening to the living Word.
• Those who fear they have nothing can learn of the abundance available to them.
• Those who are stuck can be made to move again.
• Those who can not see can be given vision.
• Those considered unclean can be redeemed and made acceptable again.
• Those suffering hunger can be fed.
• Those thought to be dead can be resurrected to new life.

AMEN.