Rejoice ! Be joyful !

A little boy came home from school one day and said that there was a new Indian girl in his class. His mother asked if she spoke English and the boy replied, ‘No, but it doesn’t matter because she laughs in English.’

Sometimes we read a person by what they do rather than anything we say. There’s a famous saying that ‘in years to come people may not remember what you said, but they will remember how you made them feel’.

In our gospel reading today (John 1:6-8, 19-28) we heard about John the Baptist, a man, we’re told, sent from God as a witness to testify to the light… With the benefit of hindsightwe can recognise the light as Jesus and see John’s part in preparing people for Jesus’ arrival but the people we heard about today, the priests and Levites from Jerusalem, were a little bit confused and wanted to know who he was and what he was doing… 

And John declared, ‘I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, “make straight the way of the Lord”’. And this confused them a little bit more – they expected that this would be another madman saying he was the Messiah or at the very least a new prophet, but John made no such claims but pointed them to Jesus who would shortly be there amongst them, declaring ‘I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.’

This was a slave’s job. A slave would have to bend down to untie the sandals of feet that had walked on dusty and dirty unpaved roads. Yet John who was incredibly popular at that time, with crowds of followers, had the humility to say that he was lower than a slave compared to the one he was about to introduce to them as the Light.

John came up with some words that we would remember today but actually what was even more meaningful was the way he made people feel – they wanted to follow him, to listen to him, to think about this light that he was pointing them to… 

Today the church in this country and in many parts of the world is operating in a kind of wilderness – for example in this season of advent, whilst we have lots of Christmas preparations going on, we are making time to reflect on what God means to us and how well we convey that to others; another example is how we are preaching a message about love and welcome for all in a world that increasingly looks to exclude people who are different or who’ve fallen on bad times… 

In the church calendar, this Sunday in Advent is sometimes called ‘Gaudete Sunday’ – ‘Gaudete’ is a Latin word meaning ‘Rejoice’ and today’s readings point us towards a consideration of joy – not in a way that ignores the problems around us or perhaps even in our own lives, not in some false way, but in a real sense of knowing God…. 

The theologian Henri Nouwen described the difference between joy and happiness. He said that while happiness is dependent on external conditions, joy is "the experience of knowing that you are unconditionally loved and that nothing -- sickness, failure, emotional distress, oppression, war, or even death -- can take that love away.” That is God’s love for us…

In this advent season then we’re called to think about how we express the joy of knowing Jesus. In our reading from Paul’s 1st letter to the Thessalonians (5:16-24) he gives us some thoughts, ‘Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances…’ 

He ties together rejoicing and prayer which reminds us that in prayer we are both seeking God’s peace and offering our thoughts and needs and the needs of others to him – our role is to pray and to trust and that leaves us free to rejoice and continue God’s work ourselves… 

So, rejoicing comes as we recognize, as John the Baptist did, the enormous privilege of serving Jesus and as we begin to trust him with every thought and deed and word… Paul went on then to say that we are to ‘give thanks in all circumstances’. Now I don’t know how you feel but there are times when I really don’t feel very thankful but how wonderful it would be if we could really appreciate the good things around us as much as we notice the things that are wrong…. 

And Paul’s words are interesting – he doesn’t say we should give thanks FOR all circumstances, but give thanks IN all circumstances. Not all circumstances are going to make us happy but we can give thanks because, if all else has failed, God is with us… 

John the Baptist tried to point people to Jesus – and we too are both invited into a relationship with Him and called to do his work… We, like John, may be unworthy to untie the sandals of Jesus but we’re loved by him and are encouraged to live out his message for the good of others…. 

Here the prophet Isaiah offered some important thoughts as well (Is.61:1-4,8-11)… We are to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release the prisoners…

This week I heard how a family put together a bag of things to help some homeless people – there were some useful toiletries and some gloves and a hat and even a Christmas jumper. The son and daughter in the family were given a bag to distribute. When the boy saw a Big Issue seller he went over and gave him the bag. When the Big Issue seller realized what he’d been given he was incredibly moved. The boy’s sister then found someone to give her bag to and that person was really moved as well… 

Little things can make a big difference but little things can be doing some of the work Isaiah spoke about – bringing good news and hope to people who are struggling… As we leave here today we will see people very close by for whom this day will not really be about joy but rather about survival and we’re challenged as Christians not just to offer words but to do things that can change lives…

It can be messy, it can be inconvenient, it can be costly, it can even be a little irritating to try and help people at times, but that can’t mean we stop trying… In our thanksgiving and in our rejoicing we are drawn to look to other people and how we care for them… 

In A Second Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul, Rev. John R. Ramsey tells how in one church a person provided him with a rose buttonhole for the lapel of his suit every Sunday. At first he really appreciated it, but then it became routine. Then, one Sunday as he was leaving the service, a young boy walked up to him and said, "Sir, what are you going to do with your flower?" At first the preacher didn't know what the boy was talking about. When it sank in, he pointed to the rose on his lapel and asked the boy, "Do you mean this?"

The boy said, "Yes, sir. If you're just going to throw it away, I would like it."

The preacher smiled and told him he could have the flower and then casually asked what he was going to do with it. Theboy, who was 10 years old, looked up at the preacher and said, "Sir, I'm going to give it to my granny. My mother and father divorced last year. I was living with my mother, but she married again and wanted me to live with my father. I lived with him for a while, but he said I couldn't stay; so he sent me to live with my grandmother. She is so good to me. She cooks for me and takes care of me. She has been so good to me that I wanted to give her that pretty flower for loving me."

When the little boy finished, the preacher could hardly speak. His eyes filled with tears and he knew he had been touched by God. He reached up and unpinned the rose. With the flower in his hand, he looked at the boy and said, "Son, that is the nicest thing that I've ever heard, but you can't have this flower because it's not enough. If you look in front of the pulpit, you'll see a big bouquet of flowers. Different families buy them for the church each week. Please take those flowers to your granny because she deserves the very best."

Then the boy made one last statement, which Rev. Ramsey said he always will treasure. The boy said, "What a wonderful day! I asked for one flower but got a beautiful bouquet."

Today on this Sunday of joy, we’re called to be grateful not just in our words but in our actions. God has given us so many blessings and we are to tell this good news to others – in the things we do and the things we say, in acts of kindness, in prayer and thanksgiving, in rejoicing and in reminding people that Jesus loves us all… Amen