Today we light the third candle of Advent, the candle of joy.
In our culture, we often confuse joy with toxic positivity. A happier post would be to talk about the new puppy we got last weekend and how we should just look at the world through her eyes and find joy today.
But joy doesn’t mean that we pretend that everything is okay, or even that it’s moving in the right direction.
In the Gospel of Luke, Mary offered praise to God during her pregnancy. This was not an example of her having a positive attitude about the whole thing and that it would all work out in the end.
Likewise, Paul talked about having joy while he was imprisoned, when he knew there was a chance he might be executed.
Their joy stretched beyond their circumstances. I’ve heard it said before that we should be joyful in all circumstances because… because why? Because God loves us? Because we will be made stronger (James 1:2-4)?
I think what Mary, Paul, and James understood was something I’ve had a hard time grasping. They knew that their suffering meant they had joined with the communion of saints.
The communion of saints is a term that we say as part of the Apostle’s Creed: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.”
Mary, Paul, and James understood that they were part of something bigger than themselves.
”Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my behalf. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:10-12)
They weren’t saying what we often hear, “Be joyful in this horrible thing that happened to you because God loves you and is going to do something good with it.”
They were saying, “This is really hard work. We might not be rewarded in this life and some days it might feel like it’s all for naught. We might lose friends, our jobs, our freedoms, and even our lives, but God is present in the work.
“You have joined with the many who have come before, and the many who will come after, in lifting up the lowly and filling the hungry with good things.
“And so, rejoice and be glad! What you are doing today, what you have done in the past, has not been in vain. Even though we may not see it, God is working.”
Friends, we didn’t intend to sign up for this fight. Even though may have said the words that we “accept the freedom and the power God gives us to resist evil, injustice, and oppression, in whatever forms they present themselves.”* We thought the battles we fight today had already been won. And yet, here we are.
But, rejoice and remember that when you do whatever act of love you have been called to in this moment, you are also standing with that pastor in Chicago, the woman handing out food, the lawyer filing briefs, and that person who only today found the courage to stand up.
That’s the communion of saints. It isn’t coordinated through social media. There is no headquarters. Its numbers cannot be counted. Its leader is the still small voice that blows in the Wind.
Rejoice and know that even on the darkest days, God is not finished. Rejoice and know that you are not alone, that God stepped into this world and even as we await Jesus’s return, God is with us. Emmanuel.
*From the Baptismal Covenant of the United Methodist Church.
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