“True Joy!”
Isaiah 61: 1-4, 8-11 and 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-24

Let us pray.

On Thursday morning from 8:30 to 9:15 I stood under the fabled clock in Grand Central. I was waiting to meet someone for breakfast, who was late because of a train delay. Given the hour it was not surprising that literally hundreds of people disembarking from trains and subways on there way to work walked past me. Few, if any, took notice of me but I studied them. Indeed, I didn’t have much else to do besides making a few cell phone calls. With virtually no exceptions, every person I saw regardless of age and gender had on his or her tight-lipped game face. There were no smiles; no twinkles evident in their eyes. Rather there was grimness palpable on face after face as if each were girding his or her loins for another unpleasant day. Yet around them were the festive decorations of the season and in the background the loudspeakers played the strains of the carol – “Joy to the World, the Lord is Come.” No one seemed to notice as they hurried off.           

Most of those I saw that day probably got up before dawn and returned home after dark -- for these are literally the darkest days of the year. And even for those of us who get up later and get out during the day there is a figurative darkness that seems to hang over life these days. But this is Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete – that is the Latin word that means “to rejoice”. And as you saw earlier Barbara and Stephanie lastly lit the pink candle in our Advent Wreath -- the candle of joy. But isn’t it foolish to rejoice in the face of the dark world we live in?

Absolutely not! Remember the words of the angel speaking to the shepherds abiding in the fields, “Do not be afraid; for see – I am bringing you good news of great joy for all people: to you is born ... in the city of David a Savoir, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” (Luke 2: 10-11).  The danger for us is in discounting those words. What “good news" has there been for any of us lately?   We could too easily let the darkness of the times overshadow the light that has come into this dark world. This is the light that has not been and will not be overcome. This is truly a time of Joy if we will let it be.

Joy is the emotion we feel when we possess what we truly desire. On Christmas morning we all feel joy. But often it is not that new “in” coat or that latest electronic “must have” we receive that brings true joy. We are, of course, pleased and receive pleasure from such presents. But the gifts that give joy in my experience are the imperfect pot (hand-thrown by an 11 year old) or that pocket watch passed on by a grandfather. Christmas is about the joy of getting in Bethlehem that which we truly desire. Think of the things that are really important in life. Love, happiness, peace and joy -- aren’t those on our short list of life’s important things? And then think about what we get in that birth in Bethlehem. In the life, teachings, death and resurrection of that babe who grows up -- we get all of those most desired possessions. 

             What a joyous gift!  Think of the way Jesus treated people. There were those -- like his disciples --who constantly made mistakes – they couldn’t even figure out who he was – even after he told them. They wanted a powerful Messiah to vanquish the Romans even though he told them he was going to have to suffer and die. But he stayed with and loved them fully until they finally saw on the Cross and on Easter morning that no earthly power can compare with the power of love.

Think of how he treated the sinners and the outcasts of his day. He ate with them when no one else would. He healed their sick and assured them all (and everyone) that they would be welcomed into the Kingdom of Heaven for no other reason than their belief in and love of him. And think of his courage. With each step he took toward Jerusalem he knew he was closer to a sham trial and an unjust death. But he never wavered -- courageously moving to a rendezvous with hate and death to insure us of his abiding love and of eternal life for us.  There can be no greater joy than in being loved so. And for no other reason we ought to be jumping for joy in this Advent Season as we move toward Christmas.

                        X                        X                        X 

We should never doubt the power and importance of this divine gift? It literally changed time. Babies are born literally every minute and yet one birth changed time -- into BC before Christ and AD after him. History isn’t divided by Alexander’s conquests, the dawn of the Roman Empire, the might of the Spanish Armanda, the birth of the nuclear age or the advent of the Internet --though all certainly changed history. Why was this birth critically important -- because it is of “Emmanuel” – “God with us.” In the birth of Jesus “the word became flesh and dealt among us.” In Bethlehem – in the manger, God came into this world to share our joys and our suffering. This is not a detached God bemused by our shortcomings or distantly despairing over our failings. No, this is a God who became one of us in the manger. Why because God loved us. No matter what we had done or become God desires only the best for us. And God sought to do this in the most poignant of ways by becoming one of us in the person of Jesus.

            But there is another aspect to joy at his time of year. The joy of the season is not simply in the passive act of receiving this extraordinary gift but it is in the active living out the meaning of that gift.  One thing I have noticed over the years is that for me the joy of Christmas morning has changed. When I was younger the joy came when I received that special package. To be sure I still enjoy getting presents but much of my joy now comes from giving. Many years ago to slow the frenetic whirlwind  of present opening on Christmas morning, my family instituted a practice of opening only one present  at a time -- everyone in the room watches as another opens a present. It is hard to underestimate the joy you receive in seeing another delighted by an unexpected gift from someone who cares.

            Isn’t this true when we think of the gift of the birth of Jesus? The joy of that is not simply in receipt of that gift but in the opportunity to live like Jesus -- to bring love and life to others as he did to us. Isn’t there a profound joy in helping others to solve a problem or in helping someone to lift a burden from their shoulders or in helping them bear their burdens while still living life fully? And what of extending forgiveness to another (as Jesus does to us) and by doing so freeing them to start living again. What of the joy of helping the homeless, supporting some one in their time of darkness or in nurturing a young person so that they see the beauty within themselves. As the fourth century Saint, Athanasius said, “God became human [on Christmas] so that human beings might become like God.” 

             I want to tell you a brief story. I received it on the Internet. Usually I am skeptical of these stories and vignettes and don’t repeat them. I hope this is a true story. But whether it is or not, there is a profound truth about the joy of the season in it.  The storyteller is an emergency room doctor on his way home from a hospital in Denver during Advent: 

I was driving home from a meeting this evening about 5 PM, stuck in traffic on Colorado Blvd., and the car started to choke and splutter - I barely managed to coast, cursing, into a gas station, glad only that I would not be blocking traffic and would have a somewhat warm spot to wait for the tow truck. It wouldn't even turn over. Before I could make the call, I saw a woman walking out of the "quickie mart”, and then it looked like she slipped on some ice and fell into a gas pump, so I got out to see if she was okay.

When I got there, it looked more like she had been overcome by sobs than that she had fallen; she was a young woman who looked really haggard with dark circles under her eyes. She dropped something as I helped her up, and I picked it up to give it to her. It was a nickel.

At that moment, everything came into focus for me: the crying woman, the ancient Suburban crammed full of stuff with 3 kids in the back (1 in a car seat), and the gas pump reading $4.95.

I asked her if she was okay and if she needed help, and she just kept saying "I don't want my kids to see me crying," so we stood on the other side of the pump from her car. She said she was driving to California and that things were very hard for her right now. So I asked, "And you were praying?" That made her back away from me a little, but I assured her I was not a crazy person and said, "He heard you, and He sent me.”

I took out my card and swiped it through the card reader on the pump so she could fill up her car completely.   While it was filling, I walked next door to a McDonald's and bought 2 big bags of food, some gift cards for more, and a big cup of coffee. She gave the food to the kids in the car, who attacked it like wolves, and we stood by the pump eating fries and talking a little.

She told me her name, and that she lived in Kansas City. Her boyfriend had left 2 months ago and she had not been able to make ends meet. She knew she wouldn't have money to pay her rent on Jan 1, and finally in desperation had called her parents, with whom she had not spoken in 5 years. They lived in California and said she could come live with them and try to get on her feet there.

So she packed up everything she owned in the car. She told the kids they were going to California for Christmas, but not that they were going to live there.

I gave her my gloves, a little hug and said a quick prayer with her for safety on the road. As I was walking over to my car, she said, "So, are you like an angel or something?”

... I said, "Miss, at this time of year angels are really busy, so sometimes God uses regular people."  

We are not any of us angels. But the gift that we await in Bethlehem empowers us to be -- not angelic, but Christ-like at times. Those are tiding of truly great joy. When we carry that Christ light into someone else’s darkness, we can bring comfort and joy. Your life, my life, all life is joyous in the light of the gift of Jesus – so in this Advent season let that divine spark, that little light in you, joyously shine out on to others in the darkness. Amen