Monday, December 18, 2023

Sermon (Dec. 17/Advent) “Light the Candle of Joy!” by Rev. Robert McDowell



3rd Sunday of Advent Sermon
“Light the Candle of Joy!”
Beulah UMC & Oak Grove UMC
December 17, 2023

     Today is “pink candle” Sunday. That’s actually my personal title for this Sunday. The technical name for this Sunday is Gaudete which is a Latin word that means, “rejoice.” 

     Notice that the pink candle stands out from the other candles in the Advent wreath. Many people ask why we use a pink candle on this Sunday of the Advent season. And no, it’s not because we always forget to order enough purple candles.

     The purple advent candles around the Advent Wreath remind us to patiently wait for Christmas by repenting of our sins and reflecting on what it means to be God’s people. The pink candle for this third Sunday of Advent is a bright color and it reminds us to rejoice even though we are still waiting for Christmas to come.  

     When the Prophet Isaiah offered a word of joy to the people of Judah hundreds of years before the birth of Christ, he was offering them a Gaudete moment. He knew that they were at a very low point along their journey as God’s people. They had been forced from their homes and were living in a foreign land. There was no joy to be found. 

     Have you noticed that the nightly news on the major networks seem to always end their broadcast with a “feel good” story for the remaining five minutes? 

     The first twenty-five minutes of the program tell us about everything that is wrong in the world that day, but it’s those last couple of minutes that remind us that there was actually some good happening somewhere in the world. Even the Nightly News knows the importance of having a Gaudete moment during their broadcast.

     In our Old Testament reading for this Pink Candle Sunday, the Prophet Isaiah reminds us that not all is lost as we travel this long path of Advent. There is joy-filled news along the journey! And the good news is that God hasn’t forgotten us. 

     God will restore Judah. The desert wilderness that produces only enough grass to support a few sheep will burst into bloom. People who are discouraged because they are in exile will be delivered. Those who are in despair will have their hope restored. 

     And all of these wonderful things will cause people to rejoice and praise God. The final verse of our scripture passage uses words like “everlasting joy,” “joy,” and “gladness.”

     Even though Isaiah was referring to the future, his words were also meant to help the people experience joy in their present moment. Like the people of Judah, we too are called to be filled with joy in knowing that God’s promises will soon be fulfilled. Sometimes we only focus on the bad news even though God is offering words of great joy to us in the present moment. 

    Today is a day to remember that we can have that joy, too. We can have joy to help us through our toughest days. I’m sure that there are some of us here today who need this pink candle Sunday!

     When John the Baptist was in prison, he sent word to the disciples to ask Jesus if he truly was the promised Messiah or if they should be looking for someone else. You can appreciate why John the Baptist was having these doubts. 

     He didn’t expect to be in prison but there he was. It was a very tough time for him. He must have been very discouraged, kind of like the people of Judah when they were in exile hundreds of years before him.

     When we’re experiencing those tough days, I think we ask that same question as well. “Are you really the one, Jesus? I’ve tried to follow you and I’ve tried to do what you’ve wanted me to do, but things aren’t looking very promising right now, and I just need to know. Are you really the one? Give me some kind of sign!”

     If you’ve experienced any kind of discouragement in life, this question is understandable. 

     John the Baptist was in need of some reassurance from Jesus. Are you really the one, Jesus?

     But notice how Jesus responds to John’s question. We would expect Jesus to answer with yes or no, but Jesus gives a much more convincing answer than a simple yes or no. 

     Jesus says, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.”

     The disciples and John had seen Jesus do all of these wonderful things, or at least they had heard about Jesus doing these things. 

     All of these signs of God’s kingdom breaking into our space and time were confirmation that Jesus really is the true Messiah. Bible scholar, Tom Wright refers to these unexplainable moments as signposts that point us to God. 

     This Sunday of Joy before Christmas Day Joy is a day for us to be open to those signposts and know that there is a God who is working for good in the world. Sometimes, God calls us to be like Isaiah or like the disciples in helping people to see those signposts along life’s journey.

     Several years ago, I attended a leadership conference in Kansas City. A woman who appeared to be in her late 20s was in the seat next to me. She told me that she worked for H&R Block in Connecticut and flew to Kansas City for a tax seminar. Out of curiosity, she asked me why I had been in Kansas City.

     So, I told her about the leadership conference I attended. I told her some of the ways that the host church has been making a difference in the city. 

     One of the ministries I shared with her was how this church in Kansas City partners with one of the elementary schools in the inner city and provides mattresses for families who can’t afford beds for their children. 

     This young woman looked at me in disbelief and said, “You’re telling me that the people of this church are buying beds for these families?” 

     And I said, “Yeah, that’s right.”  And I told her how the school’s test scores have significantly increased because this church has been reaching out to the families of these children through these ministries like providing mattresses.

     After sharing a couple of more examples of what this church was doing to make a difference in their community, her reply was, “Really? This church is doing all of those good things? I didn’t know churches did things like that.”

     I then asked her if she attended any church back home in Connecticut. She said that she gave up on church a long time ago because she didn’t get anything out of it, and she didn’t think churches were really doing anything like I had been sharing with her. 

     She said her most recent church experience was about a year before our conversation when her little niece had become ill and died and she attended the funeral.

     She said that the death of her niece was the most difficult thing she had ever faced and how it left her with a heavy heart. But then something very mysterious happened soon after the funeral. 

     She said that a day or two after that funeral, as she was thinking about her niece and if there was a heaven or not, a great big bright and vivid rainbow appeared in the sky. It was in that moment that she felt that maybe there is a God.

     Well, good thing she sat next to a preacher because I took it from there.  I said, ‘That is what we would call a God moment and I believe that there’s a God who sent Jesus to comfort us especially when we have heavy hearts. And God also wants us to make a difference in the world.” 

     I gave her a book about the life of Jesus that I received at the leadership conference and encouraged her to find an active church that would help her to continue to grow in her faith.

     Sometimes, all we need is a signpost or two that point us to God’s love and how God is transforming our community and world through ordinary people like you and me. 

    Sometimes, all we need is a bright, vivid rainbow to appear at just the right moment.

    Sometimes, all we need is to unknowingly sit next to a preacher on a plane who will simply listen to you share about how much you miss your niece who died so young. 

    Sometimes, during our long journey all we need to do is catch our breath and remind ourselves of the joy that God is offering to us in that very moment. 

     It’s a joy that gets us through the tough times in life. It’s a joy that will lead the shepherds to stumble upon the good news of Christ’s birth and lead them to return to their fields rejoicing and praising God. 

     Happy pink candle Sunday! And even on this 3rd Sunday of Advent, which is still a week away from Christmas, we are invited to receive the gift of joy!

No comments:

Post a Comment