GaudeteSunday/Advent3B, St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, Moses
Lake, WA by A, December 16, 2017 by Annette Fricke
This has become one of my favorite
Sundays to preach. It is the Sunday that
is known as Gaudete Sunday with the optional change to Rose for it’s colors of
paraments and vestments. Paraments, of
course that with which we adorn the altar and other worship furniture and
vestments being what priests and deacons wear.
The candle on the Advent Wreath to be lit specifically for this Sunday
is the rose-colored one. Gaudete is Latin and means rejoice and is thought to
be taken from the second lesson appointed for today. It has that ever-beckoning call to its wording,
“Rejoice always!” which sits alongside the hymn we have been singing with every
Sunday’s refrain, “Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!” The latter is a word of comfort to happen in
the future while the context implied in the former is that of a lifestyle. We ought always to rejoice.
It is thought that the verses of O
come, O come, Emmanuel are composed from what is known as the O antiphons from
at least the 8th century and were sung at Vespers or otherwise known
as Evening Prayer in the Anglican tradition before and following the Magnificat
from December 17 through December 23, thus the dates written in for the
corresponding verses in our hymnal, Hymn 56.[1] This Sunday is to be a break from the usual penitential
practice of Advent, yet the second lesson which begins with “Rejoice always!”
is a short one. Notice that both the
hymn’s refrain and the first verse of the second lesson command us to rejoice!
The next phrase is also a command, “…pray without ceasing…” About now we might be asking if this is
necessary or even possible? How can I
rejoice always and pray without ceasing?
As a therapist, it is a typical approach of mine to sit with individuals
seeking counseling and have them write about things in the past week that did
not go right for them, then ask them what it would look like if what they did resulted
in a good outcome. That is where most of
them are stumped because they have had failure in thinking and behavior for so
long that they don’t know how it could look if all went well.
And one last command, “…give thanks in all circumstances…” Wow!
What does Paul mean by that? The
only hint we get is that doing these things are the will of God. Sometimes I give lists of healthy ways of
interacting with others and ask individuals to practice. We all have a sense that even with practice,
we never quite seem to reach superior morality and finesse in our relationship
to others. So, what does this mean? It
could mean these are things we should incorporate when we gather for worship,
but then again, we are confronted with the words “always…without ceasing, [and]
in all circumstances” so I think Paul means at all times. It is not quite like taking a course of
anti-biotics where it really is possible to take them all as prescribed by the
doctor. It is not like doing these behaviors for a short time period. Paul is saying this is a continued action.
People often talk about having bad
habits like not eating a balanced diet or waiting till the last moment to write
a paper for school or consulting the Cliff Notes instead of reading the whole
book or expecting the movie to be the same as the book for a book report. These are bad habits that can have negative consequences. We are not asked to pray only when we are
going through difficult circumstances or only if someone asks us to pray for
them. Rejoicing with those who rejoice
is a difficult thing to do if we are secretly envious of that person, but this goes
even a step further and commands us to rejoice ALWAYS. Giving thanks for losing
our best friends and for sickness?
There are both good habits and bad habits. There are both good attitudes and bad
attitudes. When we are feeling insecure
or depressed or perhaps being treated unfairly, it is a good idea to check with
someone about these feelings to see if it is reality or our own imagination. Negative thinking and feeling can have
negative consequences. Without
discipline, we develop poor habits and repeat them over and over. As we think
about the coming new year and what we might want for a resolution, it would be
a step in the right direction to discover just how it is that we can meditate
on and commit ourselves to Jesus Christ.
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances,
for this is the will of God in Christ for you.”
We have within us that first step and that first step is the most
important one. We also have other
Christians around us to encourage us on our journeys with Jesus. Most of all, we have the gift of the Holy
Spirit if we but learn to listen. God is
faithful and God will carry us.
We are not God’s prophet like Jesus’
cousin John, but we can certainly learn from his tenaciousness and veracity. As
God is faithful, so we also ought to be faithful. We are not required to eat honey and locusts
and wear scratchy clothes. Just as John pointed to Jesus as a witness to the
greatness of Jesus, so we also, with our lives can live towards
faithfulness. We need not be distracted
by all the parties, gifts, trees and wreaths. With God’s help, we can live out
what Paul is saying to us. We can continue to sing “Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee O Israel.
Emmanuel shall come to you O people of St. Martin’s. Emmanuel shall come to you, O Moses Lake and
Washington State and beyond. God is not
limited and neither are we. “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks
in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
