A congregation of the United Church of Canada
Yr C ~ Advent 3 ~ Philippians 4:4-7
Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in (God)! What a wonderful way to begin! Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in (God)! Celebrate God! Revel in God! Gosh, Christians must be the most joyful and positive people you’d ever meet. Right? I mean, all that celebrating and revelling. Church must just feel like party central. Joyful, joyful we adore thee, God! Woo!!!
So, considering that beautiful verse, it’s pretty disheartening that our reputation out there is nothing like that! The knock against us (and by us I mean Christian churches in general – remember, most people don’t differentiate between all the flavours) – what we’re known for is being a judgemental, overly earnest, finger-wagging, thou shalt/shalt not – or else, joy-less bunch of people.
There’s an old story about a big church conference with lots of delegates from the major mainline churches in attendance, and everyone was given a helium filled balloon when they came in. The instructions were that during worship, when they felt the Spirit move, when they felt deeply joyful, they should let the balloon go. Well, as you can imagine – the worship ended and the vast majority of balloons were still clutched tightly in people’s hands!
What the heck are we doing wrong? How did we get to the point where stoicism and a stiff upper lip were more valued than exuberance or emotionality? I know, there are some expressions of Christianity where their emotionality is so exuberant that it seems extreme. Can’t we find a happy medium? This is my goal – that by the end of worship you’ll feel joyful enough to let go of your balloon.
But here’s the thing – and this is the part that I think might trip us up. To be joyful is not the same as to be happy, necessarily. It’s possible to be joyful even though unhappy things might be occurring. Happiness is about circumstances, whereas joyfulness is state of being. Happiness is transient, it comes and goes, ebbs and flows. Joyfulness is a deep groundedness, and assurance, and trust in God, God’s Presence, and God’s Love. Happiness is a flash – joy is radiance! Maybe the best analogy is in relationships? You can have love for your partner, child, sibling, close friend, and at the same time be angry with them, or hurt by them. You might not be happy in a given moment, but the depth of love carries on and flows through, even though the circumstances may be fraught.
I don’t know how today finds you, and whether anything or anyone is trying to ‘steal your joy’ – but I’ve had a heck of a few days. I got a call from one of the guys I was playing music with last week informing me that he, although double vaccinated, had tested positive for Covid – which means I’d been exposed. I got tested on Thursday, and then spent Friday and Saturday impatiently awaiting my results. Sadly, I must tell you that I too have tested positive – so that’s why you’re receiving this as a video-recorded message instead of in-person.
Let me tell you, it’s absolutely no fun having to isolate yourself from your family – dreading the thought that now that you’ve tested positive you might in turn infect your loved ones.
So, in addition to fastidiously avoiding touching anything (or anyone) in the house, and going through cleaning wipes by the dozen, needless to say, my joy has been tested! I’m not sure if I’d be letting my balloon go this weekend! These last few days have been consumed by fussing, and fretting, and worrying.
How ironic, or perhaps timely, is today’s scripture passage?! Philippians 4:6-7
6-7 Don’t fret or worry. [Gee, thanks Paul!] Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns.
Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down.
It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.
Hmm. Can I practice what I preach? Lord, I’m trying! I will say that I find this translation much more comforting, and less problematic, than the translations we usually use. The classic language here is about praying supplications, or requests. It’s really easy to fall into the misunderstanding that if you just pray hard enough and ask God for something you’ll get it. That’s some really bad theology. It makes God into a capricious monster – saying yes to some and no to others. That’s simply not how God works. We know this – God is love, and as love God can only love. God cannot be unloving – saying yes to this and no to that.
So why pray our worries to God if God’s not going to swoop in and help? Listen to that scripture verse again and hopefully we’ll notice the insight.
Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns.
Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down.
We don’t pray to God to inform God of what’s going on in our lives. Or to present our wish list. It’s God, not Santa Claus. Prayer isn’t for God, actually. Prayer is for the pray-er! My fretting and worrying is stopping me from feeling God’s presence. It’s preventing me from noticing the beauty and love that surrounds me. It’s distracting me and causing me to forget the joy that’s deep down inside. The word translated as ‘worry’ here literally means to be divided, distracted, to go to pieces, to be pulled in two directions.
So taking those worries, and turning them into prayerfulness, shifts your perspective. And, with a few deep breaths, and a couple of heavy sighs, you begin to remember, and notice, and feel God’s presence. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. The NRSV calls it a peace that surpasses all understanding. Yes! And once you’ve settled down and remembered God’s presence you can embrace that joyfulness that’s been down in there the whole time. Prayer is definitely for the pray-er!
We’ve been thinking about Christianity and culture and Christmas this Advent season. There is tremendous pressure to make the holidays special, and memorable, and happy. I think we get this impossible picture in our minds from all the Christmas movies and go crazy trying to live up to it. Cue the fretting and worrying! Now add to that all the family drama that so often emerges – especially in this season of heightened emotions, and pandemic fatigue, and short fuses. It’s enough to send a person to their knees!
I imagine even the fussing required to get a family ready to go to church on Christmas Eve can be a big stressor. It’s interesting that that’s even a thing considering so many families out there have ‘cancelled’ church on every other day of the year. But at Christmas time something stirs, and people who would never darken our doors find themselves gathered to sing carols, and hear the ancient birth story, and to pray.
To pray.
I hope that gathering in Spirit like that, taking the deep breath, and opening oneself to prayerfulness provides at least a glimpse of the joy of love that we are actually immersed in – and gives a sense of that peace that surpasses understanding.
One of my favourite moments of the year is standing at the door of the sanctuary at the end of Christmas Eve worship, and looking into the eyes of people as they file out. Whatever may have been stressing them, whatever their frets or worries about Christmas or life, in that moment – after allowing prayerfulness and worship to take centre stage for a little while – all I see is joyfulness. Often there are some tears too – because something deep inside was touched, connected with, remembered.
I missed that moment last year. And this year with the Family service being outdoors I’m not sure I’ll get to greet people at the end of it. But I will at the later Lessons and Carols service. That will be a good moment!
None of this stuff makes our troubles disappear. But it does give us a way to remember to open ourselves to God’s presence and let God’s Spirit calm and comfort us. Whether we’re happy or unhappy in a certain circumstance, through prayer we create space for the joy that’s in us to emerge. And it might even inspire us to celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in (God)!
(So) instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns.
Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down.
It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.
Amen, and amen!
(Are you still holding your balloon?)
