Sunday Stretch: Vol. 60 - Advent 3

Start off your week with a grounded take on Bible, prayer, the world, and your life ...

Dear Readers,

Happy THIRD week of Advent. I truly can’t quite believe it. We finally do have a light layer of snow on the ground here in Minnesota, in the midst of El Niño winter and ever-present global warming, but Christmas seems to be rushing closer and closer, and I feel a distinct sense of being utterly unprepared.

I’m sure I’m partially feeling this way because, for the first time in several years, I’m not pastoring a local congregation this Advent season. As you know, that’s one of the reasons I treasure our community here so dearly. And also - I find myself with a slight sense of rootlessness, even as I’m certain that this work of writing and speaking and public theology is right exactly where God has called me for this particular moment.

If I’m honest, I think maybe I always feel a bit this way in the middle of the Advent season. I think it’s because I’ve been ingrained with a deep sense of responsibility (possibly a symptom of being the eldest daughter?) And there’s nothing that quenches JOY more quickly than a deeply ingrained sense of responsibility and a feeling that everything you experience must be earned.

Because joy (the theme of our third week of Advent) comes to us only as a gift, distinctly as something that we cannot earn or buy or deserve. It is because it is this gift, of God’s presence, of God’s delight, that joy comes to us with such unique power and purpose. So each year, I have to breathe in and just allow myself to receive this gift of joy.

Even while there is so much evil to lament in the world, so much pain and worry and grift and violence and fear. We still have to grab onto joy. It is joy that will sustain us in the difficult days ahead. Jesus is born. Rejoice. Don’t miss it trying to earn it. The work of justice and resistance will be there for us too in the morning.

Let’s get to the texts …

Bible Stories

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

Is. 61:1    The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,

because the LORD has anointed me;

he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,

to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives,

and release to the prisoners;

² to proclaim the year of the LORD’S favor,

and the day of vengeance of our God;

to comfort all who mourn;

³ to provide for those who mourn in Zion—

to give them a garland instead of ashes,

the oil of gladness instead of mourning,

the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.

They will be called oaks of righteousness,

the planting of the LORD, to display his glory.

Is. 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD,

my whole being shall exult in my God;

for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation,

he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,

as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,

and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

¹¹ For as the earth brings forth its shoots,

and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,

so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise

to spring up before all the nations.

It is this very text from the Prophet Isaiah that comprises the words of Jesus’ first sermon at his “home” synagogue in Nazareth, according to Luke 4. After being tempted by the Devil in the wilderness, Jesus returns home to Nazareth and reads this text, only to be rejected and driven to the edge of the cliff by those who have known him since he was a boy. What is the joy in this telling, you may wonder? Notice in verse 10 that the prophet is rejoicing in God’s “good news” here. And maybe it’s telling that Jesus’ joy at reading this text was fleeting. It did not last very long. Nevertheless, it is those very fleeting moments of joy that I know sustain me throughout the rest of my life. It’s why I believe we are urged by God in this third week of Advent to find the joy in our lives, fleeting as it might be, and soak it in.

Questions to Ponder

Do you think all of the prophets’ hearers would have heard this prophecy as “good news?” Why or why not?

Why do you think Jesus read this scroll in the synagogue at Nazareth?

Does joy necessarily cause a sense of upheaval? Why or why not?

1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

1Th. 5:16 Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray without ceasing, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances;