John 1:6-8, 19-28
The shortest and darkest day and longest night of the year – the Winter Solstice – occurs this week. It is the onset of the winter season when the sun is the furthest from Earth and is often a time of darkness, doubt, and fear.
And yet, Sunday is Gaudete Sunday - a beloved day in the Advent season that fills our hearts with joy and anticipation. This unique Sunday stands out as a beacon of joy and hope as we journey towards Christmas.
‘Gaudete’ is a Latin word meaning “Rejoice.”
Philippians 4:4-5 instructs us to:
Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, Rejoice. Let your forbearance be known to all, for the Lord is near at hand; have no anxiety about anything, but in all things, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God.
The ‘rejoice’ command appears over 150 times in the Bible; obviously, this is critical to following the teachings of Jesus.
The word Advent means “coming” or “arrival.” The focus of the entire season is the celebration of the birth of Jesus in his First Advent and the anticipation of the return of Christ the King in his Second Coming. Thus, Advent is far more than simply marking a 2,600-year-old historical event. It is celebrating a truth about God, the revelation of God in Christ, and all creations reconciled to God. We now participate in the consummation that we anticipate. Scripture readings for Advent emphasize the Second Coming, including accountability for faithfulness at His coming, judgment on sin, and the hope for eternal life.
The history of Gaudete Sunday is deeply rooted in Christian tradition. The observance dates back to the medieval period when the Church recognized the need to balance the penitential nature of Advent with moments of joy and hope. The third Sunday of Advent serves as a brief respite from the more somber aspects of the season, allowing believers to rejoice in the imminent arrival of the Christ child.
Today, Gaudete Sunday, REJOICE Sunday, reminds us that Christmas is nearly here. The somber tone suddenly turns joyous today – we shift from deep purple to pink to give us a clue that we’re nearly there. In essence, Gaudete Sunday encapsulates the dual nature of Advent – a time for reflection and repentance, balanced with anticipation and rejoicing in the promise of redemption. It serves as a reminder that, even in our preparations, there is joy in the expectation of the Savior's arrival.
All the expectation, the longing, the waiting will soon be over – we’ll be opening the presents we wanted, and some perhaps we didn’t.
Sometimes, we can’t hide the disappointment in socks, homemade knitted scarves, or chunky sweaters knit by a well-meaning relative. As a people of faith, we do well to know where our true joy comes from – those who know the pain of disappointment in others, what they say and do, or what they forget to say and do.
True joy comes from God. If we rejoice when times are good, only when we get what we want, only when we hear what we want to hear, then quite frankly, God needn’t bother with Christmas. ‘Keep your Son,’ we should say – thank you very much, we don’t need him. Even John the Baptist wondered whether the guy he heard so much about was ‘the One’ – he sent his disciples to double-check. Jesus said: ‘The proof of the pudding is in the eating’ – see what’s happening – lives are changed.
Lives change through encounters with Jesus – is yours, is mine – or is something holding us back from fully embracing the little child?
For those who have faith that brings them to worship God (rather than just be entertained on a Sunday morning), joy and faith can keep us going – despite what life throws at us.
Our hymns at this time of year can particularly hit nerves. Take In the Bleak Midwinter, for one. Hasn’t it been miserable enough? This last year, we’ve had floods, drought, winds and storms. Christmas is nearly here to lift our hearts, and we start singing about bleak midwinters!
Perhaps the writer of that hymn did lose the plot and think that Jesus was born on a bleak, windy moor in a January blizzard. Was it winter in Bethlehem? Did it snow? Or was it an ordinary Middle Eastern night with nothing happening except angels appearing and singing?
Perhaps, though, some of us have in our minds what a bleak midwinter is all about – I don’t mean the weather outside; I mean the experience inside us. There are many stories within our communities of the midwinter life experiences – whose ground is hard and cold. Comfort can be elusive: maybe because of a loveless marriage, a depression that is hard to shake off, the sadness of life without a loved one, concern for a child, worry about health and the future, and so on. Christmas in this light can seem like fluffy, trivial nonsense. Christmas might be memorable for the comfortable or those wishing to escape reality, but a romantic, fluffy Christmas can offer little refuge to those in the bleak midwinter of life.
In this double focus on past and future, Advent also symbolizes the spiritual journey of individuals and a congregation, as they affirm that Christ has come, that He is present in the world today, and that He will come again in power. That acknowledgment provides a basis for Kingdom ethics, for holy living arising from a profound sense that we live “between the times.” We are to be faithful stewards of that entrusted to us as God’s people. So, as the Church celebrates God’s arrival in the Incarnation and anticipates a future consummation to that history for which “all creation is groaning awaiting its redemption,” it also confesses its responsibility as a people commissioned to
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart.”
and to
“Love your neighbor as yourself.”
A spirit of expectation, anticipation, preparation, and longing marks Advent. There is a yearning for deliverance from the evils of the world, first expressed by enslaved Israelites in Egypt as they cried out from their bitter oppression. It is the cry of those who have experienced the tyranny of injustice in a world under the curse of sin and yet who have hope of deliverance by a God who has heard the cries of oppressed enslaved people and brought salvation!
Although Gaudete Sunday is the third Sunday during the penitential period of Advent, it is a mid-point break in the Advent season. Gaudete Sunday is the chance to celebrate before returning to assessing our lives.
On Gaudete Sunday, the liturgical color is often rose or pink, a deviation from the usual Advent color of purple or blue, symbolizing the joy and excitement of the approaching celebration of Christmas. In some Christian traditions, the clergy lights a pink candle on the Advent wreath on Gaudete Sunday.
Advent was a time for preparing for Christmas through penance and fasting in medieval times. Today, Gaudete Sunday, is a day to relax from Advent penance and to rest, preparing ourselves for the final stretch of this penitential season.
The modern observance of Advent is often difficult to distinguish from the season of Christmas. The secular world is already in full party mode, with Christmas sweets, social celebrations, and even gift-giving.
It’s almost laughable to think of Advent today as a season of penance and fasting. Yet, Advent was a penitential season similar to Lent for most of Christian history, though never as strict. It consisted of periodic fasting and personal sacrifices, traditions that starkly contrast to the modern delicacies everyone enjoys throughout December.
Gaudete Sunday can be confusing and joyful in the middle of the Advent penances. There is joy in looking forward to the annual celebration of Christmas, but there is also joy in recalling the birth of Jesus on the first Christmas.
• Because he was born to save us from our sins (Matthew 1:21b).
• The rejoicing also extends to the anticipation of the Second Coming, either at the end of physical life or the end of the world, when believers dwell in the place in the Father’s house (John 14:2) with God and his angels and saints for all eternity.
The Isaiah passage (Isaiah 61:1) is the first indication that this Sunday is about bringing good news:
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; (Isaiah 61:1)
And, following later lines:
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, (Isaiah 61:10)
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 commands us:
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
The gospel for Advent 3 includes the ‘Magnificant,’ Mary’s hymn of acceptance.
And Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on, all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name” (Luke 1:46-49).
The foretelling of the Baby Jesus is another reason to be joyful on Gaudete Sunday.
In the spirit of joy and giving, some Christian communities use Gaudete Sunday to engage in acts of kindness and charity – possibly, outreach to those in need or special community service projects.
Today, Gaudete Sunday, be filled with the joy, faith, hope, and love of the God who wants to be reborn in you and me again. All this, not so that we can feel great about ourselves and be smug and self-satisfied, but so that the love we encounter in the God who gives everything may be modeled in what we do and think and say alongside others – those who believe and those who have yet to see through all the rubbish of religion and encounter the God of love and joy and relationship. That’s the sort of Christmas I want to sing about, right? Rejoice!
So we are told:
Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, Rejoice.
Let us pray:
Loving Father, keep your Church faithful in telling the good news, loving justice, and drawing many to freedom through the joy of your forgiveness.
We pray that there may be integrity in leadership, mercy, justice for rich and poor, strong and weak, peace among nations, and respect for all.
We pray for our community, families, and friends for their hopes and fears. May the love of Christ be shown in what we do and how we speak. We remember now all those we know with special needs, locked in physical and emotional pain; all weighed down with worry or despair. God of Advent hope, will you restore, replenish, comfort, and free them?
Finally, loving Father, we commend those who have died to your love. We especially miss loved ones whose memory is a treasure at this time. May they and we, in turn, experience the joy of your eternity forever.
Accept these prayers for the sake of your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Delivered at Trinity Episcopal Church on Capitol Square, Columbus, OH; 17 December 2023
