Advent Three: Joy

This is the Mindful Christians podcast, I’m Caroline Vogel. This episode is entitled Joy… Really? YES! It’s joy!

Sarah Bessey wrote an engaging essay at the Beginning of this Advent that spoke to many. She raised the question is there really any reason to celebrate, mark the holy season of Advent when the world is on fire. Likewise we can wonder, “Hey! Where is the joy in all this darkness? The darkness in my heart, the darkness in my community, the darkness in the world? What in the world does joy have to do with anything when the world is on fire?” 

Luckily for us, current events do not have the last say! They don’t even have the utmost say in this very moment which doesn’t appear to be the last day. Yes, our lives, our nation and the world can be dark and terrifying if you take the time to see. It can feel as if your inner light and The Light of the world have grown incredibly, terrifyingly dim. And, in the awareness of that very real, palpable darkness it is easy to wonder what JOY has anything to do with now or frankly at any time when the world is on fire. 

The words of Isaiah ring out as if we can hear them rattling around in the chaos of our world and darkness today: “Say to those who are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you.’ Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.” 

I don’t know anyone who isn’t worried or fearful about something pertaining to their own lives or someone they hold dear AND hold a worry, concern, fear for the world whether it’s about climate control, children and families at the boarder, the impeachment hearings, the campaign trail for the next presidential election, hunger issues, homelessness, health care, the need for mental health care... really the fear list is endless. It can become easy to believe the darkness is winning as the light grows seemingly dimmer. In the midst of the darkness we light a rose colored candle to remind us not only of light within the darkness but that there is also joy amidst the darkness as well. 

The third week of Advent is an integration week. It’s not simply about waiting and preparing for the coming of the Lord, to welcome the Christ child anew, to receive The Light in new ways that empower God’s light already woven within us, we wait and prepare with joyful anticipation of what the coming, the welcome, the receiving mean for our lives… because it is definitely something for which to be joyful! 

Brené Brown shares in her work that we grow joy in our lives by practicing gratitude. It is more than an attitude of gratitude, it is an intentional practice of seeing, noticing and offering thanks for all the things for which we have to be grateful. When we are buried in fear, the way we find our way out is to be grateful for which all the light no matter how big or how little radiates into our lives. I go to bed at night and offer thanks to my loving God for a safe place to sleep, a comfortable bed, and heat moving through my house. I give thanks for the health of myself, my partner and sons. I give thanks for the food that nourished me that day. I give thanks for the stars in the sky and the faith that the sun will arise in the morning. 

What grows in our lives is what we choose to pay attention to, what we notice, what we take into account, what we intentionally focus on seeing. Take the gospel reading for Matthew for this third Sunday in Advent. From prison J the B (John the Baptist) is inquiring about whether Jesus is the Messiah or if they are waiting on another. Jesus doesn’t tell them, “Go tell him, ‘Yes. I’m the Messiah. The wait is over!” Rather he says, “Go and tell him what you hear and see.’” And, what everyone is hearing and seeing matches what was prophesied by Isaiah about the Messiah, “The blind are receiving 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.” 

Then Jesus starts talking to the crowds about seeing. He asked them what they went out into the wilderness to look at. Then he asks two more times! What then did you go out to see? The deepest truths in life are those we can experience. When we can see something for ourselves we are empowered by that wisdom and can more fully take it in and be transformed by it. When someone merely gives us the answer but we don’t actually see, experience the answer for ourselves, the truth has a weaker effect on us. Jesus at every turn is looking to empower our lives by wisdom that can be seen, experienced and then transformed by. 

It can be a daunting task to integrate joy into the darkness. Darkness can become so familiar that it takes on a life of its own at times not wanting to partner with light or joy. The darkness can become compelling even in weird and strange yet powerful ways. The rose colored candle reminds us to not be seduced by the darkness. The rose colored candle is a nod to integration of the light and the dark dancing, partnering together. The yin and the yang. By the grace of God there is always the opportunity to notice beams of light within the darkness, however dark the darkness has become. 

When we intentionally set the eyes of our hearts to see all for which we have to be grateful in our lives, we increase our joy by the grace of God. We all know how easy it is to go through our days without any mindfulness of what we’re doing, saying, thinking, feeling, physically experiencing. This third week in Advent gives us the opportunity to not only be mindful, awake in our waiting and preparation, we are called to be mindful of all the places where The Light already exist and offer thanks, and we offer thanks in our anticipation of all the places in our lives and in the world The Light will fill. 

My children, my life partner, the food I eat, the stars in the sky, my bed, my house, the heat moving through it are all products of grace in my life. The love of God is woven into every aspect. Every ounce of joy I see and notice is offered by a loving, gracious and merciful God looking to make Himself manifest in this crazy old world time and time again. As I wait for God coming into the world again, can I wait and prepare with a joyful heart being mindful of all the ways God is already made manifest in my life and this world? Amen. 

You can find a 10 minute meditation on Mindful Christians podcast entitled joy HERE. Use it as often as you wish. Grounding and centering in the present moment, allowing yourself to practice gratitude, allowing your heart to integrate joy into the darkness is yet another way to honor the Advent season. 

You can find the Scripture readings assigned to the Third Sunday in Advent: HERE

Blessings on your third week of Advent. 

Caroline