Advent Three - Embracing Joy

To speak of joy while keeping company with imprisoned John the Baptiser seems too great a stretch of the heart (and very un-Christmas like!) and yet this is where the season of Advent and faith leads us! (Advent Three. Isaiah 35:1-10; Matthew 11:2-11) For if joy is more than holiday happiness (nothing wrong with happiness but it is very fleeting!) then joy is also for those who are limping from exile to home, and those who are reflecting on their life in prison.

Sentence:

“And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

Collect:

Gracious God,

You have made us with joy for the purposes of joy.

Come call us, encourage us and confound us with joy

that does not wait until all is quiet or peaceful or ready.

Open our hearts and minds to the joy that is even now

hiding in plain sight in friend and neighbour, stranger and enemy.

Let us dance and feast, talk and laugh, work and play with the joy of children until your kingdom comes!

Amen.

Reflection:

As for a great deal of the season of Advent we seem to be asked to hold two very different images and to lean into the yearning and hope, fear and deep courage, of the holy tension of holding both! The vision of Isaiah reminds us of the joy that is our birthright and desire and our destiny. The gospel image of the interior of a prison and John the Baptiser wondering in the dark if his calling and his shouting in the wilderness has been for the right cause. And the deep answer is that yes, he helped prepare the way for one who heals. Yes, his life has fulfilled it's purpose. Yes he has been part of helping others to receive the blessing!

And in our own age, and maybe in our own homes, workplaces and communities, we too have to dig deep into the courage and desire to seek and to serve, to accept joy and struggle, to find life in God, and herald hope and healing in whatever circumstance we are in. For joy and imprisonment are a dialogue of hope and faith, a courageous rejoicing of the broken and failed ones who recognise in the promises of God the hope for the world and themselves.

Please consider what I wrote on pages 16-17 as part of the Advent Study.

Advent Study

And you may wish to consider what I wrote on these texts in previous years.

Available to Joy

And we can feel encouraged for the promise of joy is made also (even especially) to those who are exiled, not just the winners, those yearning for home, not only the already secure. Joy is for us now and where we are. And everlasting joy will be upon our heads when all is as it should be. But it begins now, ready or not.

Even so, come Lord Jesus the Christ, come disturb our fears and reservations with joy and peace. Amen.

Intercessions:

Gracious God,

Creator of all that is – wonderful and weird,

open our hearts and minds, our eyes and ears, to wonder and gratitude.

Help us to see, to protect and to nurture all that you have made,

recognising the swamp and the home of the wild creatures as precious

and to help to bring to pass pools of water in parched places

so that all your precious ones can live abundantly.

Help us to explore and develop with care so that

your threads of connection and beauty are not harmed.

Remind us to share the bounty of your generous world

and grant us joy in both receiving and giving.

We pause to reflect on the gifts and needs of this created world.

Jesus the Christ,

Redeemer of the world,

grant us joy and peace and bless us with a hunger for justice and compassion.

You came among as one who heals, help us to also desire healing for ourselves and those around us and effected by us.

We pray for agencies of care who heal the blind and the lame,

who bring education and opportunities to those imprisoned

by poverty or circumstance.

And we pray for tenderness and relief, for joy and peace,

for those we know and love who struggle.

We pause to reflect on the gifts and needs of all peoples, especially those known to us.

Spirit of the Living God,

who fills us with clear sight and joy,

Help us to proclaim the hope and joy of your coming amongst us,

and help us to recognise your divinity in all we meet

and with whom we share this world.

Enliven us your church to be a place of welcome and rejoicing

in this troubled and troubling world,

because we bear your name.

We pause to reflect on those in need of inspiration and healing and entrust our beloved to the embrace of God.

Living God,

Creator, Reconciling Lover of all, Spirit that Sustains,

We pray in the name of the Christ who came among us for us. Amen. 

This is my work informed by all that I have heard, read and experienced. I am indebted to the wisdom of others.

You may like to consider my Advent Novena which explores the themes of hope in the struggle, and purpose and belonging for those often outside the promise, by reflecting on the account of the birth narrative in the gospel according to Matthew.

Advent Novena