"Tight lines" is a blessing fishermen offer each other, a wish for lines taut with the weight of good fish. May God grant that the lines written here be taut with His blessings.
Wednesday, 09 December 2009 | |||
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Rejoice Until Then | |||
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We light the pink candle this Sunday. There are three
purples and one pink on the Advent wreath. Just how this tradition took
its present form is shrouded in the clouds of history, but it's generally
understood that this third Sunday of the season is different, the Sunday
of Joy. As I understand the thought behind the pink candle, it's that a
basically penitential season (marked by the color purple) is interrupted
with a sign of the joy that is always ours in Christ. We have a great text for this third Sunday in Advent: Philippians 4:4-9 (I've extended it to pick up verses 8 and 9, gorgeous words). It begins with the call to rejoice and seemingly realizes that our rejoicing as Christians happens as the Advent wreath pictures it, sometimes right in the middle of sorrow and anxiety. In the text, the call to rejoice is coupled with the promise of peace. We rejoice because we enjoy the peace of God which transcends all our immediate circumstances and comprehension of them. It's in the receiving of His peace that we have real joy. Yet peace and joy can seem hard to come by in this season. Certainly anxiety rises as we try to add Christmas preparation, even of the best and most spiritual kind, to already full daily schedules. And for some of us, the season is often tinged with various sadnesses, whether for someone who no longer with us to celebrate or for hurts or other losses that Christmas brings to mind. The text offers what I think is the route to experiencing some Christmas joy, a course of contemplation or meditation in verse 8 of thinking about all the best things in our lives. Specifically in relation to Advent and Christmas, I would offer. . . [It's at this point I took a 2-hour break away from writing this post to visit a family and came back to my church office to discover the whole building (offices, youth room, fellowship space) 1-2 inches deep in water from a frozen pipe that broke in the ceiling.] So this is going to be a real test of what I'm suggesting as I sit in the middle of a mess, with workmen around me tearing off the baseboards to dry out our walls, to try and contemplate joyfully the things that Paul suggests in verse 8 in relation to Christmas: Whatever is: True - The Son of God did in fact come to us, to me, as an infant child. Noble - That He sacrificed the glory of heaven for the humility of a stable. Right - Mary and Joseph did exactly what the Lord asked of them. Pure - The Virgin Mother and her quiet devotion to her Child. Lovely - A sky full of angels singing God's praise. Admirable - The shepherds who believed the angel's message. Excellent - The saving grace of God. Praiseworthy - Our Savior who came to be with us and still is with us, because: Verse 9 closes the text blessing us not only with verse 7's "the peace of God," but "the God of peace will be with you." He's with us. Let me think about that awhile today. jjj | |||
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I am the pastor of Valley Covenant Church in Eugene, Oregon. I love to flyfish and hike along the beautiful rivers in our area. I welcome your comments as I share sermon work in progress and occasional other thoughts.
Thank you for visiting this blog. I invite you also to visit my web page.
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