The Lectionary: Third Sunday in Advent, Year C

Joy as the antidote to our anxious times

The Collect

Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.

Scripture

Philippians 4:4-7

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Luke 3:7-18

John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our ancestor'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

And the crowds asked him, "What then should we do?" In reply he said to them, "Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise." Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, "Teacher, what should we do?" He said to them, "Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you." Soldiers also asked him, "And we, what should we do?" He said to them, "Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages."

As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.

The Message

If I had to choose one word to define the American electorate - left, right and center - after the 2024 election, I think that word would be “anxiety.”

Everyone seems anxious right now. Worries pile upon worries, compounding our feelings of being under siege. This anxiety manifests itself in the frenzied pitch of our politics, as both sides imagine the worst possible outcomes should the other side gain power and the ability to put their agenda into effect. When our worst fears take over, we bunker down into our tribes, behind our walls, imaging foes everywhere, and subsequently feeling the need to defend what little we have, either at the ballot box, or more viscerally, should the need arise.

I certainly share this feeling of anxiety. Money never seems to go quite far enough. I worry about my LGBTQ+ friends and loved ones, about the schools in our state, about those on the streets. I stress about the growing anti-democratic fervor and the future of our country. During this election season, that anxiety gripped me hard, pulling me into a partisanship I generally try to avoid nowadays. But, in the midst of everything, it can be hard to hang on to a sense of perspective, which is a key tool in holding anxiety at bay.

The Apostle Paul and the churches he planted surely had great cause to live with a low level of constant anxiety. An embattled religious minority sect within another minority religion, beset upon by both the might of the Roman empire and the keepers of the ancient religion they grew in, Paul and his followers would be greatly justified in drawing the circle tight, protecting their own and trying to hold out for better days. It seems, from Paul’s words here, that the church at Philippi, at least, was indulging in such anxiety-driven actions.

But that’s the amazing thing about the early church nurtured in people’s homes across the easter Mediterranean: they did not give in to that anxiety. Paul, Peter, James and other early leaders continuously urged them, do not be anxious! Live without fear, as Jesus commanded, opening wide the doors of your home, spreading the love of God far and wide, even to those who seek to kill and destroy you. “The Lord is near”, Paul reminds his readers. What do you have to be anxious about when God in here, among you, in the Spirit that gives animating power to these small gatherings in towns like Philippi and Colossae and Corinth?

Paul was surely drawing upon the Jesus tradition in his exhortations; he knew the stories of people like John the Baptist, like the one we heard here in Luke. And so, his reminder to his people to not be anxious, but to rejoice, surely has its roots in the words of John, that echoed the later words of the One he presaged: share what you have with everyone, feed all the hungry, be generous, care not for wealth and the things of this world. This is the Good News: empty yourself of all you have, of any safety net you cling to, and far from seeing that anxiety grow, you will find great joy.

This week of Advent, we reflect on that idea of joy. Joy, I believe, is the opposite of anxiety. Not assuredness; assuredness is hard to find in this world. But, when anxiety takes hold, what we should look for is the small, joyful moments in our lives. And those are surely found, not in the piling up of great treasures and resources in our homes, or in walling ourselves off in fear of the Other who could take everything we hold dear. No, we rejoice - we find Joy - in serving, loving, and giving, of ourselves, completely and unreservedly.

Yes, we have great anxiety in our lives, despite the fact that almost everyone reading this words is in this top 5% of humanity all time in terms of comfort and needs being met. And so, we should remember, if Paul, and the church at Philippi, and John the Baptist, and Jesus of Nazareth, can all lean into banishing anxiety by joyfully loving and living for one another, surely we can too.