Ever wondered why we have a pink candle in our advent wreath for the third Sunday of Advent?
Well, like many of our Anglican church traditions, this comes to us from our Roman Church roots. This Sunday, in some church circles is also known as ‘Gaudete Sunday”. In the traditional Latin Mass, the Introit, or the short sentence said while the priest approaches the altar to celebrate the Eucharist on the third Sunday of Advent is taken from Philippians 4:4,5: "Gaudete in Domino semper" – in English "Rejoice in the Lord always". So Gaudete Sunday, or Rejoice Sunday, the Sunday of Joy, which over the years came to be represented in the pink candle of joy in the Advent wreath.
Now, like Lent in the church, Advent is a season for deeper reflection and penitence, which is why the colours used in the paraments, the church liturgical hanging and in the priests vestments are traditionally purple. However in more recent years, blue has been used by protestant churches to differentiate Advent from Lent. By the third Sunday of Advent we have passed the midpoint of Advent, and the Church lightens the mood a little, which is indicated by the pink or rose coloured candle in the advent wreath. In some churches the priest may even wear rose coloured vestments. The idea of the change in color apparently, is to provide encouragement to continue our spiritual preparation, which is why the third candle of the Advent wreath, lit on Gaudete Sunday, is a brighter and lighter than the deep purple.[1]
This year our New Testament reading fits in nicely with our Gaudete Sunday theme, as it were. “Rejoice always”, Paul writes to the members of the church in Thessalonica “17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” An uplifting message of God’s desire for God’s people to be a people of joy! He continues to encourage them to be open to the Holy Spirit’s movement in their lives, “19 Do not quench the Spirit” he tells them. Don’t put out the fire the Holy Spirit may bring! Next Paul invites them to be a bit retrospective, to pay attention to the advice and experience presented by the prophets: “20 Do not despise the words of prophets” And then he goes on adding a bit of a cautionary note—sounding a bit like a concerned parent launching their teenagers first year at college: “21 but test everything; hold fast to what is good; 22 abstain from every form of evil.” Not everything that makes us feel good or feel joyful is of God; evil is often disguised initially in something which we may first perceive as a good thing. Sage advice, be aware, look before you leap, so to speak, hold onto the good, and stay away from the evil stuff, that which draws you away from God. Good counsel, even for us today-- it’s so easy to get sucked in to something if it feels good, because it can draw you in before you even know it’s happened!
And here we are, just our third Sunday into a new church year, and already we’re deviating away from Mark’s gospel into John’s. John introduces us to another side of John, the one whom Mark calls the Baptizer, Matthew calls the Baptist, and Luke provides us with his birth story too, which of course lets us know that John is a cousin of Jesus’.
John’s Gospel doesn’t even say that John ever baptized Jesus! In this gospel he is presented as a proclaimer who does baptisms, but John’s primary role in relation to Jesus is as proclaimer and witness, a testifier of Jesus’ origin. He proclaims that Jesus was from God, in fact that Jesus was God. John’s gospel opens by introducing Jesus as the Word of God, through whom all things came into being, the life that was the light of all people…. the light that shines in the darkness, the light that darkness cannot extinguish. (1:1-5 paraphrase) And then, John, the one whom we call the Baptist is introduced: “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.” To witness and testify means to observe, watch and talk about what’s been seen and give evidence of one’s experiences of it. So, through John whom we call the Baptist’s witness, through his experience of what he calls ‘the Light’, others too can believe in that light, the light that is Jesus the Christ. So for this gospel’s purpose, we could almost re-name John the Baptist to John the Witness.
Witness and testify, that was his purpose in John’s gospel: to be present with Jesus, to observe what was happening, what was revealed to him, how he understood the importance of this special man and share that with others. And that was precisely what he did. But the Jewish authorities were confused by John. It helps to understand that during these times, the Jewish people were looking for a Messiah, someone to save them from the oppression of living under the Roman regime. And then John comes on the scene, preaching an unusual message. Who was this guy anyway? Was he the Messiah, or the prophet Elijah returned to them? Perhaps it was the strange way he was dressed. And ancient Jewish tradition said that Elijah would return before the Messiah came. Recall that the ancient scriptures tell us that Elijah did not die, he ascended directly to heaven.
When confronted by the Jewish authorities, John explains himself by quoting Isaiah, he was the voice of the one crying out of the wilderness. Then John tells them he is not the Messiah, he is there to witness and testify to the light of the world.
What does that mean -- Jesus is the light, the light that cannot be overcome with darkness? You know the feeling you get when the hydro goes off in your house in the late evening, on a moonless night. And you’re in the total dark, feeling a bit disoriented, adjusting to the dark, trying feeling your way around your house looking for a flashlight or a candle to light. Life can feel like that sometimes. Sad things happen, evil things happen, difficult and distressing things happen and when we get too many of them at once, or too much at once, we feel like we’re overwhelmed. And we can feel enveloped in darkness, disoriented, off kilter, and we grope around in the dark, directionless, unsure where to go. Or life has piled so much stuff up around us that it feels like the light can’t get in and it gets darker and darker within ourselves and it can get overwhelming. That’s when we need to take the time to pray—and to look for the light, look for Christ. Because Christ is the light that can never be overcome with darkness. Christ is the light that’s always on, kind of like a nightlight after waking up from a nightmare, or a single candle flame in a blackout, or the stars in a jet black sky. Even the tiniest bit of light is incredibly bright in the dark, and instinctively we are drawn to the light, once we’ve calmed down and are looking for it. As we get closer to the light, it becomes brighter and brighter and then we’re enveloped in that light, well, it’s like opening the door to the sunshine.
As disciples of the light of Christ, the light that overcame our darkness is two-fold; we too are to witness and testify. To be a witness to it is a more passive role—to see it and recognize it for what it is--God’s Holy Spirit moving in our lives. This is key; recognizing that what we have is not ours, but from God, a gracious gift we have received, that is to be shared, to be passed on—sharing Christ’s love, the light of the world as John called it. We can do this in different ways; we pass on the light, we reflect the light of Christ by living our lives according to Jesus’ teachings, by living how God’s holy people are called to live. Thinking back to our scripture from Thessalonians, as Paul said, to live the good and abstain from evil is most definitely one way. We observe and live out Christ’s primary teaching: to love God with our whole hearts, souls and minds and to love our neighbours as ourselves. In both of our churches, we’ve been working hard on doing this, and have improved our physical spaces to be open and welcoming. We’ve also been working together to be church communities that reflects that love in all that we do, and inviting others into our buildings to be a part of that community of love in the various things we do and our ministries of giving. This is part of sharing our witness and these are definitely important aspects of being a welcoming faithful community. It was what drew people to become part of the first Christian communities, it’s what drew others to come to them and join them.
But the testifying to the light—well that’s most definitely the harder part. Admittedly, walking around in camel’s hair clothing and eating locusts and wild honey while we proclaim repentance and returning to the Lord isn’t a way of life many of us are called to. But when the opportunity presents itself, it’s not too crazy to tell someone that you are a believer in Jesus and that coming to church, and being involved in the ministries helps to feed you spiritually. Our job as disciples, our role as Christians is to point to Jesus’ presence, and stories of our own personal experiences of Christ in our lives are the most powerful form of witness. And you can keep it simple—no soapboxes required! When the time is right, share with someone how your faith has helped you in your life, or has helped others whom you know. If you’re open to it, the Spirit will lead you, opportunities do present themselves, so as Paul said: do not quench the Spirit! Invite someone to come to church with you. Truly, the best way to grow a church is by inviting someone!
So invite someone to come with you to Blue Christmas or the Christmas Eve service or to come with you so they too aren’t alone on Christmas Day. Or invite them to our New Years Eve service of Christmas Lessons and Songs. These services have all been designed especially to offer the opportunity to bring a friend.
And I’ll end with Paul’s blessing to the Thessalonian Church “ 23 Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.” (1Thess 5.23) Amen
[1] http://catholicism.about.com/od/holydaysandholidays/f/Gaudete_Sunday.htm