Don't postpone joy

James 5: 7-10
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
December 15, 2019

The third Sunday in Advent is when we light the candle of joy. In more liturgical churches it’s called Gaudete Sunday which is Latin for “rejoice”. You would think that in Advent the Sunday to rejoice would be the fourth one, the last one before Christmas Eve. Instead we light a candle for joy a week early as a way to say we don’t want to postpone joy. The appropriate time to rejoice is always now, in the present moment.



And yet joy does not come easily these days, does it? Many of us avoid the news for that very reason. For some of us the ‘joy of the season’ is getting through it one day at a time. Some dear friends and loved ones have died this year, some we did not expect to say goodbye to, and we feel their loss keenly as the earth turns toward the longest night of the year.

Earlier this week I asked folks on Facebook what gives them joy, what sustains them. Most of what people answered were simple pleasures and habits—things like music, laughter, dance, nature, art, cooking and baking for others, quiet moments, prayer, silence; relationships like friends, family, children, pets; purpose like teaching, inclusion, creativity, being authentic, having an impact, helping others, hope, faith, love.

I thought about what gives me joy, what sustains me. One of those things is singing. This past week as I was driving back from Dover I looked at the albums I had in the car, considered each one and just shrugged. I tried singing to the radio but my voice didn’t sound strong. Yeah, it’s winter, the air is dry, and I’ve had a cold like everyone else. But then I realized that not singing in a chorus and rehearsing every week is having an effect not only on my voice but also my desire to sing. More than a feeling, joy is a spiritual practice, which means it’s something you engage in whether you feel it or not.



Joy can be a seed you plant. While we wait for it to grow, every day we can do something that gives us joy, even if we don’t experience it in the moment.



Sun is up, a new day is before you
Sun is up, wake your sleepy soul
Sun is up, hold on to what is yours
Take up your spade and break ground

The letter of James was written to early Christian churches encouraging them to be patient in their waiting, as a farmer is patient for rain and for crops to grow. But it is not a passive waiting. Frederick Buechner wrote, “To wait for Christ is, as best we can, to be Christ to those who need us to be Christ to them most and to bring them the most we have of Christ's healing and hope because unless we bring it, it may never be brought at all.” Sometimes the joy we can’t postpone is the joy others need and that joy can look like justice, like radical inclusion, like enough to eat and clean water and clean air, like being seen and valued and heard. Sometimes joy can look like forgiveness and release and leaving the past behind us.



Shake off your shoes,
Leave yesterday behind you
Shake off your shoes,
But forget not where you've been
Shake off your shoes,
Forgive and be forgiven
Take up your spade and break ground

The more I think about it, joy begins to resemble awe and gratitude, both of which can also be a spiritual practice—something we do even when we don’t feel it because it makes a gracious space in us, a place for that seed to grow. In our last adult ed. discussion we talked about awe as a spiritual practice. One day in the car as I was driving from my house to the church I was giving it serious thought. I knew that for awe to be a daily practice, expectations would need to be more open and simple. We can’t always wait for a rainbow or a thunderstorm or an eloquent leader or wisdom teacher to inspire us with awe.

I remembered that for a long time now, about as long as I have been in ministry, I have looked up at the sky when I am driving. I look for birds flying across my path. There are times I have felt a tingling sensation on my scalp and the back of my neck as a flock of birds winged their way over my car. As I was driving on this particular day last week, down Paper Mill Rd. before the Walgreens, as I was thinking about broadening expectations and being awed by something simple, I looked up and saw a large bird. At first I thought it was a vulture, which I have also learned to awe and express joy when I see them. But as the bird flew closer I saw a white head, dark brown body and white tail feathers. It was a bald eagle, the first one I’ve seen in Newark. And that gave me great joy and occasion for deep thanks—not only for the eagle, but just as I had decided to be satisfied with less, it was then the universe did some showing off.



Give thanks, for all that you've been given
Give thanks, for who you can become
Give thanks, for each moment and every crumb
Take up your spade and break ground

Take some time this week in quiet and think about what gives you joy, what sustains you. If there are tears, let the tears come because our grief sits right next to our joy. Think about how you can make joy, awe, or gratitude a daily spiritual practice. You could write down each day some activity you did or something you witnessed or a person who inspired you or where you saw Jesus that day or how you were Christ for someone who needed to you to be Christ to them. Because when we look for something, tune our hearts and minds to joy or awe or gratitude and expect it to show up in any form no matter how small, invariably it does. And nearly always it shows up with an invitation to do something, to participate in the world in a meaningful way.

In the words of poet Toi Derricotte, joy is an act of resistance. Christmas, love enfleshed, is God’s defiant “yes” to all that resists evil and oppression; God’s “yes” to all that rebels against hurtful binaries and so-called normativity; God’s “yes” to all that confronts power and aggression and control. And so we dare to love, to rejoice, to put the darkness on notice, that the darkness will not win. Love will win. And because that is where our faith is, even though it is not yet so, we can dare to be joyful.



Don’t postpone joy, my friends. Embrace it—every chance you get.



Amen.



Benediction - Take Up Your Spade by Sara Watkins


Give thanks, for all that you've been given
Give thanks, for who you can become
Give thanks, for each moment and every crumb
Take up your spade and break ground