Today, we light the third candle on the Advent wreath. Three purple candles represent the penitent season of preparation for Christmas. But today’s candle is pink. Today we get to take a break from penitence, and focus on JOY.
In Liturgical churches, today is known as “Gaudete” (Gow-DEH-teh) Sunday, or the Sunday of Joy. The First Reading on Gaudete Sunday begins with Philippians 4:4,
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”
Rejoice ALWAYS? Is that even possible? Everyone gets sad sometimes, right? Even Jesus wept on occasion. Is sadness a sin?
Absolutely not! The ability to mourn is a sign of a compassionate heart. It’s a good thing for Christians to do.
But joy isn’t the absence of sadness. Joy is something more. Something deeper.
I grew up in Ottawa, Canada. The snowiest capital city in the world. In general, it’s usually about 10 degrees colder in Ottawa than it is here in southeastern Pennsylvania. But Ottawa still has seasons, and in the summer, it gets hot enough to swim. And every once in a while, I look at the weather reports, and I see that it’s actually warmer in Ottawa than it is here.
That’s the difference between climate and weather. Weather changes from day to day, and sometimes from hour to hour. Climate doesn’t change so easily. It is the basic, underlying conditions of a place. Climate influences the daily weather, but the weather isn’t always average.
Weather responds to outside forces. A storm, a change in wind direction, a drop in pressure. Climate doesn’t mind outside forces too much, because they all average out in the end.
What climate can do, however, is influence how the weather might respond to those forces. The same pressure system might become a hurricane over Florida, or a blizzard over Buffalo.
Happiness and sadness are like the weather. They respond to outside forces, and change from day to day, or even minute to minute. They are only as permanent as the situations that brought them about.
But joy isn’t like the weather. It doesn’t go away when something makes you sad. It’s something that lives at your core, and influences how you respond to the world. Joy is a climate of the heart.
The opposite of joy isn’t sadness. It’s bitterness. Sadness comes and goes, but bitterness lives in the heart. It colors a person’s reaction to everything. Like a desert climate, where it might rain occasionally, but nothing lasting can grow. A bitter heart causes joy to wither, and die.
The good news is that heart climates are easier to change than local climates. You know who is really good at changing hearts? I’ll give you a hint: we’re getting ready to celebrate his birth.
Jesus is the antidote to a bitter heart. Remember the wise man who built his house on a rock? And the storms came, and the floods rose, but his house stood firm, while those same storms and floods flattened the foolish man’s house. If you want a heart of joy, you need a firm foundation. And that foundation is Christ.
A heart climate of joy won’t stop the storms from coming. It won’t stop the tears from falling. But it will give you the strength to face every situation with courage and peace. It will color your view of the world, and help you to see God’s hand at work in even the dark places. As Nehemiah encouraged his people, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10)
Be strong. Rejoice!
1 comment:
Excellent contrasts.
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