Advent 3 is traditionally themed as joy. The readings of Third Advent focus of God’s approaching deliverance. The word “hope” is applied to this Sunday along with “light.” There is a sense of fulfillment of Old Testament promises toward salvation and sanctification. We light the pink candle on the Advent Wreath. Tierra did the honors:
But there is a mixture of repentence and rejoicing. For John the Baptist, in the Gospel of Luke, baptism is an outward manifestation of repentance – the symbolic expression of a genuine cry for mercy. Genuine repentance exhibits an attitude of neighborly-love and serves as the mark of the new Israel. It is a personal response and not based on your inheritance. In the First Song of Isaiah, the reading heralds the prospect of a reunited people. It speaks of a personal deliverance expressed in collective salvation. The readings are here.
Today amidst our joy and anticipation over upcoming events, we are faced with another massacre – that in Newtown, CT with over 20 people losing their lives. Catherine addressed it at the beginning of the service:
"Today, we will begin our service by praying for the people of Newtown, Connecticut, and especially for the families of the six and seven year olds who were shot multiple times at close range by a young man who broke into their elementary school and killed their principal and other administrators on the way to them. Even though we all know that we live in a broken world, who could have imagined that anyone could act with such violence against innocent children?
Advent is a season of darkness, and waiting. We are the people who walk in great darkness, and this week we are walking in great grief with the people of Newtown because we are members of one human family.
Ironically, today is the Sunday in Advent when scripture calls on us to rejoice because our Lord is near. I don’t feel much like rejoicing today.
But since we are people of faith, rejoicing is in order, even today in the darkness of this tragedy, because today, we rejoice in the fact that even in, and especially in the darkness, God is coming to us, to share our sorrows, to live, and to suffer and to die as one of us, and through his death, to overcome death, and to bring us light and love and the peace that passes understanding, especially when we have no understanding, and our hearts are agitated.
So today we will light these candles knowing that God is coming into the world and that God’s coming will bring new life, and that life is the light of all people.
And that light shines in the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it. "
We may take the example of Paul’s reading this week in Philippians. Although Paul is writing in jail he is still able to speak of joy. Paul may be urging Christians to cast all of our cares upon God. The Lord whose return is imminent is also continually near his people to guide them.
We celebrated Cookie and Johnny’s 28th wedding anniversary. Both work extremely hard for St. Peter’s"
We welcomed 46 this week with a number of visitors. The weather was not cold for this time of year but damp and overcast.
This has been a week of outreach. We provided the soup and bread to over 100 people (Bill Wick provided 135) at the Firehouse. A photo gallery is here. We completed the giving tree with some generous donations from our Parishioners. We had one parishioner who could not attend this week due to a conflict but drove here specially to make sure their family’s gift was here.
We anticipate the greening of the Church in a week. Still taking a look forward presents a beautiful church, particularly with the new Advent wreath.
Work is on going for Advent 4 with the pageant and Christmas with the choir practicing and particularly the team of Brad and Helmut who have been working their numbers for weeks .
The sermon took up the call for repetence. "Repentance is the bridge over which we must cross from misery into the amendment of our lives, and ultimately, into rejoicing. " Unrepentent are unhappy people. "And misery, left unaddressed, can also lead to great tragedies like the one we have witnessed this week in Connecticut. "
"John tells them to bear the fruits of repentance in their daily lives, and in their work."
How to cross over the bridge toward rejoicing ? " Simply asking forgiveness when we’ve wronged someone, treating all people with dignity, helping those in need, using our power for the good of God’s kingdom rather than for our own selfish gain, being God’s light in the world—we all can do these things here and now if we pray for God’s help and assistance—and this good news is cause for rejoicing"
The writings of St. Thomas Aquinas were used to demonstrate the process in 3 steps- "First, St Thomas tells us, we must devote ourselves to withdrawing from sin and resisting the appetites in our lives that lead us astray and drive us in the opposite direction from love. "
"Second, St Thomas says, is the stage in which our “chief preoccupation is to advance in love. This is the mark of those who are making progress, and who are principally concerned that their charity should grow and become strong. “ This stage is the challenge that John the Baptist extends to the crowd—those ethical teachings about how we ought to treat our neighbors if we wish to grow in love and bear fruits that are worthy of repentance, that is fruits that reflect our amendment of life and our desire to live as Jesus would have us live."
“The third stage is when we apply ourselves chiefly to the work of cleaving to God, and enjoying God!” This is the rejoicing that Paul writes about in Philippians.