Advent 3 - Joy as Resistance
Isaiah 12:2-6; Luke 19:1-10
When I came to Weatherly for a “call weekend” back in April of this year, many of you gathered for a Q & A session with me - for us to get to know each other better. So, you might remember one of the questions I asked which was a suggestion from Allan. He said, you should probably ask them: “What is the one thing - if you change it - will get you fired?” So, I did… And the unanimous, irrefutable response was, “The Lovefeast!” It is good to be clear about the things that matter most! And I loved you for it.
I can think of no better way to mark this third Sunday of Advent, the Sunday that marks a shift from “waiting in darkness” to joyful anticipation than with a Lovefeast this evening. Since it is my first Lovefeast at Weatherly and some of you are also new, let's talk about it. Turn to your neighbors and find out if they’ve ever attended the Lovefeast, and if so what is their favorite part of the service?
How did the Lovefeast come to be a Weatherly tradition? In 1967, Pastor Harold Shirley had the congregation involved in a study of other Christian denominations. He asked Gene Sapp to share about the Moravian Church, his mother’s home church in Winston Salem, North Carolina. In this discussion, the tradition of the Moravian Christmas Eve Lovefeast was shared. People loved the idea and wanted to create a similar service here. And now, it is part of Weatherly’s DNA. The unique sweet buns are ordered and shipped in from a bakery in Winston-Salem. One year, they came via Greyhound bus. And Pat Sapp picked them up from the bus station. There is always a little consternation over whether or not the buns will arrive on time and intact. The coffee (decaffeinated so that all persons of any age may partake) is sweet and creamy and served as the chancel choir fills the sanctuary with song.
Weatherly has six XXL percolators that will be turned on to brew just a few hours from now, so that it will all be ready to mix and pour for you. I understand that Keith Garrett’s dad, Pete, was always on call on the afternoon of Lovefeast to come to the aid of the Lovefeast baristas if the circuit-breaker kicked out with all the pots plugged in at once - up and down the first-floor hallway. When the sanctuary was on the second floor of the Education building before this gorgeous room was built, the servers carried trays of buns and coffee mugs up and down the stairs. The last gift of the Lovefeast is light. Every participant will be given a traditional beeswax candle trimmed in a red paper frill. As the light spreads across the sanctuary tonight, you’ll remember that Jesus, the light of the world, is meant to be shared with all.[1]
The Lovefeast is a labor of love and an offering to this community of joy! Joy is not to be withheld, but to be shared. The Lovefeast is the perfect example of that. From the manger, joy grows! The shepherds returned [from the manger], glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. (Luke 2:20, NIV)[2]
Brene Brown describes joy as a sudden, unexpected, highly-intense feeling characterized by a connection with others, or with God, nature, or the universe. It’s like she read Luke 2:20 and wrote that description of Joy based on the shepherds’ experience seeing the Holy Family. “Joy expands our thinking and attention,” she says. “[Joy] fills us with a sense of freedom and abandon.”[3] I like the way this helps me think about this brief glimpse of the birth narrative this week. The shepherds’ perception of all that was and ever would be had shifted once they experienced the angels and then found the baby in the manger. They were filled with joy and wonder. The encounter with the God in flesh changed them forever.
Much later in Jesus’ ministry, another man would have a similar experience following an encounter with Jesus. It’s an unusual passage to consider at Advent, but the story of Zacchaeus invites us to ponder Joy in a different way. Tax collectors were widely associated with bribery, great wealth, extortion of the poor, and betrayal of their own Jewish ethics. While nothing of the private life of Zacchaeus is revealed in the text, this much we know, Fred Craddock says: “no one is privately righteous while profiting from a program that robs and crushes other people.” Jesus comes to his town for a visit and this son of Abraham can’t help but go to see him. His desire to see Jesus overrides any potential embarrassment or ridicule he might endure for showing up. He’s even willing to climb a tree to get a better look. Apparently, he has heard that Jesus really is a “friend of tax collectors and sinners” (7:34).[4]
Jesus has this effect on people. They feel seen by him. An encounter with Jesus seems to allow a person to imagine they can be more than the sum of their sins. In Jesus’ eyes, Zacchaeus must see his true reflection… But he also sees a different version of who he could be. Jesus invites himself to Zacchaeus house (the way some relatives do at the holidays – see it IS a Christmas story!) What happens next in the story is the moment of convergence that we have been naming each week. God shows up in the person of Jesus and joyfully transforms a wee little man. That transformation causes Zacchaeus to make restitution for what he has done – cheating the least of these in his community. For Zaccheus, joy materializes in a way that he shares (back) half his possessions with the needy, offering to pay back 4x whatever he has cheated someone. This encounter with Jesus – and the good news – bears joy in Zacchaeus’ life that is then shared throughout his entire household.
Anne Robertson, a theologian and writer, says the Greek word for joy, chairo, was described by the ancient Greeks as the “culmination of being” and the “good mood of the soul.” It seems that when a hard person, a mean-spirited person experiences a life-changing encounter with God, the chairos- joy they have is a culmination of having overcome deep anger/fear/loneliness with humble gratitude through a Divine connection that they never believed they deserved. No matter what a person has done, or said, or feared, they deserve to know transformational Joy ignited, lit up, by an authentic encounter with God. Jesus invited himself into Zacchaeus' life and household… His heart was changed! And Joy grew. Joy expanded Zacc’ thinking so much so that he gave half of his riches to the poor and paid back all those he cheated. Joy is not selfish. It is meant to be shared. From the manger where God appeared in flesh, Joy grows.
The story of Zacc reminded me of a classic Christmas character. Ebenezer Scrooge (in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol) is forced to reflect on his own life revisiting moments of joy and sorrow when three ghosts show him his past, present, and future. He sees how his greed and obsession with wealth have cost him dearly – robbing him of a joy-filled life. On Christmas morning, after his profound transformation, Ebenezer Scrooge responds to his neighbors with warmth, generosity, and joy. Having woken up filled with the spirit of abiding joy, he greets everyone, wishing them a Merry Christmas! He stops a boy in the street to buy a prized turkey for Bob Cratchit’s family, his loyal employee who is a wonderful example of someone who practiced joy as an act of resistance! Despite his family’s poverty of health and wealth, they are loving, kind and joyful. Scrooge is transformed by the vision of the Cratchits shown to him by one of the ghosts of Christmas. He donates generously to charity and surprises his nephew by showing up for Christmas dinner – something his bitter, miserly self hadn’t done in years.
In today’s world, it’s too easy to disregard the joyless person at the DMV or in the check-out line, or the delivery person who tosses your fragile package at your door. In today’s world, where polarizing caricatures of others, like calling someone a Scrooge, are easier than allowing for subtle appreciation of a person’s humanity and giving them a little grace, sharing with them a little joy. Joy is not meant to be withheld, but shared. Willie Jennings, a theologian who teaches at Yale Divinity School writes, “I look at joy as an act of resistance against despair and its forces…Joy, in that regard, is a work that can become a state [of mind], that can become a way of life.”
This third Sunday of Advent is also known as Gaudete Sunday. The term Gaudete comes from the Latin word meaning “Rejoice,” taken from the opening word of the introit for this day’s Mass: “Rejoice in the Lord always,” from Philippians 4. What’s significant to know is that Paul wrote Philippians most likely from a Roman jail cell. “Rejoice in the Lord always! I will say it again, Rejoice!” he says. Jesus invited himself into Paul’s life and changed him forever. So much so that even while incarcerated, he could tell others to Rejoice. That’s joy as resistance. That kind of joy is contagious, and we need more of it!
There are folks who need their anger / fear / heartache transformed by God, by an encounter with Christ, into JOY. Is there a “wee little person” in your life, or a Scrooge, who needs a bit more grace from you? Perhaps you know someone who needs an invitation to encounter God, and God’s people, in a fresh way. I happen to know a great church, where there is an exceptionally warm and hospitable community who would welcome them with open arms. I pray that you are encountering God at the manger in a joy-filling way this year. Joy, by its nature, cannot be selfish, and thereby, joy is meant to be spread – like warm cups of coffee and candlelight on an evening in December. God bless us, everyone!
May the deep joy of this third week of Advent fill your soul today.
[1] WHBC 2024 Lovefeast program
[2] Advent Three Joy Grows from the Manger, Illustrated Ministry ©2024
[3] Brown, Brene Atlas of the Heart Joy ©2021
[4] Craddock, Fred Luke Interpretation Commentary Series