"Joy is something we can all offer the world"- An Advent Reflection
As we mark the Third Sunday of Advent Archdeacon Mark has written our reflection on 'joy'.
Joy is not a word we hear very often and when we look at what’s happening all around us, it is easy to see why we might think there is very little joy in life or in the world at the moment. Perhaps, like the poet William Wordsworth and the writer C S Lewis we need to be ‘surprised by joy’ and remind ourselves why this emotion, this feeling is actually at the heart of our faith as Christians.
As Dean Jason reminded us in the opening meditation of this series, the focus for these reflections is the Advent wreath or crown. We light a candle each week and our attention is turned on the great figures of faith who have gone before us: the Patriarchs, the Prophets, John the Baptist and the Blessed Virgin Mary. We link these figures with some of St Paul’s list of spiritual gifts and fruits: hope, peace, joy and love. These are things that shape our longings in Advent, gifts we believe came into our world at Christmas when the Word was made Flesh and are the fruits of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us.
The great thing about the joy of our faith, is that it is the joy of God. Scripture leads us to believe that joy is the music of heaven, joy is an intrinsic part of the nature of God and something he shares with us in Jesus. “These things I have spoken to you,” says Jesus in St John’s gospel, so that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be full.” Joy is God’s gift to us and is not something we can just achieve by trying, it arises out of our relationship with Christ and our life in him.
Joy, then, is something we can all offer the world as Christians and as a Church. The joy of welcome from one who loves us beyond measure, who loves us - as St Augustine said – “as if there were only one of us”. Ours is the joy of forgiveness, from the one who is constantly looking out for us to turn back to him and who, when we turn, comes rushing to meet us. Ours too is the joy of an inextinguishable light in the darkest of dark places; a joy that nothing can destroy. It is the joy of the resurrection which not even death can take away from us. A deep joy that lasts, not a shallow happiness that is fleeting.
In this third week of Advent then, let’s thank God for the joy that is his and ours. On the third Sunday in Advent, many of us will have lit a pink candle, different from the other three. For this third week, there is a subtle change, the tone is brighter, for the third Sunday is Gaudete Sunday.
The name, taken from the first word of the traditional opening prayers of the Eucharist on this Sunday, “Gaudete – Rejoice in the Lord always”. Typically, each reading on this Sunday is a call to joy, reminding us that however dark things may look in these short, late days of Advent, hope is not lost, we are not alone in this sad and difficult world. Our King is indeed coming, a baby is on his way. What we do on Gaudete Sunday, we do throughout our Christian life, we light a candle of joy in the midst of the longest darkest nights of the year and we wait, with longing and hope to be once again, ‘surprised by joy’.
A prayer from the Taizé community: O Lord Christ, help us to maintain ourselves in simplicity, and in joy, the joy of the merciful, the joy of your love. Grant that, renouncing henceforth all thought of looking back, and joyful with infinite gratitude, we may never fear to precede the dawn, to praise and bless and sing to the Christ our Lord. Amen.