The third “pink” candle is lit on the Advent wreath today. That pink candle symbolizes JOY. Paul wrote about that joy in Philippians 4:4: “Rejoice in the Lord always: again, I say rejoice.” Can you imagine that he wrote that scripture from a dark, cold and damp prison cell? How could he write such words? He deserved to be in misery – even whining, crying a bucketful of tears and singing “Gloom, despair and agony on me”! But he didn’t. Aw! Paul! My role-model! He’s the kind of role-model we, and our kids, need in a world of idolizing sports figures, music and film stars. Give me the Paul-kind-of-role-model any day! The kind that lives out “No matter where we are or what we're facing....we can find JOY in the good news of Emmanuel....God with us -- right in the middle of our circumstances.
Sweet joy, joy, joy down in my heart – down in my heart to stay. Did you sing that little song? I did! Joy is such a warm, fluffy feeling. But, the REJOICING that Paul speaks of is an ACTION word. In that prison cell, he was definitely taking action..
PINK is the color for this 3rd Sunday of Advent. Typically, when we think of pink – we think “girly”. We put our little girls in pink outfits with a pink bow in their hair to declare "It's a GIRL"! (In my case, my little Staci had NO hair so I scotch-taped a little bow on her head -- I know that's hard to believe when we see that massive head of hair she has today! LOL!). Sorry -- I took a rabbit trail from my train of thought about Advent. Pink isn't just about girls. God painted all shades of pink into a sunrise. And, like the various shades of pink, our expressions of joy can be so different. Joy can be exuberant -- that jumping up and down little child at the prospect of something that excites them so much, or MY daughter when she opened some of her birthday presents recently. JOY is also that calm and peaceful experience of God's faithfulness. It can be calm confidence in His sovereignty, or pure delight as He expresses His love.
PINK is also about a teenage “virgin” girl named Mary who was faced with all kinds of pressure of potential stoning because she was pregnant outside of wedlock. She could have been frozen in fear of her circumstances, of disappointing her fiancée and her parents – never mind the “talk” of the townspeople. But instead of being frozen in a “woe is me” attitude, she took ACTION and “went with haste” to her “old” cousin Elizabeth who was six months pregnant to confirm that the angel’s words of “Nothing is impossible with God” were true. She took the ACTION word REJOICE to a level that St. Paul did in his prison cell. In Luke 1:46,47 she said these words: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit REJOICES in God my Savior!”
That’s the kind of JOY to this world – that changes everything. That joy that should never be determined by how we feel, but on WHO God is. The joy of the Lord can thrill us AND it can make us steadfast in the secure knowledge of Emmanuel -- God's presence with us. Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:16: “REJOICE always!” and Jesus tells us in Mark 9:24 "With God all things are possible." THAT combination of trust should help us carry on from this 3rd Sunday of Advent to EVERYDAY rejoicing and being joyful!
