The Color of
Joy is Pink!
Sermon for December 12, 2004
1. Good Morning! Let’s pray. O Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing to You O Lord our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
2. Opening
Comments: It’s the Third Sunday of
Advent and so we lit the Third Advent candle –
the Candle of Joy. It’s pink!
Has anybody wondered why
of all of the 4 candles only one is pink and it’s lit on the Third Sunday of
Advent when the “Joy” of Christ’s Second Advent becomes the focus of our
reflections?
I was hoping to have a
beaker here this morning with a violet fluid in it and I was then going to add
some white solution to it and you could all see a most dramatic transformation
as the color slowly but inevitably changed from violet to pink.
You see when you add white to violet you get pink. So on this Sunday we see these two colors coming together to produce a whole new color!
What we experience is not only a whole new color but also a new emotion in this usually “penitential” season – the Emotion of Joy!
This morning we’re going to explore how the two emotional
realities of this Advent Season produce the reality of the all-pervasive
emotion of “Joy!”- which is the emotion that we today
and every day can and must learn to live in!
Now remember what we mean by “penitential” – Advent is a season for deep reflection upon two primary themes – Christ’s first Advent and his inevitable and final Advent – the
Second Coming.
As we reflect upon these
events our emotions swing between wonder at our Lord’s first coming and His
desire to be “with” us and the awe and excitement inevitably mixed with some
fear that sooner or later He will come again BUT will we and those we love, be ready for this FINAL and absolute
coming? The ultimate Consummation of
all things in His Final Coming . . . This is the
“violet”, as it were, of this season.
It’s that sense of “getting ready” – that seems to
permeate the Advent season. And it’s this sense that causes us to reflect
upon what’s in our lives right now that needs to be expiated – cleansed - from
our being so that we’ll be fully ready for His coming.
It’s statements like . . .
Phil. 2:12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed —
not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence — continue to work out
your salvation with fear and trembling,
That comes to mind in
this season.
We must “work out” our
very salvation in fear and trembling.
Ah! This is what penitence is
really all about isn’t it? It’s about
looking at our lives and seeing those things that are not of the
This is a penitential
season and so we wear violet or shades of violet vestments but today we see the
color of Pink suddenly appear – this is a mystery
to be meditated upon.
3. Focusing in on our Scripture readings: Well let’s
turn to our readings for today to get some insight into this intriguing
mystery.
We’re going to
look at the “white” and the “violet” of things. First the “white” in
Isaiah and then the “violet” in James.
Here we go:
Please turn with me to
the Book of Isaiah 35:1-6a.” Listen for
the wonder and glory in these words.
Here we witness creation’s delight in the arrival of it’s
Creator. This passage reminds me of the
words in our Communion Liturgy – “All
creation rightly gives you praise.”
Listen now as I read for the white of Advent:
Is. 35:1 The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will
rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, 2 it will burst into bloom; it
will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of
This is what the color
white “sounds” like – delight, ecstasy, glory, restoration of the
feeble and lame – the blind and the deaf, encouragement for the fearful, and so
on . . . . This is what the coming of
the Lord will feel and look like!
Ah! This is the “white” of that final Advent Day
when our Lord will come once again to take charge of His creation!
Can you allow yourself to wonder what that day will be like for you? . . . and for the world?
Will you and I be
ready? Will we be able to enter into the
wonder of that day without any sense of:
“O Lord, I wasn’t fully ready! I could have done so much more to get
ready. I could have given more of
myself. I could have given more of my
substance. I could have shared my faith
with more! O Lord . . . I could have
done so much more!”
Ah! What we hear here are shades of violet! Deep reflection and
possibly even a readiness for penitence.
But could some of us be found on that day with no shades of violet – no need for repentance? Will that day find you utterly at peace with Almighty God? And then could you be saying . . .
“Yes,
finally! O Lord, I
have been waiting patiently for so so so long and now You’ve come! Glory to You our Lord and King! My life has always been an open book to You and when I have sinned I have repented, confessed and
received Your forgiveness. O Lord I have
worked out my salvation in fear and trembling and now You
have come – What wonder and glory! O
Lord! O Lord! What wonder!
What glory!
4. And now please turn with me to our New Testament reading from the Book of James chapter 5 verses 7 through 10. Remember this is the violet of Advent. Please listen anew as I read:
James 5:7 Be patient,
then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land
to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring
rains. 8 You too, be patient
and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. 9 Don’t grumble against each other,
brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door! 10
Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets
who spoke in the name of the Lord.
Be patient – be patient
and stand firm – don’t grumble against each other – or you will be judged!
Listen to another translation
of this same passage. This comes from
“The Message” by Eugene Peterson:
James
5:7 Meanwhile, friends, wait patiently for the Master’s arrival. You see
farmers do this all the time, waiting for their valuable crops to mature,
patiently letting the rain do its slow but sure work. 8 Be patient like that. Stay steady
and strong. The Master could arrive at any time. 9 Friends, don’t
complain about each other. A far greater complaint could be lodged against you,
you know. The Judge is standing just around the corner. 10 Take the old
prophets as your mentors. They put up with anything, went through everything,
and never once quit, all the time honoring God.
Ah! This is a picture colored in “violet!”
Patient endurance. Steadiness. That phrase “be patient stand firm” summarizes it all pretty well doesn’t it?
These are the virtues of “violet” of Advent and – let me give you a hint – they are the virtues that allow violet to be turned into pink!
Let’s linger for a moment upon these primary virtues. The Greek word for patience is:
makroqume÷w and
it means to demonstrate patience despite difficulties — ‘to be
patient, to remain patient, to wait patiently.’
And the Greek word for “Stand firm” is:
sthri÷zw: to make a decision, with emphasis upon finality — ‘to
decide firmly, to resolve, to make up one’s mind definitely.’ We see it being used in Luke chapter 9 verse 51 when Jesus “set His face like flint” as He
approached
It
means ‘to decide and to refuse to change one’s mind’ or ‘to decide and not to change’ - “to cause someone to become stronger in the
sense of more firm and unchanging in attitude or belief — ‘to strengthen, to
make more firm.’ To set as flint!
This
word forms a phrase with three other words: sthri÷xate ta»ß kardi÷aß
and given our understanding of the word firm:
it literally means “to resolve the heart
to be unchanging and firm!”
These are the virtues that turn darkness into light – that turn the sorrowful soul into the joyful soul!
These are the virtues that are ignited by our great and eternal
hope that soon – perhaps sooner than we think Jesus will return that final time
and
5.
So
what is God saying to us on this Third Sunday of Advent? It’s really pretty clear isn’t it – Jesus
Christ is coming but in the meantime we must
wait patiently and set our hearts firmly on that reality and get ourselves
ready for it.
Luke tells us that He will come “like
the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other.”
(Luke 17:24).
There’s going to no
mistaking His Second Coming – all the world will know. Matthew tells us:
Matt. 24:30 “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the
sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man
coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.
Why are they mourning? They’re not ready! But those of us who are ready Ah! Listen as Paul tells us what’s going to happen to us:
1Th. 4:17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be
caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so
we will be with the Lord forever.
And so we will be with the Lord forever! O what a day that will be! Can you even begin to imagine what that day
will be like? He is coming for us – We
must prepare the way – in ourselves and then in the world and as we do this we
will live in “Joy!” - that emotion that
comes with the MIXING of awe and repentance – Amen and Amen – May we all be
found ready at His Second Coming!
Let’s Pray . . .