Gaudete Sunday: Rejoice Sunday. That is what we celebrate this weekend, and in celebrating are reminded that we have much to rejoice in with our God. This weekend marks the half-way point of our Advent preparation to Christmas and the coming of our salvation in Christ. Up until now, we have been hearing Scripture passages and offering prayers all geared to hastening the Lord’s coming again. In the end of time. As promised so long ago. Our attention shifts this weekend to focus on the Baby of Bethlehem, the Lord’s first appearance and the events that opened the way for us to be saved by “one like us, in all things but sin”. The birth of Jesus had the whole of creation singing for joy, for he was light in the darkness of the world. Angels and shepherds, kings and peasants all came to see the Christ-child and were renewed in their hope of a new life. Sin was taken away and the abandonment felt by even the strongest in faith, was replaced with the sense of our God being so close, that we could actually be touched. No longer were we strangers and aliens, but sons and daughters once more. We were restored and renewed. And because of this, Saint Paul would later write to the people of Phillippi, “Rejoice in the Lord always! I say it again, Rejoice!” I find that many of us can truly identify with what the people of Jesus’ time were feeling at the time of his birth. They had been waiting for generations for God to make good on his promise to save them and to bring them light. Prophet upon prophet called the people to repentance and patience, over and over again, but nothing seemed to happen. Changes did not seem to take place. They grew weary and tired of waiting, and many gave up the wait all together. “Where is our God?” they are quoted as saying. “Why has he not come to us?” It had to have been incredibly hard for them to keep looking to the heavens for God to come down, however that was to happen. Daily concerns and cares would have overshadowed the unfulfilled promise, seeming to take precedence over what may never come to pass after all. As we wait for the Lord to come again, we too, like the people of old, find it hard to continue to trust in God’s promise and to have hope every day. Especially when things seem to get worse instead of better, or we just grow tired of waiting patiently. We have other things to worry about, it seems, and we can always get back to God later on. We need the celebration of this weekend to remind us that he did indeed fulfill his promise, and although he seems long in coming again, we have no real reason to doubt him again. So, Rejoice! Rejoice that God is ever faithful to his promises. Rejoice that generations of faithful people have continue to believe in these promises, and have passed them on to us. Rejoice that as the daily concerns we face seem to turn us away from the fact that one day the Lord will appear again, they will never change the fact that it will indeed happen. Rejoice that we are counted among God’s sons and daughters and have already been redeemed. Rejoice that one day the Lord will return to take us who remain faithful, patiently waiting, into a life that will never end, without darkness, or pain, sorrow or woe. Rejoice that the Lord will indeed come again. Rejoice that he is already in our midst.

© 2005 Peter J. Andrews