Advent 3C’24
15 December 2024
Luke 3.7-18
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
North Little Rock, Arkansas
The Rev. Carey Stone <+>

“Rejoice in the Lord always; and again, I will say, Rejoice.” In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Advent shows the deep wisdom of the liturgy of the Church by inviting us into an intentional period of darkness. Today, on the third Sunday of Advent as we light the pink candle on the Advent wreath it signals that this darkness has a different quality. Rather than leading us to despair the darkness of Advent is like that of a womb that leads us to the birth of the Light of the World.

The season of Advent is very much in sync with the rhythms of the natural world that requires the balance of both dark and light. Besides the nine months of necessary darkness that precedes the birth of a baby, darkness promotes hours of rest for humans, plants, and animals. This decrease in the amount of light can give us a whole new outlook. Poet David Whyte in his poem Sweet Darkness talks about the value of this kind of darkness: “The dark will be your womb tonight. The night will give you a horizon further than you can see.”

Advent darkness is pregnant with hope and as we light the pink candle it sheds light on the fact that as followers of the Light, we can live a life of joy in a world filled with a destructive kind of darkness. The pink candle shines as our reminder to Rejoice in the Lord always, always, in the midst of a world that seems to be falling apart.

In our fearful world we are often tempted to ask the question, “What if? What if there’s another terrorist attack, what if I become ill or disabled? What if the stock market goes belly up?” Those two words can be the beginning of our litany of fears.

But what if, “what if” is only one side of a double-sided coin? What if the flip side asks a very different set of questions? “What if God is up to something? What if God is up to something in your lives and in mine? What if you/ we are on the verge of something incredibly beautiful and amazing? What if this current period of darkness is one of the vital elements necessary for the garden of our souls grow?” This is the invitation and the promise of Advent! Pope Paul VI was right when he wrote that “The Christian’s hope comes primarily from the fact that he knows that the Lord is working with us in the world, continuing in his Body which is the
Church.”

In these days of upheaval what might the action of God look like in the world? The prophet John the Baptist came on the scene in days that were in even greater turmoil than ours and so we might expect some type of complicated and dramatic counsel to be offered but instead what he offers seems quite simple and uncomplicated.

After calling the crowd that had come out to hear his message “a brood of vipers” and warning that they were in danger of God’s judgment, the crowd asked John, “What then should we do?” To all those listening he encouraged them to live generously by giving one of their coats to someone without one and to share their food with those who were hungry.

Tax collectors asked what they should do and John told them to collect only what was required, and that they should show fairness in their dealings. To the soldiers who asked him what to do he answered “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and to be content with their wages.” John’s advice, isa not very flashy and seems anticlimactic after such a rousing sermon. Nonetheless, that was his advice, to practice generosity to those in need, to practice their business with fairness and integrity, and to serve and protect others without bullying. This way of living doesn’t sound all that radical until you take a minute to look around and watch or read the news. You will be hard pressed to find any stories that are filled with generosity, fairness, integrity, and humble service.

What would happen to the world if just our political leaders and corporate CEOs began living by these simple principles of Christ’s kingdom? What a different world it would be!

John’s understated but none the less powerful point is, that the coming of Christ and his kingdom affects every area of our lives. The principles of the kingdom are not the property of the private devotion but of public acts that demonstrate a new world order has come; one based upon the justice and reign of an all-loving God who has made every person in the image of the Divine.

What if God is doing something vitally important and something so hugely needed in this advent darkness by bringing the Divine Light of His Generosity, His Justice, His Integrity, and His Humble Service into His world through ordinary saints like you and like me? And what if we left here today and dared to believe it? And what if we lived like we believe our simple acts of obedience can make a big difference?” What if?

Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine: Glory to him from generation to generation in the church, and in Christ Jesus forever and ever. amen. – from Ephesians 3.20-21