Giving Thanks for Tests?

Third Sunday of Advent, Year B

Lectionary Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 (NRSV)

I look forward to the return of all the ways
we normally find joy as we celebrate Christmas!

We're approaching the Third Sunday of Advent.  Of course, after this, it seems like a rush to Christmas.  This year, it will be different.  It has been already.  I miss singing together but I especially miss singing the Christmas carols with a full congregation (and yes, I know that strictly, we should wait until Christmas Eve but that is another conversation).  The point is that we are on a different approach to Christmas.

The Third Sunday of Advent is often the "Joy" Sunday and you may have grown up with a pink candle for this particular day.  Our scripture reflects this with the beginning words, "Rejoice always."  As our restrictions (voluntary or involuntary) mount again because of the rise in cases and deaths, this may be an unrealistic expectation.  We have members of our congregation that currently have the coronavirus.  We have lost members from it and other members have lost family members and friends from it.

It seems rather obtuse to ask people to "give thanks in all circumstances."

But as the apostle Paul asks us to test everything, it seems that he means for us to filter out the bad and hold onto the good.  Can we give thanks for the seclusion?  Only if we use it productively as a time of spiritual growth.  Can we give thanks for illness?  Only if we recognize our ultimate dependence on God during these times.  Can we give thanks for the death of loved ones?  Not usually (unless they were ready to go after a life well-lived), but we can give thanks for a life that we loved - we are thankful for the time we had with them.

So I've tried to focus my own growth.  After my sermon series on the Fruit of the Spirit this fall, I started reading Galatians 5:22-23 (among others) to begin my day.  I wrote this prayer based on this scripture and also utilize it as I begin my day:

Gracious God, make me more loving today - in both giving and receiving love. Give me the ability to find and sow joy each day. May I have peace of mind, body and spirit, such that I become a peacemaker to conflict I encounter. Help me to be kinder to my neighbor in my thoughts and deeds. Grant me a more generous spirit in my perceptions of others so that I may be more ready to share the resources you have entrusted to me. May I be faithful in my daily walk with you, O God, as I seek to love you and my neighbor more fully as Christ has bid me. And as I do trod upon this earth, may I do so gently, leaving places and situations better than I found them. And when those things that are adverse to your Spirit rise up in me, give me the self control to pause and find a better path. I pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, who breathed the Holy Spirit upon us. Amen.

As Paul concludes in today's scripture about sanctification, it means that we are asking God to partner with us in our quest to become more Christ-like.  If we don't try to meet God half-way, this ideal becomes less likely for us.  And if we are not working on our spiritual lives, it may be that we'll rejoice less and complain more - no matter the circumstance.

We'll continue to explore this in worship on Sunday - I hope you'll join us online!  And I give thanks for the technology that allows us to continue to worship together in our isolation.

In Christ,

Sam

Photo by Funk Dooby via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

All scripture quoted is from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.