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December 15, 2024: Third Sunday of Advent

Back in 1995, I was home in Elk River visiting my parents. I was out for a run and I noticed the doors of the old Catholic church were open (that was at the time when St. Andrew’s was building their new church). I peeked inside and there was a crew moving the granite altar with lifts. Apparently they were moving it into the new church. So I sat and watched and at first I was really upset, for this was the altar that I said my first Mass at, the altar I was confirmed at, made my first communion and sang for many weddings with, etc. And they were moving it! But as I sat there it began to dawn on me, that this piece of furniture wasn’t the church, that these walls and pew weren’t the church. No. It was the people, the congregation that was the church. And today I would add . . . it is the presence of Christ that makes church.

 

I started off with a feeling of anger and sadness about moving the altar, but as I sat there I was overcome with a feeling of gratitude. Gratitude for all that the church (i.e. the people) had meant to me . . . and no matter where the altar was going, the church was still there. I had a sense of joy.

 

This weekend is known as JOY SUNDAY. Gaudete Sunday. Back in the day, when Advent was more like a “mini-Lent” and it was so heavy, the leaders of the Church wanted to “lighten things up” before Christmas and help us to remember joy.

 

Well, I assume that many of you have had a hard time finding joy with the news that the plans for this church building is to tear it down and create an apartment complex. Remember, it’s not final until we close, but it seems pretty inevitable. And even with the sadness, there’s so much to be joyful about . . . we don’t have to stick thousands of dollars in getting this building up to code if the buyers were to repurpose it, despite all the flaws of the building . . . like the old furnaces, the lack of air-conditioning downstairs, the expense of heating this building, plus the two doors and entering in from the sides, the no barrier for sound in the gathering area, socials area is below or in the back, parking areas that aren’t near the doors and on and on.

 

Plus the new church has so much to offer . . . a chapel open 24/7, a gathering space as you enter, a big screen for our songs and prayers, one door for entering, everything on one level, plus 104 acres to expand with. There’s a lot to be joyful about.

 

Now joy is different than happiness. We can create happiness, achieve happiness, find happiness . . . in this meal, on vacation. But we don’t create/achieve/find joy. It’s something deeper. We uncover it, discover it. Like pulling off armor. Like peeling away obstacles.

 

Br. David Steindl-Rast “Joy is that kind good feeling that does not depend on what happens.”

 

Happiness is when things go our way. That is, it’s more about getting what we want. Joy is a peak sense of aliveness no matter what is going on. Happiness is quite fragile. Joy is not fragile at all.

 

The first reading presents the words of a little known prophet Zephaniah who speaks of God who “will rejoice over you with gladness, renew you by love and sing joyfully because of you as one sings at festivals.” What a great image of God . . . singing about you like at a party with lots of dancing and laughter. And in the second reading St. Paul tells us how to respond . . . by rejoicing. Paul says it twice, “Rejoice! Don’t worry so much, but when you pray give thanks to God.”

 

German Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, “There’s no power like the power of joy.”

Pope Francis wrote an entire encyclical on joy . . . called THE GOSPEL OF JOY. He says, “With Christ, joy is constantly born anew.”

 

How to uncover/discover joy? Accept, Attend, Awareness.

 

1. Accept, which is often the most difficult. It’s creatively working with what is and accepting life’s unpredictability. Denying (or suppressing) the truth rarely leads to joy. E.g. the truth that life is tough, the truth about your life, your body, your job, this building. Accepting leads to joyfulness.

 

2. Attend to what needs to be done. Like John the Baptizer tells the tax collectors and soldiers in the gospel. You don’t have to do “great things” just attend to your normal things well with integrity and respect. Don’t cheat, don’t lie, don’t be stingy. In the end “We shall discover joy easier NOT from what we start doing, but from what we stop doing.”

 

3. Awareness. This is what today is all about. For we can always look at the negative of anything, e.g. your classmates, your pet, your in-laws . . . or you can become aware of the goodness around you. But we are invited to respond to life as St. Paul wrote in the second and as a 14th-century Christian mystic, priest and theologian, Meister Eckhart said, “If the only prayer you make is THANK YOU, that would be enough.”

 

When you look at that “thing” that is troubling you currently, are you settling on just trying to be happy . . . or are you willing to go for joy? Accept. Attend. Be Aware

 

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