December 17, 2000
Third Sunday of Advent

LECTIONARY READINGS
from the Revised Common Lectionary

Zephaniah 3:14-20
Isaiah 12:2-6  [as a canticle]
Philippians 4:4-7
Luke 3:7-18

[ Read the texts at the Vanderbilt Divinity On-Line Library ]
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"God's Anxiety Reduction Plan"

As I look about our world, skim the massive number of ads in the Sunday paper and watch the faces of shoppers going about their last mad dash before Christmas day arrives...  I am reminded that his season of peace, joy and good cheer does bring a certain increase in anxiety for many people.

"Will John get along with my mother this year?"

"The stores are all sold out of that toy junior had first on his Christmas list!"

"How in the world are we going to fit forty three people in our house for Christmas dinner?"

Then there is the young man who said to his pastor, "I am going to give my girlfriend an engagement ring for Christmas."

"What a wonderful gift," the pastor replied.

Then the young man with anxiety written all over his face continues, "I don't know what I will do if she says no!"

This year when I read the lectionary epistle reading for this Sunday the words jumped right off the page:

"Do not worry about anything..."

There you have it people.  Advice right from the pages of holy writ.  Actually the Apostle writes these words in the imperative mode.  This is an injunction.  "Do not worry about anything..."

And Paul is not alone.  Three times in Matthew six, Jesus says, "Do not worry." [vv.25,31,34] 

Amazing!  Don't you think?

If you listened closely, the way Paul expressed the imperative that we are not to worry takes us to what would seem to be the realm of the impossible.  It isn't simply that he says, "Do not worry..."  It is, "Do not worry about anything!"

How, pray tell can that be accomplished?  The fact is that there is a very clear and specific set of instructions in the epistle reading.  

A second quality is that we are to let our "gentleness" be known to everyone.  "The word signifies a humble, patient, steadfastness, which is able to submit to injustice, disgrace and maltreatment without hatred and malice, trusting in God in spite of it all."¹

The reason we are able to embrace these qualities is a wonderful Advent theme.  "The Lord is near." 

How can we rejoice in the face of trial?  "The Lord is near."  How can Christian people be steadfastly patient -- even in the midst of injustice?  There is solid comfort in the assurance of the words, "The Lord is near."

The Program

The sixth verse of our scripture reads like a formula which we can treat as a basic program on reduction of anxiety:

1. "Do not worry about anything..."

So - how much of a role should worry play in our lives?   (None)  Let's try this as a litany.  I will suggest some things that would concern most people and you reply with the words, "Do not worry about anything!"

"Paul,  I am worried about some bad news I received about my health."
"Do not worry about anything!"

"Paul, I am anxious about our economic situation."
"Do not worry about anything!"

"Paul, I am worried about the friends my son is choosing."
"Do not worry about anything!"

You get the idea.  The point is that we are to worry about - how many things?   (Nothing at all!)  Fortunately Paul does not stop with the injunction to stop worrying.  (You likely have some people in your life who have said, "Don't worry," but they offer no help in actually making the worry go away.  Instead of worry, Paul gives us this:

2. "...but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

The remedy for worry is a universal remedy.  That is, this applies to every possible worry.  "In everything..."   There is nothing that is exempt from this remedy.

In everything that comes our way, we are to turn first to the only One who can do something about our circumstances.  In absolutely everything, we are to use: a) Prayer:  Meaning continuous, conscious contact with God in all things - and -  b) Supplication: Meaning specific petitions in which we turn the difficulties over to God - with -
c)  Thanksgiving:  Meaning - we rest assured that God is taking care of the situation.  We may not have the answer we desire, but we can rest in the ability of God to bring about the divine intent for our lives.  It is as though we called a friend who had both the ability and authority to take care of a tough problem and the friend said, "Don't worry about it - I will take care of it."   It is the assurance of 1 Peter 5:7,  "Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you."

Why is it we are asked to pray and petition God in all things?  Does God not know our trials and difficulties?  Of course God knows, our prayer and petition is not to inform God of our difficulties, but to  

It is important to say that this is not an instant plan for anxiety reduction, but a program we will need to build into our lives.  The more we have allowed anxiety and worry to become a part of our personality, the more we will have to "work" the plan Paul outlines.

The Promise

There is a wonderful promise connected with the plan - namely - when a worry or anxiety comes, instead of worrying we pray with an attitude of gratitude for God's intervention in our situation and then:

"...the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Specifically this translates to:

Peace:  The result of knowing that God has promised to be in charge of the situation.

Transcends all understanding:  Means that this peace is beyond human comprehension.  It is not based on human rationality and indeed goes counter to human reasoning.  The problem may seem insurmountable to the human mind but, "with God nothing shall be impossible!"

Guard your hearts and minds:  This is an interesting word study.  The word for "guard" means to guard before hand or to stand outside the door and kept he intruders out.  The peace of God stands before your emotional and intellectual worry habit.

***

Here's the key.  Mark it down well:

The effectiveness of God's anxiety reduction program and the degree of spiritual peace you will discover is directly related to the degree you work the plan.

***

There you have it. God's anxiety reduction program.  A wonderful gift for this Advent season and this Sunday when we explore the joy of God's salvation.

Connections in the Texts

The central theme of this third Sunday in advent is the joy of knowing that, "The Lord is near."  The epistle affirms this in so many words, but the Old Testament canticle from Isaiah promises that, "With joy you shall draw from the waters of salvation."  The lesson from Zephaniah has the people and the Lord rejoicing in each other.  Israel is to, "Sing aloud... rejoice and exult..." because the Lord has taken away the judgment against Israel.  Meanwhile, God, "...will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing."

The bottom line of these texts is that finally there is joy in God's salvation. In the gospel lesson, John the Baptist continues his stern warning about the necessity of repentance - yet, his proclamation is "good news" as Luke says, "...with many other exhortations he proclaimed the good news to the people."

Many churches use a rose candle for this third Sunday of Advent, which represents a bit of relief from the more somber tone of the introspection and penitence of Advent.  See Gaudete for an article on this third Sunday in Advent from the Catholic Encyclopedia. 

Zephaniah 3:14-20

It was Tielhard de Chardin who wrote, "Joy is the surest sign of the presence of God." The concluding section of Zephaniah focuses on the joy of fulfillment when God's divine purposes are brought to completion. Judgment will have been completed, the people of God will be gathered and the presence of God in the midst of the people will bring about a festival of joy and rejoicing.

This is the message of the incarnation.  The presence of God with us in the Child of Bethlehem is the assurance that God is in our midst and that salvation has begun its completion.  Nothing can thwart the purposes of God and the season of Advent which welcomes the Christ Child is the precursor of God's final victory. One of the most wonderful descriptions in the bible of God's love for us is contained in Zephaniah 3:17, " ...he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing..."  It would be a good reminder for people that God does not delight in judgment, but rather longs for the return of all people to the love of the Lord.  Indeed, God rejoices and is made glad when we are fully trusting in the divine grace and mercy.

Luke 3:7-18

John would not be understood in our time.  Church growth experts would be befuddled. Crowds of people come to her him and to respond to his message and he calls them a, "...brood of vipers!"

Why would people put up with this kind of preaching?  First of all, John was right on the mark. He identified the hypocrisy in people's lives and uncovered their problematic motives.  They trusted in their religious heritage and pedigree rather than in their honest to goodness inner motives.  There was a need for repentance and the good news of all this was that God would give forgiveness to those who truly turned away from their former lives of rebellion against God and intended to turn their hearts toward the Lord.

John's message was plain and direct.  God was about to judge right and wrong and there were consequences for the wrong.  Yet - there was opportunity for repentance - an opportunity to, "Bear fruits worthy of repentance."  This is one of the earliest examples of, "Actions speak louder than words!"  It is not our words, but our walk that God wants.

There is a strong message in the three times people said to John, "What should we do?"  Luke says the crowds who heard John said, "What then should we do?"  Then it was the tax collectors who asked, "Teacher, what should we do?"  Even roman soldiers asked, "And we, what should we do?"  The sincerity of the heart is measure by the willingness of the person to actually make changes in their living that gives evidence of a truly changed life.

Philippians 1:3-11

The epistle reading is the text for our full text sermon. The letter is addressed to what may have been the Apostle Paul's favorite congregation.  This does not imply that any one congregation was more important than another or that God had more interest in one more than another.  Yet, this is a group of Christian folk that seems to have brought joy to Paul's heart in a way that did not happen all that often. This is such an appropriate lesson for this Sunday because the epistle is more than any other o Paul's - the epistle of joy, "I thank my God every time I remember you, 4 constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you." [1:3]

The key message for the day is in verse 5:  "The Lord is near!"

 Worship Helps

A Call To Worship  (Based on Isaiah 12:2-6)

L:  The Lord is our song, our strength and our salvation.
P: With joy we celebrate the salvation of God.
L:  Let us offer our praised and worship to the Lord,
P: For the glory of God has come to the earth.
L:  Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised,
P: For the Holy One of Israel has come to us in Christ!

A Prayer of Confession

God of compassion and mercy, look with favor upon your people as we confess our sins.  Our faith is weak in the face of crisis.  Our hope gives way when we are threatened or maligned. We have so often misplaced our trust and have given ourselves to things that can not deliver us.  Forgive us our failures and look with grace upon our confession that we might know the joy of your salvation.  Amen.

Assurance of Pardon

The promise of God is that we will never be forgotten nor forsaken.  As we turn away from the sin that separates us from God, we are forgiven and refreshed in the newness of life.  Believe the good news that in Christ you are forgiven.  Amen.

A Prayer of Thanksgiving

O Lord God, our only hope and strength, we give thanks that of your great goodness and mercy you send your only begotten son to become incarnate and to redeem us from sin and everlasting death.  We pray that during these days of Advent, you may enlighten our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit that we might give true thanks for  the wondrous gift of you love.  May this joyful good news become the comfort we need in times of trouble and temptation, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Prayer of Dedication