Happy Joyous 3rd Sunday of Advent! I am honored to be with you all this glorious day. I know most of you, but some might be new faces. My name is Christina Rose Cernansky. I am in my second year of seminary and halfway through being a postulant candidate for Holy Orders to Priesthood in the Diocese of Idaho. I attend an online school, Bexley-Seabury, based in Chicago. I hail from the East Coast, grew up Lutheran and Catholic, and have been a devoted Episicaplian since moving to Idaho over 9 years ago! I am with you all until I graduate in about a year & a half, and I am truly blessed to be with you all as I continue to be shaped & formed in this process.
In today’s readings, we hear a theme… Let Joy ring forth as we invite the Holy Spirit to share its love and light in our hearts and minds. As we get closer and closer to the darkest night of the year, we gather during the Advent season to be reminded of how to find joy by living in the moment and to reflect on how to come closer to God and repent. We collectively look to honor the past year and learn how to find joy as we prepare in the community for Christ’s birth.
There is a common narrative for all this joy in today’s texts: the absence of fear. In that, Joy results from the removal of fear in our lives. When we don’t live in fear, we tend to live a joyful existence. Can you think of a time when you lived in fear? Possibly fear of financial insecurity, fear of being late, fear of well….that unknown? Can you think of a time when we were so worried about an unknown outcome….how joyful was that experience?
When we live in God’s grace & love and turn our lives over to the care of God, we find comfort in knowing we are living in God’s will. Granted, this is easier said than done, right? When try to rid our lives of ffear, we can find comfort in the sunlight of the spirit’s love rather than the fear of the unknown.
Fear is lifted up in Luke’s Gospel today in the word “repent.” Now, I did some digging here. The word is a verb & an adjective, an action word.
John the Baptist taught about repentance and reformation of life. He lays it on pretty thick: You brood of vipers, you hypocrites consuming too much, extorting, lying, cheating and stealing, and taking advantage of others.
John the Baptist continues to say: “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you. “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”
Repentance, what an interesting word. I thought to repent … was to openly share that we are sorry about something and honor that act with a public announcement. I repent, for I ran that red light. I repent for not giving food to my brother on the corner. I repent for not having patience with my family over Thanksgiving….
Lo and behold, there are two parts to repentance.
I looked up the word “repent” in Greek and ran across Fr. Richard Rhor’s writing on the word. Do we have any Rochard Rhod fans in the house? I wanted to share his thoughts in repentance with you this morning: “First, it doesn’t mean to beat ourselves up or feel bad about ourselves. “Repent” (or metanoia in Greek) means turning around and changing. People unwilling to change are reluctant to turn away from themselves. (Meaning they’re unwilling to do the work, look within & change.)
He goes on to say, “What we’re in love with usually is not God. (maybe hes referring to the fake idols that separate us from the sunlight of the spirit that is so often talked about in the Bible.)
We’re in love with our way of thinking, our way of explaining, our way of doing. One of the greatest ways to protect ourselves from God and from truth and grace is simply to buy into some kind of cheap conventionalism and call it tradition.” I think Fr. Richard Rhor has made an interesting point.
What if, in Luke’s Gospel, sharing John the Baptist’s words tells us that to find true unbridled joy, we are being shown the roadmap to be willing to change habits that don’t serve us well that create distance between ourselves & our neighbors). This roadmap to “metanoia” isn’t necessarily too complicated. I reflected on habits that might be serving me too well, that block me from God’s presence.
If I can stop that endless scrolling on social media, I might be able to get in touch with my community. But I digress!
What about my stuck-in-the-mud attitude that might need to be relaxed? Thou shall not judge, right? Maybe I can have more open-minded viewpoints, I hear having a growth mindset is beneficial. Perhaps I can further understand where our brothers & sisters are coming from. Perhaps I can slow down to listen more, to be more present, I bet the grocery clerk would appreciate some words of kindness.
To repent is to find happiness & peace in your soul and feel empowered to change to be better disciples of Christ’s message.
In my first semester of seminary, I took a deep dive into thinking of what Jesus was asking of his disciples…rather, wthan hat it means to be a disciple. How does he ask us to show up using this roadmap? Jesus invited a handful of people to join him, to learn & grow within their community with one another. This motley crew of disciples probably wouldn’t have spent that much time together otherwise, but that was Jesus’ intent. To learn, grow, and teach one another….only then, after all this shaping & forming, did he ask them to go out and spread the good word.
I want to be willing to learn and grow from this community to help support God’s will for all of God’s children. I want to be empowered and feel empowered to help support a beloved community and, if need be, be willing to repent, to be willing to change, to lean into God’s will, lean into Christ’s love, to be happy, joyous and free with my time here walking this beautiful journey we call life.
Our Baptismal Covenant encourages us to “Repent and return to the Lord.” It is a roadmap of change, too. Our baptism is both individual and communal. Might the “metanoia” (repent) also be a baptismal for a happy, joyous & free life? Let us also remember we commit to the baptismal covenant by asking for God’s help.
I’ll leave you with this last thought…On this third Sunday of Advent, let’s sing for JOY, repent, and be glad in it to live out God’s Kingdom of love, compassion, and understanding. How might we want to repent to live free of the chains that hold us back from the sunlight of the spirit? How can we lean into God’s graces and drop those habits that might not serve us well? How can we continue to show unconditional love in our communities….with, of course, humbly asking for God’s help to God’s love?
Christina Cernansky