Sunday 3: The Third Sunday of Advent
The third Sunday of Advent draws our attention to joy. The first, second, and fourth candles in the advent wreath are purple, but the third candle is pink. [Or as a fan of the musical Mean Girls might say, on the third Sunday of Advent we wear pink.] Joy looks different.
Where do we find joy?
Yesterday I found joy pushed to the back of the seasoning aisle at my local grocery store. I had allowed myself a lazy day: I wasn't going to shower or get dressed. Instead, I had a full day planned of watching tv, taking a nap, and baking cookies for today's cookie exchange at church. As I began to collect my supplies for the cookies my husband requested, Minterdoodles, I was saddened to discover we had no peppermint extract. So I got dressed (that brought me no joy) and went to the grocery store (that brought me no joy), but as I approached the baking section I realized my mistake. Everyone one wants peppermint baked goods right now. There was none. I knew the store at which I was shopping was the largest in the area, so if it wasn't here it probably wasn't at any store. I tried to checked another store that was around the corner, but they didn't even carry peppermint extract. My husband would be disappointed, and the cookie exchange would be ruined. Ok, not really, but that's how it felt in that moment.
As I desperately tried to come up with another option, a thought came to mind. It seemed unlikely and I could not see it working, but what if there was a box pushed to the back of the shelf? I stepped closer to the shelf and put my hand to the back. A bottle! I pulled it out to see that I had grabbed... cajun seasoning. Not even close. I tried again. I reached to the back and this time I felt a box that was the right size. I pulled it out... vanilla extract. A third time I reached to the back of the shelf, moving my hand left then right, and then left again until once more I felt something. I brought my hand forward and saw the black and green box that I immediately recognized. It was peppermint extract. Almost instinctively, I shouted, "Hallelujah." A man standing a few feet away looked at me with a bewildered smile. I told him it was a miracle.
In church today, our Old Testament reading came from the book of Zephaniah, and a certain phrase caught my attention:
On that day they will say to Jerusalem, “Do not fear, Zion; do not let your hands hang limp. The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:16-17, NIV, emphasis mine).
The word that is translated here as "hang limp" means to abandon, relax, or withdraw. God was telling His people to not be afraid and to not give up. For me, not giving up yesterday meant nearly climbing the grocery store shelves until I found what was I missing. Not giving up today looked like something else. And tomorrow, not giving up will look like something entirely different.
The book of Zephaniah promises that God will be with you. He will save you. And He will delight in you. I must admit that when I think about joy, I typically think about what brings me joy. I do not often enough think about what brings God joy. Yet this passage speaks twice to what delights the Lord.
When your battle is won, God will take great delight in you.
When God no longer rebukes you, He will rejoice over you with singing.
So, where do we find our joy? In God. Where does God find His joy? In us.
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