1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil.

May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.

Today is a special Sunday in the season of Advent known as Gaudate Sunday -- gaudate, from the Latin word for “rejoice.” In other words today is “Rejoice Sunday” -- a day to be filled with joy. And so we have scripture including the final part of Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians in which he writes, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

So, go ahead, be joyful. Show that you’re joyful. No one else can see you, so go ahead and do a fist-bump with a family member, raise the roof, hoot and holler, do the wave...go on, I’ll wait.

It wasn’t so long ago that we were together worshipping in the sanctuary, so I can imagine how that would have gone if we were in-person today. I think a good number of you would have played along. It’s not entirely out of the question that we could have gotten a wave going in the sanctuary!

But things just feel different this year. Joy isn’t the first emotion that has been saturating my heart or expressed in my behavior. Gaudate Sunday or not, I don’t think it feels like a day to rejoice. I know I’m not alone. I’ve listened to you share of your pain and frustration over these last few months. I know you’re mourning loved ones, missing the way things used to be, and anxious about the future. I feel that way too, and I know I’m not the only pastor who feels this way. Pastor Mark and I serve as leaders for Indianapolis-area pastors. We gathered online for our monthly meeting this week and noticed a heaviness as pastors shared their pain, frustration, and exhaustion. And we know we’re not the only profession who is struggling...not even close! I don’t know if we want to get into ranking what professions have it worse these days, but healthcare workers and teachers are definitely towards the top of that list.

So, where is joy in our world today? Where is joy when a loved one is struggling or has died? Where is joy when the world seems dangerous? Where is joy when your work is unfulfilling, or you can’t find work at all? Where is joy when the financial, emotional, and physical demands of life seem to be more oppressive than ever? Where is joy in the midst of a global pandemic?

In order to answer that we need to understand what we’re talking about when we’re talking about joy.

Joy is not necessarily a huge smile or a loud cheer. Those are expressions of happiness. We tend to conflate joy with happiness. Despite happiness having primacy in the United States’ Declaration of Independence (as in, “the pursuit of…”), happiness is a very small, limited, and conditional emotion. It’s only possible to be happy if you are not sad.

Joy, on the other hand, can exist along the whole spectrum of the human experience. It’s possible to experience joy when you are happy and to experience joy when you are sad. It’s possible to experience joy when you are struggling and to experience joy when everything seems to be going your way. It’s possible to experience joy in the midst of a global pandemic.

It’s possible to experience joy in all these experiences because in all these experiences, God’s promise of grace and love is being constantly declared to you. Wherever you find yourself on the spectrum of human emotion, n Christ God has been at work reconciling the world to himself, not counting your sins against you (2 Corinthians 5:19). The creator and redeemer of all that is, seen and unseen, is completely in love with you.

True joy is not dependent on the circumstances of your life; instead, it bubbles forth out of a much deeper and dependable well. Think of a time that you participated in a mission trip, or spoke with someone who returned from a mission trip -- such as our trips to Fondwa, Haiti. You likely noticed this refrain, “Despite having very little, they were filled with joy.” That’s because true joy is not dependent on the circumstances of your life. True joy, like grace, is a freely-given gift of God. It surrounds you at all times, like the air around you, and merely has to be breathed in.

Literally do that. Take a breath. Inhale and exhale. That you just did that is nothing short of a miracle. In the midst of all the complicated emotions that swirl around in our minds and hearts, we tend to forget the sheer improbability of the fact that we get to experience them at all -- that we are here at all. We’re alive. You did nothing to earn the gift of life. It wasn’t a reward for a job well done. We don’t need to dig too deeply into reproductive science to remember how the odds were stacked against every one of us from the very beginning. And here we are. Alive in a world full of beauty and possibilities, living our “one wild and precious life,” as the poet Mary Oliver famously called it.

It’s perfectly ok to feel sad, or lonely, or lament that life isn’t quite what we had been accustomed to. But joy can live alongside those real emotions. Joy because we can feel anything at all. Joy because God loves us and is working in us through it all.

There’s no path, equation, or action plan to cultivate joy; we simply have to breathe in and out and recognize the sheer gift that it is to be alive. Our call is to enjoy what we have while we have it -- be present to the present moment. Our call is to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances.

This difficult year is almost behind us. COVID-19 vaccines will be delivered and administered starting tomorrow. Heath workers are telling us even though things are going to get worse in the short-term, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Once this pandemic experience is behind us, I wonder if we will have learned the myriad of lessons it has held out for us, socially, medically, politically, and emotionally.

My hope is that we would emerge from this experience having learned and experienced that true joy is not dependent on our external circumstances, that God is not just with us but FOR us in every moment, that each breath is a gracious gift of God full of possibilities.

May it be so. Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.

Matthew 25:14-30

“For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’

Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

There is a common thread running through Jesus’ parables about the Kingdom of Heaven; we are called to pay attention to the presence and gracious activity of God in every minute and all the minutiae of our lives.

The parables of the leaven, the mustard seed, the lost coin, and so on...they all invite us to bring our attention to the presence and gracious activity of God in every minute and all the minutiae of our lives.

And last week’s Kingdom of Heaven parable about the 10 bridesmaids concluded with the admonition to “stay awake”–or, in other words, “pay attention!”

The parable of the talents begins right after the call to pay attention. This parable paints a picture of the blessing inherent in paying attention and having faith in God’s character and promises. It also presents an image of the dismay and disorder of failing to pay attention and consequently getting God’s character and promises wrong.

Jesus has already informed his disciples about his imminent death and resurrection, so there’s an obvious parallel to consider as Jesus tells a story about a master who is preparing to go away for a time and then return. In his absence, the master leaves talents with his workers. A talent is an incredibly-large sum of money–equal to 15-20 years of wages for labor. Not every worker receives the same amount of talents. One receives five talents, another receives two, and the other receives one. The test tells us the difference in amounts is related to their ability, though that’s still pretty ambiguous. What is clear, however, is that this is just how life works. In life, some receive more than others. The point of this parable is to illustrate what to do with what we receive.

The two who are entrusted with the most go and invest the talents in such a way that they double. This incredible increase hearkens back to Jesus’ insight from earlier in the gospel when he says, “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life” (Matthew 19:29). Jesus continually teaches and demonstrates that abundance is a foundational characteristic of the divine. Our Kingdom inheritance multiplies exponentially when we freely give the divine gifts of love and resources to others.

The two workers who received such incredibly valuable sums from their master had paid attention. They knew the master. They knew that he was joyful and generous. These workers were motivated by gratitude and love for their master. Their actions were rooted in a belief of the master’s promises and as a result were invited to share in the joy of the master.

The other worker, the one who received one talent, was not as confident about his master’s joy and generosity, likely because he had not been paying attention. This worker failed to pay attention to his master’s joy and generosity and drew inaccurate conclusions about his master. He took him to be a harsh man, reaping where he did not sow, and gathering where he did not scatter seed. In light of the allegorical understanding of the master as Christ, the worker’s insights are clearly shortsighted. After all, it is impossible for Christ to reap where he did not sow because every corner of creation and every seed that is sown belongs to God.

The parable’s conclusion is harsh and might be triggering for anyone who grew up thinking of God as punitive and angry; but try to hear its warning: there are real consequences for those who fail to pay attention and understand God’s character as good, loving, and generous. When we fail to notice these abundant attributes of God, we think they are scarce and are unwilling to share them with the world. If we do not share them with the world we will certainly not receive them double or a hundredfold in return. Instead we will end up in a darkness of our own making–a state of life in which there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

If we hide what God has given us, we are living out of a sense of fear and scarcity. God’s gifts of love and grace are not able to be minimized or stolen. They are only gifts if they are shared with the rest of the world. Love and grace only truly exist if they are given away. Share the good stuff with the world and watch it grow, expand, multiply, and return to you double or even a hundredfold!

Again, the call is to pay attention. Pay attention to the character of God. Meditate on God’s goodness day and night and watch as your eyes are opened to the presence of goodness all around you. Pay attention to people who are suffering or in need so that you can share God’s blessing with them. And watch as everything you give away multiplies and becomes more and more valuable.

I’ll conclude by offering a sneak peak of what is coming because it has to do with paying attention. Throughout the season of Advent I will invite you to a daily ancient prayer practice called The Examen. There’s an adage that if you do something for 30 consecutive days it becomes habitualized. I would like everyone in this church to spend 30 days developing the habit of pausing each day to pay attention to God’s presence and activity in your life. It simply involves looking back at your life experiences and underlying emotions from the past 24 hours. I will explain more later; but just know that it is a prayer of uncovering and savoring the presence and gracious activity of God in every minute and all the minutiae of our lives. As today’s parable makes clear, there is profound joy and blessing available to those who develop the ability to pay attention to the true character of our master.

Amen.