Chapter I: Advent – The Candle of Joy

The Magnificat

My soul magnifies the Lord.
My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior
For he has looked at the humble state of his servant.
For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed.
For he who is mighty has done great things for me.
Holy is his name.
His mercy is for generations of generations on those who fear him.
He has shown strength with his arm.
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down princes from their thrones.
And has exalted the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things.
He has sent the rich away empty.
He has given help to Israel, his servant, that he might remember mercy,
As he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and his offspring forever.

                                                -Luke 1:46-55 (WEB)

I'm posting this a few days late because the past few days have been filled with whirlwind travel. As I'm finally settling in for 10 days with family for Christmas, I'm getting a moment to write about my reflection on last Sunday's Advent Candle.

The church I attended Sunday did not have an Advent Wreath, but I thought their service was still very appropriate for the day. The main 'Advent' event was the song O Come, O Come Emmanuel. The sermon was on Hebrews, and the pastor pointed out how much of the Old Testament role of Priest Christ fulfills. The thing is, this role is still being completed by Our Lord.

The themes of Advent are waiting, anticipation, yearning. Some may ask how Joy fits into this Season of Waiting. Indeed, on the traditional Advent Wreath, the Candle for this day stands out from the other three. While the Candles for Hope, Peace, and Love are traditionally purple (or blue, depending on one's tradition) standing for repentance, the Candle for Joy is pink, pointing out that it has shifted from the seriousness of the Season to a bit more, well, the only word is Joy.

Indeed, last Sunday is also called Gaudete Sunday. 'Gaudete' is the Latin word for 'Rejoice'. On this Sunday, those observing the traditional Advent Fast may take a celebratory holiday from their fast. It is the contrast day. Each of the Seasons contains within it a day that contrasts, and through contrasting, highlights the primary Themes.

But what does 'Joy' even mean? I still remember a Sunday School teacher at a church I attended in college insisting that Joy means 'Happiness', and that Christians should always be walking around with a smile on their face (I didn't stay much longer at the church, but that was for other reasons). There are significant problems with this theory. Yes, there is a correlation between Joy and Happiness, but Happiness, as an emotion, is not something that can be commanded. Joy is deeper than mere H, and I think that, while it is generally correlated, is may exist without Happiness. The Prophet Jeremiah and many other throughout Scripture were not exactly 'happy' in the sense we understand it to be, but his work displays great Joy.

I love C.S. Lewis' description of 'Joy':

I call it Joy. 'Animal-Land' was not imaginative. But certain other experiences were... The first is itself the memory of a memory. As I stood beside a flowering currant bush on a summer day there suddenly arose in me without warning, and as if from a depth not of years but of centuries, the memory of that earlier morning at the Old House when my brother had brought his toy garden into the nursery. It is difficult or find words strong enough for the sensation which came over me; Milton's 'enormous bliss' of Eden (giving the full, ancient meaning to 'enormous') comes somewhere near it. It was a sensation, of course, of desire; but desire for what?...Before I knew what I desired, the desire itself was gone, the whole glimpse... withdrawn, the world turned commonplace again, or only stirred by a longing for the longing that had just ceased... In a sense the central story of my life is about nothing else... The quality common to the three experiences... is that of an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction. I call it Joy, which is here a technical term and must be sharply distinguished both from Happiness and Pleasure. Joy (in my sense) has indeed one characteristic, and one only, in common with them; the fact that anyone who has experienced it will want it again... I doubt whether anyone who has tasted it would ever, if both were in his power, exchange it for all the pleasures in the world. But then Joy is never in our power and Pleasure often is. -C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy

For the Christian, and especially for the Old Testament Jew, Joy was very much connected with the idea of Desire. I love how Lewis distinguishes it from mere desire, which itself can be quite a miserable and sad affair, by pointing out that Joy is a Desire that is more pleasurable than any satiated desire on earth.

A soul that has glimpsed God, Father, Son, & Holy Spirit, as They are and desires final communion with Them, takes great Joy in this unsatisfied desire. We desire the fulfillment of all of God's promises.

So we have returned to the Theme of waiting. With that in mind, I wanted to share some of the Scriptures from the lectionary from last Sunday. Incidentally, I think these Scriptures do a much better job than I, or even Lewis, at trying to explain the connection between Joy and waiting.

The Old Testament Reading:

The wilderness and the dry land will be glad.
The desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose.
It will blossom abundantly,
    and rejoice even with joy and singing.
Lebanon’s glory will be given to it,
    the excellence of Carmel and Sharon.
They will see Yahweh’s glory,
    the excellence of our God.
Strengthen the weak hands,
    and make firm the feeble knees.
Tell those who have a fearful heart, “Be strong.
Don’t be afraid.
Behold, your God will come with vengeance, God’s retribution.
He will come and save you.
Then the eyes of the blind will be opened,
     and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.
Then the lame man will leap like a deer,
    and the tongue of the mute will sing;
    for waters will break out in the wilderness,
    and streams in the desert.
The burning sand will become a pool,
    and the thirsty ground springs of water.
Grass with reeds and rushes will be in the habitation of jackals, where they lay.
A highway will be there, a road,
     and it will be called The Holy Way.
The unclean shall not pass over it,
     but it will be for those who walk in the Way.
Wicked fools will not go there.
No lion will be there,
     nor will any ravenous animal go up on it.
They will not be found there;
     but the redeemed will walk there.
The Yahweh’s ransomed ones will return,
     and come with singing to Zion;
     and everlasting joy will be on their heads.
They will obtain gladness and joy,
     and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
-Isaiah 35:1-10 (WEB)

The Psalm:

Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help,
     whose hope is in Yahweh, his God:
     who made heaven and earth,
     the sea, and all that is in them;
     who keeps truth forever;
     who executes justice for the oppressed;
     who gives food to the hungry.
Yahweh frees the prisoners.
Yahweh opens the eyes of the blind.
Yahweh raises up those who are bowed down.
Yahweh loves the righteous.
Yahweh preserves the foreigners.
He upholds the fatherless and widow,
     but the way of the wicked he turns upside down.
Yahweh will reign forever;
     your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise Yah!
-Psalm 146:5-10

The Epistle

Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receives the early and late rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Don’t grumble, brothers, against one another, so that you won’t be judged. Behold, the judge stands at the door. Take, brothers, for an example of suffering and of patience, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. -James 5:7-10 (WEB)

And the Gospel Reading is perhaps the greatest example of sheer Joy unadulterated by happiness:

Now when John heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to him, “Are you he who comes, or should we look for another?”
Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. Blessed is he who finds no occasion for stumbling in me.”
As these went their way, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go out to see? A man in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in king’s houses. But why did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet. For this is he, of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’ Most certainly I tell you, among those who are born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptizer; yet he who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he. -Matthew 11:2-11 (WEB)