Sermon - Joy in the present moment

John the Baptist by William Wolff

A sermon preached at St Stephen Walbrook at the Sung Eucharist on Thursday 16th December 2021 (Advent 3, Year C) based on readings from Philippians 4.4-7 and Luke 3.7-18. A version of this sermon was also preached at St George’s Bloomsbury on Sunday 12th December 2021. A recording of the sermon is available at this link.

Summary

Gaudete Sunday is a time when we are reminded to rejoice. But isn’t that what we expect at this time of year? So often we are in a rush to jump to the reward at the end without opening ourselves to the risks it takes to get there. In times of uncertainty and confusion perhaps it’s understandable to leap-frog over the dark times to focus on the light? This week in our Gospel Reading, we are reminded that the path to following the way of Christ is laid by John the Baptist, who gives us a wake up call. Discipleship is not about letting events take their course while we anticipate our promised reward, no matter how devoted and faithful we think we are. Following The Way involves making choices - judgements - that shape our own lives and those around us; and in doing so, glimpsing the joy that is found in the mystery of a God who came among us in the person of Christ, connecting the world we see to the heavenly joy of the world to come.

Sermon

For the past twenty years I’ve worked in the wilderness that is the City Fringe - where the pin-stripes of the Square Mile dissolve into the hipster-ville of Hoxton. A place where these days, one seems to be surrounded by men who look like John the Baptist, with huge straggly beards and hairy and sometimes rather smelly trench coats. There are even shops selling insects as a sustainable source of protein for lunch! Personally speaking it’s not a diet - or a look - that has ever really appealed - but perhaps I’m just jealous! I can’t seem to grow a full beard - although much to everyone’s great amusement I did once try. 

 

St Luke’s portrait of the Baptist appears more comfortable than others - no mention of camel hair shirts here -  or locust eating for that matter - but John’s message is no less demanding. The herald of the coming Messiah explains how to prepare for his arrival by taking a good look at how we are living in the present and points us towards the straight and narrow.

 

It’s a reading we hear at this time of year because during Advent we are particularly encouraged to do the same. But in the busyness of the season it’s very tempting to focus on the imminent celebration of the first coming of Christ, whilst overlooking both the present moment and his coming again. In doing so, we conveniently avoid confronting the uncomfortable matter of judgement! 

 

By the Third Week of Advent we seem to have got away with it, as the focus moves to joy - something we rather expect to find in abundance at this time of year. Last Sunday was known as Gaudete Sunday - the name taken from the Latin word for rejoice; the mass would traditionally open with a chant based on words from Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi, which some believe was composed whilst he was in the less-than-joyous surroundings of prison, facing the prospect of death: 

 

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 

 

Traditionally Gaudete Sunday would be a time when strict fasting was relaxed, when more colour and decoration was brought into church. But, like Luke’s portrait of John the Baptist, while the third week in Advent seems more comfortable both in appearance and diet - it’s message is no less challenging. 

 

St Paul appeals to his readers to rejoice not just in hopes for the future, nor just by looking back fondly on events past; but rejoice always, which must include the present - no matter how dark and uncertain things may seem.

 

When Paul wrote the letter nearly two thousand years ago, life wasn’t exactly a bunch of roses - the present must have seemed just as dark and uncertain as it does today. “Do not worry about anything” he counsels, because “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard [y]our hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

 

With money and resources, it doesn’t seem that difficult to engineer moments of fleeting happiness. But finding even small glimpses of lasting joy in the present can seem like an insurmountable challenge. We may find ourselves tethered to the past by uncomfortable memories; or we may be caught up with anxiety about what the future might hold - either way, unable or unwilling to rejoice in the present - or only able to do so for appearances sake, without sincerity. 

As part of my training for ministry I’ve been shadowing a Chaplain at a busy London hospital; sometimes speaking - but more often listening to people for whom the present has been rudely interrupted by accident or illness and who are often, like St Paul, facing the prospect of being close to death.

 

It’s been a humbling experience to witness that even in such circumstances, it is possible to learn how to rejoice in the here and now.

 

A discovery that is made through a process of judgement; as people look at their lives and begin to see the difference between lasting joy and fleeting happiness. 

 

Whilst everyone is different, the value of loving relationships, of compassion and care for others and the importance of truth and reconciliation seem to regularly make the list. Whilst the significance attached to material possessions and status - the fuel of so much of our fleeting happiness - seems to melt away.

 

The conversations, the liturgy and prayers spoken during this time of discernment - of judgement - echo the cries of John the Baptist - helping us to remember that we are children of a merciful God, who forgives those who repent and whose Son has revealed the path to eternal joy. 

 

Held by the Spirit in the knowledge of that inexhaustible love, somewhere in this wilderness moment it is possible to find the peace that surpasses all human understanding - to encounter God who is with us always. 


The crowds who followed John the Baptist out into the wilderness to be baptised thought they had found a short-cut to lasting joy.

 

In blunt terms John tells this “brood of vipers” that they’re not on a fast-track to future glory because of the promises made to their ancestor Abraham in the past; they need to “bear fruits worthy of repentance” in the present; not doing so leads to the path self-destruction rather than self-discovery. 

 

Strong words, but a message we still need to hear today. 

 

I met a friend recently who held a responsible position with a large bank and faced the consequences of the financial crash at first hand. Looking back, he said that a John the Baptist would have been very useful – an outlier – a voice from the wilderness - challenging the group-think of City culture of the time; to reconsider the choices being made in the present, rather than letting events take their course motivated by the promise of even greater riches. 

 

Perhaps such voices were speaking, but nobody listened? 

 

 

The crowd however did listen - taking to heart the Baptist’s admonition for basking in the glory of the past and resting in the promise of future joy, whilst conveniently avoiding the uncomfortable matter of examining how they were conducting their lives in the present. 

 

“What then should we do?” 

 

The same question is posed three times by three different groups of people and in each case John roots his answer firmly in the here and now, in the nuts and bolts of their daily routine. 

 

 

John points them to a different way of using their status, money and possessions - not to buy moments of fleeting happiness - but investing in the loving, compassionate and just relationships with others through which and in which we discover the joy of God with us, connecting the broken world we see to the heavenly joy of the world to come by modelling our lives according to the person of Christ. 

 

Today, the scriptures invite us to rejoice in the here and now. Not dashing our hopes of eternal peace in the heavenly kingdom, nor offering a short-cut to it through the difficulties of this age; but preparing us to find joy in living amongst the questions that lead us there. 

 

Questions which call for difficult judgements about how we live our lives in the present. Choices that lead to a different path, along which we will almost certainly stumble - but one which we take in the knowledge that we will be steadied by the love of Christ who came among us, is with us now and will return again. 

 

A mystery revealed to us in the sacrament which we are about to share. 

 

What then, should we do? 

 

Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice.

 

Amen.

Image : John the Baptist 1 by William Wolff