I love pink. Maybe that's why the third Sunday of Advent is my favorite liturgical day of the year, with its traditional pink candle among the purple or blue on the other three Sundays.

 

More vitally, focus of this Sunday (and the week that follows) is joy-who doesn't like joy? At MCCDC we like it so much that the word appears in very large letters at the front of the church. I like to sit on that side of the church so I can easily see the joy being boldly announced.

 

Joy is at the heart of my faith. And that certainly is true of this season and Christmas to come (and Easter and Pentecost as well).

 

The carols and hymns and other music, the candles and poinsettias and manger scenes, all touch me deeply, animating joy deep within. Of course, I am often troubled by the rushing, and the stores and insipid muzak in them, as well as the sense that the season is all about giving and receiving gifts.

 

But of course, there are gifts, the ones God hands out every day, including but not limited to the birth of Jesus and testimony of the shepherds (and the cows and sheep in the barn, too), as well as the Wise Men from the East, and of course the heavenly host.

 

Advent reminds me of God's extravagance, the never-ending flow of divine treasure bestowed on us, in us, through us. The birth of Jesus reminds me that it is God who gives life to all-human and non-human creatures, trees and bushes and mountains and deserts and streams and rivers and stars and planets. The announcements to Elizabeth and Mary of the children they will bear and deliver reminds me that God is always just over my left shoulder, jumping up and down and waving to get my attention. I can't get pregnant, but God gives me plenty of opportunities to give birth to divine goodness. The faithfulness of the shepherds reminds me that no matter my life circumstances, no matter my status, God keeps on giving.

 

Rev. Dwayne asked us recently to look for glory in unexpected places. That has been on my heart and mind ever since; it is helpful to be on the lookout all the time. When I am, I see more than when I am not, even though there is no way I, a mortal being, I can begin to see all God's gifts, God's glory.

 

But in this season, I feel great joy (and see lots of pink)!