Happy \u201cBrood of Vipers\u201d Sunday!\u00a0 Every year on the Third Sunday of Advent we hear John the Baptist call us a \u201cbrood of vipers fleeing the wrath to come. (Matthew 3: 7 \u2013 12; Mark 1: 2 \u2013 8; Luke 3: 7 \u2013 9).\u00a0 Only Luke adds the admonitions to groups that were considered outsiders from the Jewish community of the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is in sharp contrast to the liturgical emphasis for today.\u00a0 Today is \u201cGaudete\u201d Sunday, or \u201cRose\u201d Sunday \u2013 many congregations in the Anglo-Catholic traditions will wear Rose (not pink) vestments.\u00a0 The term \u201cGaudete\u201d comes from the Introit of the Latin Mass meaning \u201cRejoice, O daughters of Jerusalem.\u201d\u00a0 It signals a lightening of our Advent disciplines in order to focus on St. Paul\u2019s instruction for us to rejoice always.\u00a0 At the same time, we pray for our Lord to come among us and stir up in us the fire of His love.\u00a0 We light the Rose-colored candle to give further emphasis on today\u2019s importance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are called to live a life grounded in joy.\u00a0 This is not a giddy feeling that comes when something extraordinarily good happens.\u00a0 Rather, it is a deep abiding presence that sustains us no matter what happens \u2013 good, bad, or in the midst of a brood of vipers.\u00a0 This joy is ours as a gift given to us in our baptism and is one of the signs of being marked and sealed as Christ\u2019s own forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The church in Philippi was a source of joy for Paul, of all the congregations he started they were the ones who got it right.\u00a0 So here he is in a dark, dank Roman jail filled with joy when he remembers the Philippian people and their faithfulness to the Gospel of our Lord.\u00a0 What does Paul do, he encourages them to remain joyful and to allow their joy to permeate every part of their lives.\u00a0 In this life of rejoicing, Paul adds another gift to the mix \u2013 God\u2019s peace which passes our understanding.\u00a0 A peace that will guard our hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God in and through Jesus the Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This enables us to trust and not be afraid, even in the midst of this we cannot understand.\u00a0 So, too, we on this Third Sunday of Advent are called to sing for joy, to celebrate the ways in which God has delivered us, is delivering us now, and will deliver in the future, until there is true peace, shalom, wholeness on earth and goodwill throughout the entire creation.\u00a0 Isaiah reminds us that we shall draw water from the springs of salvation (healing).\u00a0 If the Lord of love is ruling how can we not sing for joy.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rejoice! Happy \u201cBrood of Vipers\u201d Sunday!\u00a0 Every year on the Third Sunday of Advent we hear John the Baptist call us a \u201cbrood of vipers fleeing the wrath to come. (Matthew 3: 7 \u2013 12; Mark 1: 2 \u2013 8; Luke 3: 7 \u2013 9).\u00a0 Only Luke adds the admonitions to groups that were considered […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediatormicanopy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediatormicanopy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediatormicanopy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediatormicanopy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediatormicanopy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mediatormicanopy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":633,"href":"https:\/\/mediatormicanopy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632\/revisions\/633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediatormicanopy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediatormicanopy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediatormicanopy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}