Joy Amid Sorrow

[A reflection on the readings for the Third Sunday in Advent (Gaudete), December 14, 2025. The readings may be found here at the Episcopal Church's lectionary page.]

As I sat down to preview the Scriptures appointed for Mass today, I opened an email from one of my brothers in the Order who hails from Australia. For those thinking gun violence is purely an American phenomenon, I should remind you that they have become increasingly available elsewhere, both legally and illegally. In Bondi Beach, New South Wales, Australia, two gunmen opened fire into a crowd celebrating the beginning of Hanukkah. Well and truly do we pray today for God to come among us, "because we are sorely hindered by our sins." (The Book of Common Prayer, Collect for the Third Sunday of Advent).

Contrasting this, the Introit for Mass begins with the word, "Rejoice." With news like this around us, perhaps even directly affecting us, how can we even begin to rejoice? We read in Isaiah this morning that all the created order shall rejoice, rough places even out, deserts turn to lush landscapes, for God shall come to save us. St. James, in his general letter to Christians everywhere, tells us to be patient, because God is waiting for everything to be ready, and that we really do not have a good read on the time to know exactly when that is, but that God does and that He will deliver us in time.

John the Baptist foretold that the time was upon us, that the Deliverer was coming soon, but as he languished in prison for his message, he began to wonder since all was going dark around him, and "The Day of the Lord" had yet to manifest. Our Lord sent him a message of encouragement: the Good News of God's deliverance was still out there, healing and release were being given, and even the dead were being restored to their loved ones. In other words, the Kingdom is showing itself on its own timeline; be patient.

So with each new atrocity, each new sorrow, each new discouragement, we do have reason to rejoice. The world around us may seem bleak, but the Good News is still being proclaimed. Evil acts abound, but around us, people still engage in acts of mercy, either responding explicitly or implicitly to the Gospel. So it will be until the harvest is ready, until everything God wants to happen occurs in the face of all that is manifestly against His will. Let us rejoice, because God has given us the means of our deliverance from evil, the means of our vindication at the end, and the promise of the life to come.

Rejoice in the Lord, always; and again, I say, rejoice. (Phil. 4.4; Introit of the Mass of the Third Sunday in Advent (Gaudete))