Nothing gets me in Christmas spirit like listening to A Charlie Brown Christmas by the legendary jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi. This timeless album was the soundtrack to the 1965 holiday classic of the same name, which was a staple in my house.
 
But did you know it was the Coca-Cola company who commissioned Charles Schulz to create this Christmas special around his famous comic strip, Peanuts?
 
This beloved story follows Charlie Brown, a kid who always waffles in that space between melancholy and hopeful optimism. In one of those in-between spaces, our hero admits he’s having trouble finding joy in the Christmas season. His friend Linus replies, “Charlie Brown, you’re the only person I know who can take a wonderful season like Christmas and turn it into a problem.”
 
Sometimes finding the Christmas spirit can be difficult. Sometimes it takes a good soundtrack to put you in the mood. Other times it takes a friend, or a community to do it. When Charlie Brown can’t shake that despondent feeling,
 
Lucy suggests he direct the neighborhood Christmas play to lift his spirits. And that’s when things go south for him. You see, the problem with that idea is no one ever listens to Charlie Brown muchless follows his direction.
 
When he buys a tiny, scrappy tree as the centerpiece of the play, everyone, including his beloved dog Snoopy, laughs and ridicules him. Poor Charlie Brown hits rock bottom, and Linus takes the spotlight to recites the Christmas story verbatim from the book of Isaiah.“For unto us a child is born…unto a son is given…”
 
Hearing God’s word transforms the group, who rally together and decorate the tree as a gift to their beleaguered director. By a simple act of kindness, our hopeless hero rediscovers his joy. The closer we get to Christmas, the easier it is to feel like Charlie Brown. The stress and pressure to feel happy can overshadow whatever joy we manage to find. But as Linus reminded us, we have God’s Word to guide us through the hardest times. 

Here's what the Apostle Paul had to say in his letter to the church in Philippi:​

“Rejoice in the Lord always” and “Do not worry about anything.” Really?

Clearly, Paul never had to scramble for last minute gifts. Or pray for a miracle to reorder the postal service so they arrive on time! If this letter were written today, we’d write the Apostle off as being hopelessly naïve or overly optimistic.
 
Sure Paul never lost a child to a fentanyl overdose. And he never struggled to hold a job to keep from losing his home. But he knew the pain of true suffering.

Paul had taken his fair share of beatings for his faith. He had been thrown off a ship, whipped, mocked, and arrested more times than a common criminal. In fact, this letter was written in prison where Paul had no idea if he was going to live or die.
 
Despite all this, he still found a way to ‘rejoice.’ Paul knew that in Christ, God is reordering the human heart from the inside out. Which tells me that wherever there’s sorrow, there is God. Where God is, there is the light of hope and peace and joy shining brightly.
 
Notice I didn’t say happiness. We often get anxious this time of year because we equate joy with happiness. They are not the same thing.

​Happiness lives in the head. It comes and goes depending on your experience or mood. Joy is permanent. It lingers in our heart because it is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. And even though we always have the Spirit of joy within us, it doesn’t mean we’ll always be happy.
 
Corporations, like Coca-Cola, spend billions of dollars to get us to think otherwise. The line, “Have a Coke and a smile,” only proves my point that happiness is conditional. I’m smiling as long as I have a Coke. All that changes once the bottle is empty.

Pursuing happiness often proves to be a fruitless endeavor. Drugs, work, exercise, sex, material wealth, and even religion only offer temporary happiness at best.

But here’s the good news, “Joy does not depend on the ups and downs of the circumstances of our lives,” wrote Henri Nouwen. “Joy is based on the spiritual knowledge that, while the world in which we live is shrouded in darkness, God has overcome the world.”
 
Paul can rejoice, even in prison, because his joy isn’t tied to his circumstances. It’s rooted in God’s unconditional love for him. We can rejoice knowing that all the sorrow in the world could never take God’s love away from us.
 
That’s the lesson of another Christmas classic: How The Grinch Stole Christmas.

It’s about a tiny-hearted curmudgeon who lives in a cave above the land of Whoville. From his craggy hole, the Grinch looks down on the Whos joyfully celebrating the season.

​Wanting to put an end to their merriment, the Grinch sets out to steal their Christmas by sneaking into Whoville and taking all the presents and decorations.
 
In the morning, he’s shocked to hear, not crying and woes coming from the village below, but more singing and rejoicing being lifted up to heaven. The people of Whoville remind us that the joy of Christmas isn’t about material things. But a deep connection we have with our spiritual source. That Christ light within us.
 
True joy comes from a heart that has bee made and reordered by God’s love for us. A love that shines so brightly, the darkness could not over take it. Once the Grinch realized this, his heart was transform - growing three sizes larger.
 
If, for whatever reason, you’re feeling like Charlie Brown or the Grinch, struggling to find joy in your life, I hope that you can remember what Jesus says loud and clear, “In the world you will have troubles, but rejoice, I have overcome the world.”
 
Sorrow and sadness do not have the final word. God does. God’s light is greater than all the darkness. God’s truth is more powerful than all human deceit. God’s love is stronger than death. In Christ, God’s eternal joy is born. And given to the world without asking anything from us.
 
This is the greatest Christmas story ever told. The story of God breaking through the darkness in our lives with a light that restores, redeems, and transforms us from the inside out.

With the light of divine love, the very light of Christ given to us to guide our way, we can build a community of love in the space between what is and what will be.
 
And in that community, all can rejoice, and find peace and hope and love. So let us go out into Anamesa - joining our Christ lights together in all the ways we love God, love others, and serve both.

Let us shine so wildly and fiercely that all who look at us will be drawn to his joy an rejoice in his name, now and forever, Amen.
​

Now that thrill of waiting has been replaced with instant gratification. Amazon, Netflix and DoorDash thrive on giving us what we want, when we want it.

​Thankfully, there is no app to make Advent pass quicker. It’s God’s way of saying, slow down, be present, be ready. 

Eugene Peterson reminded us that, “Waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. The longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.”

This is the perfect segue to our reading today from Luke's Gospel and Mary's Song:

I remember the day I found out I was going to be a father—well, I remember it was daytime.  For the rest of the details, you should probably ask Kathleen. However, I remember the pregnancy: ten long months of nausea, aches, emotional swings, and constant irritability. Again, you should ask Kathleen what she experienced.
 
Despite my expertise in sympathetic pregnancy, I still have no idea what women endure to bring life into the world. But I can confidently say, peace is not a word that comes to mind.

There’s no peace when you’re nauseous every morning. Or when your body shifts and reshapes daily. There’s no peace when sleep eludes you because your hormones and body temperature are out of whack. And there’s definitely no peace when a tiny human kicks you like an MMA fighter.
 
Pregnancy can bring hope, love, and joy. But peace? 

Yet for some reason we get a very pregnant Mary on this particular Advent Sunday. Her pregnancy was anything but peaceful. She is a young child, living in poverty under the oppressive thumb of Rome. She is pregnant out of wedlock. And the cause of that pregnancy had nothing to do with the kid she was told to marry. 
 
Her story is a difficult one to make sense of. But if we look beyond the mystery of the incarnation, we find God’s perfect peace, growing and swelling, within this insignificant yet favored child.
 
In her is God’s shalom, the Hebrew word which is often translated as peace. But this is no ordinary, fleeting feeling, or wishful happiness. At its core, shalom means complete wholeness—perfection in every part of your being. It is an ideal state of fullness and joy that overflows from the inside out.

​Scripture equates one finding shalom through reconciliation with God, who makes peace with us through unconditional love. This is where Jesus comes in.
 
As Mary’s story reveals, he is our hope through whom this ultimate shalom--our salvation—is made possible. As we wait for the Christ child, we’re waiting for the one who brings us back to God to be completely restored – physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually.
 
Nowhere in scripture does it say Mary ask for any of this. God simply chose her—found favor in her—to be the one to carry and birth divine love into the world.

But you may have noticed Mary is not the only one God favored in this Advent story. Luke gives us two women – Mary and her cousin Elizabeth. One is too young to have babies. The other, too old. And in both cases, no man is necessary for God’s plan to unfold.
 
Protruding from their bellies is the good news. God is on the move. Hope is on the horizon. Their sons will usher in the Kingdom of God. A kingdom established on God’s perfect shalom.

We wait with these two pregnant women. Ourselves, pregnant with expectant hope. God is coming. Peace will be restored and reign forever more. Why are we surprised scripture breaks into song!
 
Mary sings not just because there’s new life in her. She sings because God is bringing new life to the world. We are invited to sing with her because her child will hear our cries. He will bear our infirmities. He will give us a new life. An abundant and everlasting life. 
 
In singing of God’s mercy and strength, Mary’s song becomes the anthem of hope for the poor and downtrodden. It is a hymn of joy for the marginalized. A ballad of God’s love to the broken hearted.

Mary’s song is the song of Christ, the Prince of Peace! It is a song of victory. And revolution. A song of inclusion, grace, and forgiveness that exalts the reign of God – inviting every mouth and every heart to rejoice.
 
So why then we are still waiting and hoping for peace to come? Has it not come already? If so, then why is there so much chaos in this world? Perhaps God is wondering the same question.
 
Here’s the thing. The incarnation was not a one time event. While Christmas comes once a year, Christ comes every day. Like Mary, we all find favor with God. And like her, we are all called to carry Christ into the world. So, why aren’t we singing God’s praises by bringing peace on earth and good will to all, in all that we do?
 
As we’ve been learning, it’s through the many ways we love and care for one another, that we give birth to God’s ultimate and perfected shalom.
 
You see, Mary’s blessing is our blessing. Her call is our call. Her baby is our baby. Her song is our song. But who among us will join in this holy choir?

Who here will carry the peace of Christ in their womb? Who will allow God to triumphantly break through the birth canal of their heart,and to turn the world upside down until true peace prevails?
 
As we build a community of love in the space between, God is moving and growing and wiggling and kicking within us wanting to come out. Why wait for December 25th when Christmas can come right now?
 
Just as a belly cannot keep a baby forever, we can’t keep the peace of Christ contained in us.  It is meant to be shared with the world.

And that’s a perfect segue to close with one of my favorite quotes by Meister Eckhart, who said “We are all called to be God’s mother, because God needs to be born every day.”
 
Just as God did the impossible in the wombs of these two unlikely women, God makes all things possible though us.

Let us rise together as one people, to build a community of love, a womb of life that bears the peace of Christ, into a world in desperate need for the complete fullness of God’s healing and wholeness.
 
Together, let us answer the call to be God’s mother. Singing and dancing and rejoicing like a teenager whom God has honored and blessed.
 

Adapted From Between Today and Tomorrow: Peace. (JesusNotJesus.org on December 19, 2021).

 
As the young prophet reminds the people: hope is always on the horizon. God is on the move. No matter what the world is doing today, God is always one step ahead of us, doing something greater for tomorrow.

That’s what Jeremiah’s message is all about. God’s promise and faithfulness. Because God is faithful, we can be hopeful.
 
By definition, hope is the expectation and desire for something to happen. Students hope they guessed right on a multiple choice question. A potential hire hopes their resume can stand out enough to land an interview. And who hasn’t written a Christmas wish list, hoping to get everything on it? Hope touches nearly every part of life.
 
While we never know when—or if—what we hope for will happen, one thing is certain: we will have to wait. Hope and waiting go hand in hand. We wait for the test to be graded. We wait for the company to call. And during Advent, we wait with hope in our hearts … for Christmas morning to come.
 
We need hope to carry us through hard times. Yet, we will have to wait through the uncertainty, the chaos, and suffering to find the hope, peace, joy and love that awaits.

In the midst of their sorrow and strife, Jeremiah brings a powerful promise to God’s people: something good is coming. A righteous branch will spring up from the tombs of their life…justice and mercy will bloom again.
 
God is on the move. Help is on the way. Whatever you’re facing—grief, pain, oppression, or despair— “The days are surely coming,” says the Lord, “when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.” (Jeremiah 33:14). A Savior is coming. But like a pregnant woman, we still have to wait. Be patient. A child is on the way.

 Advent gives us the time we need to assess our faith in the light of God’s faithfulness. If we believe in our hearts that God’s promises are true, then we can trust in the fulfillment of God’s greatest promise—the gift of the Christ. By placing our hope in Christ, we can give of ourselves faithfully, even as we await unsure of what is to come.
 
How we wait is just as important as who we are waiting for. Jesus tells us, “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with debauchery, drunkenness, and despair” (Luke 21:34).

He tells us to stay ready. Stay awake. And stay faithful, just as God is always ready, always present, and always faithful. The way to do this is to live your life as if God is going to walk through the door right now. “For you never know when the owner of the house will return.”
 
Whether it’s Advent or any other time, our goal, is to live a life where love leads the way. That’s the way of Jesus, who loved in such a way that it forever changed the world. To follow him, to walk as he walked, is how we spiritually survive in a very chaotic world. (Nouwen)
 
Advent is a time of active waiting. A time to ready ourselves for the coming Christ as we step into Anamesa, that space between joy and sorrow, as the face of Christ who brings hope to those who have none. In the midst of all the havoc, we are called to build a community of hope in his name.
 
“Community,” as Henri Nouwen wrote, “is a fellowship of people who do not hide their joys and sorrows, but make them visible to each other as a gesture of hope.” He described community as a large mosaic, where each small piece may seem insignificant on its own, but together “each little stone of this community, makes God visible in the world.”
 
Living in such a way frees us to love and care for one another equally, without any fear or hesitation. Just as Jeremiah instructed the exiles, we can build a community of hope and participate in God’s eternal vision of peace by “executing justice and righteousness” wherever we are.

Jesus did this. And taught us to do the same - to make heaven come alive right here, right now. With Christ as our guiding light, we can move towards a better tomorrow.
 
God came to us in the flesh of one of us. Through Christ, God suffers alongside us and to celebrates with us. Out of great love for us, God has saved the world. And will continue to save us until no one will be in need of rescuing, because those who have been saved by Christ are bringing hope, justice, and mercy to one another.
 
This is the community of love we intentionally began to build three years ago, knowing we might not ever see it to its completion. But we remain hopeful, knowing our call and purpose isn’t to finish the job. It was to simply show up for work, as the hands and heart of Christ. Which we do every time we love God, love others, and serve both.
 
By choosing this as our mission, we began to build a place where the flame of hope is kept alive in each one of us.  (Nouwen) As a community that binds itself together in love, for the building up of God’s kingdom, the light of hope can burn brighter. We invite you to join us on this journey.
 
Together, let us embrace the faithfulness of God, refusing to surrender to the forces of despair that so often surround us. Together, let us stand on God’s unshakable faith, and boldly defy the hopelessness that wants to overpower us. Together, we can build a community of love that is an alternative to a world marked by hatred and division.
 
Because God’s promises are real, fulfilled in Christ Jesus, we can persevere with expectant hearts, as one people; building a community of hope, joy, peace, and love, until the day that God’s glory reigns once and for all throughout Anamesa. 
 
Work Cited
Charles, Gary. Feasting on the Word: Advent Companion. Edited by David Barlett and Kimberly Bracken Long Barbara Brown Taylor. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2014.
Keating, Thomas. Fruits and Gifts of the Spirit. (Lantern Books; 2007) pp. 71-73.
Nouwen, Henri. You Are The Beloved. San Francisco: Convergent Books, 2017.
Polter, Julie. A Whirlwind in a Fire. Sojourners. December 2018.
Roberie, Joshua. Relevant Magazine. Nov 17, 2015. http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/practical-faith/when-god-leaves-you-waiting (accessed Nov 25, 2015).