Rejoice Meditation 

Philippians 4:4-7

Luke 3:7-18 

I find that it is hard to rejoice this morning.  To Rejoice; to rejoice is to have great joy; great animated joy that gets your whole body moving, emotions working, spirit soaring.  And joy is both an emotion and a decision.  As an emotion, it is hard to have joy when I know of so many suffering families in Cache Valley.  Families that have been torn apart, have lost bread winners in last week's immigration raid.   

I have had my identity stolen; I had to spend endless hours repairing the damage caused by such crime and do not condone such theft for any reason.  Identity.  Theft.  Someone claiming to be me; impostors claiming to be someone else.  How outrageous!  Still, families are hurting, children hiding, fear, hunger are all present in the Latino community today. 

In this Advent season, I have to think about my identity in larger terms.  More than bank accounts and credit reports, more than drivers license and social security numbers, even more than citizenship status.  Who am I? Really, who am I? 

The people of Israel thought that they were the special people of God; called to special citizenship in both a nation and a faith.  Yet the nation had been broken apart by civil wars, been taken into captivity, placed under foreign rulers.  Faith had become legalistic; rules were more important than belief, more important than love.  They claimed to be God's special people.  But I wonder if they were merely identity thieves, impostors claiming to be God's people. 

John the Baptizer left little doubt what he thought about their claims to be special people: “Do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our ancestor'.”  He called upon them to bear fruit, to show their love by action, by giving to the poor.  Then he started to proclaim the Good News, one mightier than him was coming, one who would baptize not with water but with the Spirit of God. 

Suddenly, I start to feel like rejoicing; I decide to rejoice.  God did not check the identity papers of the people of Israel to see if they belonged to Him.  There wasn't a credit check required to become acceptable in God's sight.  Family trees were suddenly irrelevant. For God came to this earth as the baby Jesus.  God came to give us all a new identity.  God came for the poor, the lost, for Jew and gentile; citizen, sojourner and slave; those with family connections and those widows and orphans without family. 

God came for me.  I am a member of the family of God, a citizen of Christ's Kingdom, rich beyond measure.  Not because of who I claimed to be, not because I tried to assume the identity of a good Christian.  I am a member of the family of God because God adopted me; because of the grace and love of Christ welcoming me into the new kingdom. Philippians tells us to “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.”  

I can rejoice!  We can all rejoice this Advent season.  There is Good News!  Celebrate the birth! The birth of our Lord and Savior! 

And because of our new identity in Christ, show compassion and mercy.  “In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”  Reach out to those in need, regardless of how unworthy or illegal they might be.  After a Tuesday evening mass at St Thomas Aquinas, 11 year old Suzanna Sanchez said “It helped me feel a little better praying for them (those affected by the raid) and knowing God might help them.”  Let us pray for them; let us be the means God uses to help them. 

By our actions, let us invite them into full citizenship in the only kingdom that counts: the Kingdom of God, first established in a little town across the ocean, by a young couple who risked their very identity, their very lives, so that God could use them.  What are we willing to risk so that God can us as well. 

Rejoice!  Rejoice in the Good News! Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice! 

   

December 17, 2006

Pastor Al Hammond

First Presbyterian Church

Logan, Utah