(This material is adapted from Discipleship Ministries Advent Worship Series: “Presence”)
A Moment for Mission
“With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” —Isaiah 12:3, NRSVUE
Isaiah 12:3 is a beautiful verse. The CEB translates it as “springs of salvation.” It is luscious imagery that invites us to consider how “salvation” harmonizes humans with the earthly elements around us. What does this imagery evoke for you regarding the experience of “joy”? When have you experienced that kind of “joy” in your life? Deep joy is more than momentary happiness; joy springs from within one’s inner resiliency, whereas happiness may be contingent upon external conditions. Like a wellspring, joy can be a rush of soothing, nourishing waters. We often spend more time on momentary happiness rather than looking into replenishing the deeper sources of our joy.
The third Sunday of Advent is also known as Gaudete Sunday in Western Christianity, designated by a pink candle in the Advent wreath. Marie Kondo became an international cultural icon with her “KonMari Method” of tidying and her trademark advice, “Choose what sparks joy!”
What does “joy” mean for you? For example, good health, family and friends, inner confidence and peace, gratitude for all that we have, anything that helps us to look forward to the future.
In what aspects of your personal and professional lives is “joy” a key criterion for determining what you will choose to hang on to or let go? [e.g., in committed relationships, in professional interactions, in where we choose to live and work]
Children’s Message
Luke 3:15-16 is about a man named John the Baptist. John baptized people who were sorry for their sins, or mistakes. John told the people to turn away from those sins and to be baptized.
Everyone was waiting for the coming Messiah. They were expecting something to happen. People were wondering in their hearts if John might be the one whom God had sent. John came before Jesus and prepared people for him. He knew Jesus was the Savior of the world and told everyone they needed to follow Jesus. He had been telling people for a long time that Jesus was coming and when he did arrive, he would baptize them with the power of the Holy Spirit.
And do you know that when Jesus did arrive, he asked John to baptize him? Did Jesus baptize John instead? John felt unworthy, but he did what Jesus asked. After Jesus was baptized, the voice of God said, “This is the son that I love. I am pleased with him. I love him.”
(Hold up a heart-shaped cookie cutter.) You may think that a heart-shaped cookie might be better for a holiday other than Christmas, but just as John the Baptist encouraged those being baptized to live a life of love, we who have experienced God’s love can also display God’s love toward others.
Prayer
We light the Advent candle of joy as a sign of our commitment to be present to ourselves, our friends, our families and our neighbors that in sharing our vulnerable lives we might share in the glorious joy of God’s salvation together.
Offertory Prayer: Discipleship Ministries
God of Advent joy, we bring our offerings with hearts open to your transformative call. In this season of anticipation, may our gifts help mend what is broken and share the promise of redemption. Empower us to live fully present, giving generously and acting justly. Let these offerings be seeds of hope and joy that will draw us closer to your kin-dom. Bless our giving, that it may reflect your love and bring light to our world. In Jesus’s name, we pray. Amen. (Luke 3:7-18)
Newsletter Nugget
“With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” —Isaiah 12:3, NRSVUE
Isaiah’s song is designed to move from the individual to the corporate; from the one who with joy draws water from the wells of salvation to being the one who tells the whole world, invites the whole world to join in praise for the one who comes. Joy is contagious. Joy is meant to be shared. To fully experience joy, there needs to be a relationship, a community, a world that can be called to share in the glory of joy. It is a call to be present.
Advent is not a secret that we can keep to ourselves. It is an announcement that we, together, live in a way that issues an invitation, a call, a new way of living in the world, a new way of being. And it begins with being present to and with one another.
Advent invites each of us into a new way of living in a world to which the kin-dom of God has come and is yet coming. Receive the gift of togetherness, for it is only in being truly present with God and one another that we live as followers of the coming Messiah.