Joy and Peace - 3rd Sunday of Advent, 2023

Joy. Joy is the dominant emotional tone of the Christmas season—at least, on the surface. It is also the traditional theme of this 3^rd Sunday of Advent.

The liturgical readings of Advent tie joy to the birth of the Messiah who would usher in the messianic kingdom of universal peace. In keeping with those prophesies, at the birth of Jesus, the angel of the Lord proclaimed to the shepherds “good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11).

Indeed, joy is the emotional tone of the Advent and Christmas seasons. “Why can’t the joy and goodwill of the Christmas season last all year?” is a question that is commonly asked during this time of year.

For the followers of Jesus, joy is not just a seasonal experience. It is—or, it can be—the emotional tone of our lives. According to the apostle Paul, joy and peace—two of the nine traits listed as the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)—make up the inner disposition of the followers of Jesus. We live out of a spirit of joy, rooted in a deep sense of peace. Joy and peace position us to choose to love as Jesus loved—under the guidance and power of the Spirit, of course. They are the spring out of which love flows.

As with every aspect of our spiritual lives, we live with the tension that exists between our human condition and how we are called to live as the followers of Jesus.

The innate emotional tone of our human condition is made up of anxiety and fear along with frustration (anger) and angst. These emotional reactions—they are more than just emotions—are logjams to joy and peace. Anxiety and fear rob us of peace. Frustration and angst squelch joy.

Anxiety and fear are emotional reactions rooted in past experiences. These experiences date back to our formative years and the relationships that shaped us. Anxiety is a form of fear. It is archaic or old fear. Anxiety is the fear of what might be that is based on what has happened to us in the past. We experience it as a nebulous feeling of inner dis-ease that lives just beneath the surface of our awareness. It stirs a frantic need to do something. It leads us to attempt to control what happens as well as what other people think and do—both of which are beyond our ability to control. (Ironically, attempting to control what we cannot control only produces greater anxiety and fear.) When anxiety and fear invade the present moment, they rob us of peace.

Frustration and angst are expressions of anger. They are commonly triggered when things do not go the way we want. They are emotional reactions to situations in which we feel out of control and, consequently, powerless. Frustration and angst stifle our capacity for joy.

Just as joy is inseparably tied to peace, so anxiety and fear are inseparably tied to frustration and angst. The frustration we experience when things do not go the way we want and the angst we feel at being powerless to change it trigger the unconscious fear of once again being hurt—anxiety.

The Spirit-generated emotional tone of the follower of Jesus—joy and peace—stands in contrast to the innate emotional tone of our human condition.

Living out of a spirit of joy and peace requires that we move beyond the emotional tone rooted in our innate human condition—an inner disposition shaped by anxiety and fear, by frustration and angst. Moving from anxiety and fear into peace, from frustration and angst into joy is possible through the guidance and power of the Spirit. We do not manufacture joy and peace through self-effort and resolve. The Spirit produces them in us.

The Spirit produces joy and peace in us as we exercise what the apostle Paul called self-control—the ninth trait listed in the fruit of the Spirit. I speak of self-control as self-management. Again, like joy and peace, self-control or self-management is what the Spirit produces in us. We cannot manufacture self-control through resolve, self-reliance, or self-effort. What we can do is place ourselves in a position for the Spirit to produce peace and joy within us.

We place ourselves in a position for the Spirit to work through prayer. Prayer is how we open ourselves to the Spirit and to the Spirit’s work.

Self-control or self-management is rooted in self-awareness—the awareness of the inner dis-ease of anxiety and fear, of frustration and angst that are at play in the present moment. Such awareness is a call to place ourselves in a position for the Spirit to work. It is a call to pray. Even this call to prayer is the work of the Spirit—a part of the Spirit’s work to produce peace and joy within us.

As we pray, we confess to God what we are experiencing—both the situation and the anxiety and fear, the frustration and angst it has triggered. I find it helpful to follow my breathing as I pray. Inhaling, I pray “Fill me with your peace;” exhaling, I pray “Cleanse me of my anxiety and fear.” I continue to follow this pattern of prayer until I experience peace within. Whenever the anxiety returns—and it generally does, I again place myself in a position for the Spirit to produce peace within. I return to this pattern of praying. When peace comes, joy can flow.

Peace is often accompanied by clarity about the underlying issues that are producing the anxiety and fear, the frustration and angst. These underlying issues are always old issues from my formative years. Until issues are recognized and addressed, they remain unresolved. As long as they are unresolved, they continue to invade the present moment in the form of anxiety and fear, frustration and angst.

Joy—the emotional tone of the Advent and Christmas seasons—does not have to be limited to a seasonal focus. For the follower of Jesus, joy and peace can be the emotional tone out of which we live—through the guidance and power of the Spirit. A spirit of joy and peace is a spiritual muscle we can develop as the Spirit trains us to live with self-awareness and self-control.

May the joy of this Christmas season and of this third Sunday of Advent remind us of the joy and peace that the Spirit produces in our lives as the followers of Jesus. May Spirit-generated joy and peace be the inner disposition out of which we live in every season of the year.