My friends, as I said in the bulletin, this Sunday is called, “Gaudete” in the Latin, and it means, “rejoice.” And as said in previous homilies, Advent in its entirety is about joy – and a joy that continues to build throughout this wonderful season of expectant waiting. 

   I would call our attention to our sister/mother, Mary and her spouse, Joseph, and of how, as any set of expectant parents await a coming birth – there is the beginning joy of learning that a pregnancy has occurred, and with each passing week/month as the woman’s body begins to change, as the baby develops, and eventually moves for the first time – there is joy that continues to grow until the baby comes, usually screaming into this world, hungry for nourishment and comfort in many ways.  This my friends is what we celebrate during Advent – life and love in many ways. 

   There are books available that question the whole story of God and a human mother uniting to give birth to our brother Jesus, making him effectively Divine and Human at the same time.  As a Franciscan sister once said to me, “There were no video cameras available then, so we simply don’t know if what we have been told and believed for so long is actually true.” Into this enters “faith,” that ability/gift we might say, to believe what we can’t prove.  And being that we can’t prove this astonishing claim, I choose to believe the Christmas story pretty much intact – that our loving God, for no other reason than, over-the-top love and concern for us, entered into human existence, choosing to-be-one-of-and with-us, and to show us how to become our best selves. 

   Now, whether our sister Mary needed to be proclaimed as a “virgin,” probably a fact, for some, that is a bit incredulous, because after all, when a woman gives birth, she is no longer “a virgin,” and it really adds nothing to the beautiful story of Jesus becoming “one-with-us” to know that Mary was somehow, “a virgin” throughout the process.

   Unfortunately, what it does say is that the hierarchy of our beloved Church had and continues to have trouble with sexuality in expression.  That somehow, our God would find anything wrong in uniting with humanity to create Jesus in the manner that each of us were created, and continue to do so, makes the whole beautiful story of co-creation less than it can be.  And for that reason, these same powers-that-be, “need to clean up” this otherwise most beautiful and precious story, by sanitizing Mary in feasts such as the Immaculate Conception, the Assumption, and having her for all time remain, “a virgin,” untouched  by sex.  One does have to ask, if the way that our loving God chose to have us co-create and enjoy the physical comfort of another, was so bad, why would this same God, who in other places we name as, All Wonderful, Perfect-beyond-measure, have chosen such an “imperfect” method?

   In my mind, my friends, the method, in its very best sense is nothing short of beautiful, wonderful, and life-giving except for “small minds” that can’t image a totally self-giving, Creator God. 

   Isaiah, in today’s 1^st reading tells us, “Look, your God is coming” – “joy and gladness will” [be with you].  The psalmist in 146 says, [this One is coming] “with divine justice”[!]

   My friends, part of what Advent calls us to, is, “going deeper,”  and James in today’s 2^nd reading calls for “patience.” The “looking” that the prophet Isaiah asks for today, assumes that “patience” will be necessary.  We humans are capable of so much, yet we often choose the easiest, safest way out.

   Through the generous gift of friends, Robert and I travelled to St. Paul this past week, and we able to attend the Ordway’s opening night presentation of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s production of Jesus Christ, Superstar.  Through fantastic and energetic action, this rock musical portrayed Jesus becoming one-with-us, “trying so much, for 3 years, seems like 30,” to quote lyrics, to help us humans see that we are loved, just as we are.  The disillusionment that we humans feel at times, when we aren’t understood or appreciated for the ways that we have tried, was, in my mind, portrayed so well by the Jesus character, Jack Hopewell, in the play, and really a highlight for me. 

   In Matthew’s gospel today, Jesus, in uplifting the life of John the Baptist, expounds on how much each of us is loved by our God in saying that, even though history will record no one greater than John, the least born in this world is, in fact, greater than John!

   Simply put friends, each of us humans is equal in God’s sight; loved, appreciated, worthy, and wanted! We, in our humanity, might find this hard to wrap our heads around.  It is one of those things that must be laid on our hearts. 

   This is what touched me so in Jesus Christ, Superstar, in Jesus’ song of lament – reflecting his “weeping over Jerusalem – there was so much he wanted to give them, and seemingly, in the end, they didn’t get it, or couldn’t grasp it at that moment. 

   For this reason, we have such a model and friend in our brother Jesus, because if he, as one of us experienced disillusionment, depression, and chaos in his life, we as his followers should expect the same. 

   But, along with the realization that life can bring sadness and discouragement, it can also bring much joy and hope, if we can be patient and sincerely, “look” for it.  Advent teaches us all this. 

   Guarding the ending of this new version of  Jesus Christ, Superstar, for any of you who may be going to see it, let me just say, there is always “hope” for each of us, no matter what life may have been, or will be, and this was portrayed most beautifully in a twist on the “resurrection” of Jesus.

   So, my friends, in the concluding half of Advent, I invite you to stay close to the crib for all that it can teach us … Amen? Amen!