Philippians 4:4-8

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6 Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 

The opening line of the passage helps us root joy. Rejoice in the Lord – that does not mean rejoice in the present circumstances of our lives, but rejoice that God is greater than the circumstances of our lives. Rejoice that the present moment is not the ultimate moment – be that a moment of despair or a moment of elation. Regardless of the situation God is worth rejoicing in.

Our rejoicing in God reshapes the moments we are in whatever they might be. As we rejoice in God, the Triune God of grace, our brittleness, our hardness, our even bitterness are softened. We find that we become gentler, more at peace. As vs. 8 says, we are invited to remember the good, the true, just, honourable – to reflect on those things – all of which are gifts from God. To find joy in what God is doing, has done – and thus live with the certainty that God will be worthy of being rejoiced in even in the future.

Rejoicing in the Lord means trusting as Julian of Norwich (1343-1416) trusted in the midst of the Plague in Britain – she and those whom she discipled were lived by the motto – “All will be well, all will be well, and all manner of thing will be well.” Even as the plague wreaked its worst in Britain, Julian, and those like her, came to the realization that they could trust God for whatever might lie ahead. And therefore, they could rejoice in God for in the end “all will be well” in God.

We are invited to set our minds on the things that are worthy of praise, rejoicing in God.

PRAYER:

O Lord, we want to rejoice in you. But too often we are distracted by the dark clouds, the things that cause us anxiety. Help us to keep our eyes fixed on you, and the beauty that you are bringing into the world. Shape us to live in joyful hope in you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.   

I Cor. 13:4-8a

4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends.

This passage frequently gets read at weddings, but it was not originally written about marriage. Instead, it was written to a church where a variety of groups were in conflict with each other. Those who were in conflict were being told to love each other.

To followers of Jesus who are in conflict with other followers of Jesus, Paul writes – show love – don’t be envious, boastful, arrogant or rude. Aren’t those the very things we want to do when we are in conflict with someone else. They are rude, we want to be rude back. Or we want to be rude so that they know we are unhappy with them. We boast about how we are better, more correct than they are.

When we are in conflict with others, we assume that we are correct, they are wrong, we should get what we want, we should get our way. Love in the Christian community says, “Not so fast. Love, the love we see in Jesus, does not insist on its own way. Even if we are at odds with the other side.”   

Love does not rejoice when the opponent, the adversary suffers from being wronged. Love does not inflict hurt on an adversary or an opponent.

Love is willing to keep on trying to find a way to be reconciled to the opponent, believing and hoping even when such belief and hope seem ridiculous, seem to be believing and hoping for the impossible.

This is a robust love, rooted in the love God has for humankind. A love we see in Jesus whose love has no end. This is the love we are invited to show to those with whom we are in conflict.

PRAYER: 

O Lord, there are people in our lives we do not like very much, people we are at odds with. We pray for their well-being, we pray that you would strengthen them for whatever challenges they are facing. Shape us to be people who seek their good. In Jesus’ name. Amen.