Gaudete!

 A reflection for Morning Prayer with the Community of Brendan the Navigator on Tuesday 14the December 2021

‘Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.’

Paul wrote these words to the new Christians in Philippi, a city in Macedonia on the main road from the East to Rome. They come from the reading from Philippians (4:4-7) set for last Sunday, the 3^rd Sunday of Advent, often called ‘Gaudete Sunday’ – ‘Gaudete’ means ‘Rejoice’ in Greek. In his letter he seeks to encourage them at a time when they are suffering opposition, even persecution.

‘The Lord is near’, says Paul. ‘Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.’

Paul’s words echo down the centuries to us. But let us be very clear just what a hard thing Paul is asking. To rejoice, pray and give thanks when all is well is one thing. But always? No matter how dire the circumstances? What of the man who has just lost his job in the Covid lockdown? What of the single mother who cannot pay the fuel bill? What of the husband or wife whose life’s partner has just died of Covid, died alone? Isn’t Paul asking the impossible of them?

When everything seems to go against us it is very easy to become obsessed with our own misery, to fall into clinical depression. For those who have been there - as I have been - life is very bleak, at least for a time. To be told to pull your socks up is worse than useless – it makes you feel worse. Medication helps many people, but at its root depression is a spiritual disease, I think. It is about feeling cut off from the goodness and love of God – as Jesus said on the cross, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ Depression starts to be cured when, for all our troubles, we begin to see things to rejoice over, things to pray for, things to be thankful about.

When we rejoice, ‘the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard (our) hearts and (our) minds’. Paul’s words are wise advice, both for the Christians in Philippi, and for all of us who believe in the goodness and love of God. Quite apart from the theology, they are a tool to help us resist depression.

‘Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.’

It is different, of course, for those who cannot, for depression, despair or whatever reason, experience God’s goodness and love. Paul’s words won’t help them directly. But we can help them, you and I can help them, by showing through our love and care for them, that there are things to rejoice at, things to look forward to, things to be thankful for.

The coming Christmas season will be psychologically difficult for many people. Society demands that everyone should feel jolly, when many don’t feel jolly at all. And this year for many it is made even worse by a second Christmas of Covid restrictions, and fear of rising infections. Let us make a special point of letting those who have lost a loved one in the last year know that we are thinking of them. Let us keep an eye out for our neighbours who are lonely, old, or finding life difficult, and show them love and support if they need it. And let us give as generously as we can to those agencies who are trying to relieve the shocking poverty too many are living with.

Echoing Paul, may ‘the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard (our) hearts and (our) minds in Christ Jesus’, this year as every year.