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My covenant group calls me a “church nerd” because I love the traditions, liturgical history, the backgrounds of what we do today. Sometimes it’s just curiosity, sometimes it helps me understand why we do what we do, and sometimes it enables me to take the foundation and do something different, something that may be more accessible while trying to move our faith, discipleship, and worship to be formative experiences. And, just for the record, each of us in our covenant group are “church nerds”, and I’m pretty sure I speak for all of us when I say: and proud of it. Speaking of that perspective: this weekend we celebrate Gaudete Sunday. It stands out a bit in Advent; the third week that is a little different than the other three. It began to be celebrated when the original Advent experience was changed in the ninth century. In addition to being made shorter, those instituting the change desired to move away from it being an overwhelmingly penitent experience, and to celebrate the great joy in the anticipation of the Christ child. Hence: Gaudete, or “rejoice” in Latin. In the twenty-first century we recognize it with a pink candle amongst the purple; it is the week of Joy in the not-quite-middle of Hope, Peace, and Love. And so, we celebrate and practice joy as a means of preparing ourselves and anticipating the gift of Jesus. For me, the word “joy” very, very often brings to mind a song that shares a title with this blog entry. It’s from “Ren and Stimpy”, a cartoon from the 90s. When I first watched, it was clear the show was irreverent, disgusting, and absurd. Which of course meant I loved it. The show has a complicated history given its creator’s malfeasances, and this is certainly not meant to be an apologetic treatise, nor is it your pastor suggesting you go watch it. Even revisiting the song in preparation for this blog entry made me feel a little awkward… But if you can, for a moment, take Ren’s intention of sharing joy with his pal Stimpy at face value, the repetitive, titular lyrics encourage finding happiness and joy, and I like that. Find joy… dance, sing, rest, play, worship. Find joy. And come and worship with us as we prepare ourselves and our world for the gift of the Messiah. And do so with joy. Oh, and since there are two happies and two joys, the leftovers are a reminder that we’ll have a holiday gathering following worship this Sunday in the parlor. If you’re able and would like, bring a finger food or appetizer to share. Either way, we hope you will join us for fun, the chance to sing carols together, to decorate new Chrismons, and celebrate this joyful season with the San Marco Church community. I hope to see you all there. Rev. Ben Richards
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