Choose to Rejoice

On Pentecost Sunday, we celebrate the gift of God’s Holy Spirit. Paul in the passage we just read says that the basis for our rejoicing in life is that the Lord is near. Paul, certainly, just 20-30 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection continues to expect Christ to return in his lifetime. Paul also knows the presence and power of the coming of the Holy Spirit on the first Pentecost and when he says that the Lord is near, he also means that Jesus fulfilled his promise never to leave us abandoned. As he was comforting his disciples before his death, Jesus said to them, “The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

And on the day of Pentecost, they were all together and there was a sound like a violent wind blowing and what looked like sparks from a fire settled on each of them and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and given the gift of being able to speak in many languages for the purpose of being Christ’s witnesses to all peoples and nations the ends of the earth. God called them and equipped them and filled them for ministry.

“The Lord is near; therefore, rejoice,” says Paul, “because the Lord is near, rejoice!” And pray – in one verse, Paul uses three words for prayer, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by praying in three ways: by coming toward and entering an exchange in which you express your desire, by offering heartfelt petitions for what you lack, and by offering gratitude for God’s grace, present your requests to God.” Then, the peace of God, that is beyond understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. As Paul is in prison, and the Philippians face persecution at the hands of the Rome, they are called to focus on rejoicing. Pray, let God know your wants and needs and thanksgiving, and God’s peace will stand guard over you, ensuring that your heart and mind are at peace.

Presbyterian pastor and scholar Cynthia Campbell writes about this promised peace saying, “Neither Jesus nor Paul romanticizes suffering; they do not deny the injustice of poverty or violence. But when we place our trust in God, we can be free from debilitating anxiety and thus open to facing the real challenges that life presents.”

Paul does not tell them that everything is going to go their way. Paul doesn’t tell them that their lives will be easy. Instead, he encourages them by sharing the strength he draws on, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” The Lord is near, so not only can I get through it, I rejoice!

As I was preparing for this sermon, I read one commentator who pointed out the variety of words Paul used for prayer and compared it to the variety of words for the blue of the ocean in Hawaii. And it started me thinking about our trip to Hawaii a few years ago. I have always wanted to swim with dolphins, and I was determined that we would have the experience of swimming with dolphins on this trip. Chris arranged for us to take a chartered boat into the open ocean with a guide who would find a pod of dolphins and drop us to swim in the wild with them. This sounded amazing to me. As we rode out, the guide told us that he knows where the dolphins rest – they are never really still, but they move more slowly, so that we would have the opportunity to be closer to them. I was getting even more excited. And then, it was time to put on our masks and snorkels and fins and jump in the water. And my youngest was nervous and wanted me to hold her hand. The dolphins were moving, and I was coaxing. We got in the water and the pod was deep below us, swimming under and past. And I wanted both hands to swim, and then I shifted my focus. Together we pointed and gazed and smiled…and then we looked just in front of us – a mother dolphin and her calf, swimming, like us, together.

It wasn’t what I had anticipated when I said that I wanted a dolphin experience. I had expected a pool with a dolphin and a trainer. I had expected to pet and feed in a controlled environment. As we celebrate Pentecost this year, not in this Sanctuary, it strikes me analogous. When we celebrate Pentecost, we expect to come here with a preacher and a choir, to sing and worship in a controlled environment. Perhaps this year, we have the opportunity to experience God’s presence on Pentecost in a way we hadn’t anticipated.

I have often thought of what would have happened had I not turned my focus from the dolphins deep below us and wishing I could dive down where they were to my child swimming beside me. I would have missed the gift of interaction and the beauty of swimming with another mother and her child.

For those of you who know me, you know that my expectation of how swimming with the dolphins would go and our experience not being what I anticipated is by far not one of the more serious times in my life that I have faced a challenge to choose to rejoice. For those who are new to the Farmington family and are worshipping with us online, I am in the last treatments of my second battle with breast cancer. It is our everyday focus that determines how we respond to the challenges of life.

Whenever things don’t go the way we anticipated, whenever our anxieties or frustrations or addictions threaten to overwhelm us, in every moment of disappointment, we have a choice. Over time, that choice becomes a habit. Each time we make the choice, we strengthen a pathway in our brain. We can choose anxiety, or we can choose trust. We can choose to despair, or we can choose to rejoice.

A lot of scholars have tried to explain Paul’s final words to the Philippians before giving his farewells. He is thanking them for their gift to him. They sent an offering with Epaphroditus, and now as Paul is writing a letter to send back with Epaphroditus, he closes with his thanks but it reads as stilted or perhaps not genuine. Why would Paul say he rejoices that they have renewed their concern for him? Had they stopped being concerned? No, Paul says that they hadn’t stopped being concerned, but they hadn’t had a chance to show their concern. Not that I needed anything, he says, I certainly know what it is to need and what it is to have plenty, and I know how to be content in all situations; I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength.

So, what is Paul saying? I think Paul is in a situation that he had not anticipated. Things aren’t going the way he had hoped. He isn’t despairing, but he is disappointed. And then, like the mother dolphin and his calf, Epaphroditus comes and with him has a gift, an offering made in love and appreciation from the church Paul founded, his brothers and sisters in faith in Philippi, and his spirits are buoyed. But he wants the Philippians and us to know that he was still rejoicing, he had strength to get through his imprisonment, even before Epaphroditus arrived, because he is focused on rejoicing because the Lord is near.

As we celebrate Pentecost this year, we find ourselves in a most unanticipated situation. I never would have believed you a year or even six months ago if you told me that we would not be together in this Sanctuary for worship. As we continue in this time of pandemic, as the veils that once allowed us to avert our eyes from racism and classism are removed, as death tolls rise, mental illness rises, unemployment rises, and the economy struggles, as people struggle, my friends, my brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord is near. Therefore, focus on rejoicing! Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! We can do all things, through Christ who strengthens us. Amen.