A few Sundays ago, I had a chance to do an Advent night with a youth group in Tempe. For each candle of the Advent wreath, we used story, song, video and discussion. It was a good meeting and the teens there really got into what we were doing. I love high school kids like that- groups that will really try to get something out of what’s going on around them. More about them in a minute.

The third Sunday of Advent is called the “Rejoice” Sunday. There are all kind of reasons about why this Sunday is the pink candle and the joy readings, but here’s one of my views.

Listen the energy in the first reading. This is one wound up writer writing below:

Shout for joy, O daughter Zion!
Sing joyfully, O Israel!
Be glad and exult with all your heart,
O daughter Jerusalem!

On this Sunday, I think a lot about the first “The Matrix” movie where Neo is just starting to find out what he truly is, but he doesn’t believe how powerful he is. You remember the jump scene? Morpheus takes Neo to a computer program to teach him that he has the ability to leap fantastic distances, from building to building if he wishes.

Morpheus, the teacher and prophet, then takes a huge, running leap off a skyscraper and lands with incredible force and conviction on another skyscraper hundreds of yards away. It’s then Neo’s turn and try as much as he wants, he just can’t make the jump and falls dozens of stories to the pavement below, getting caught up in a sort of cartoonish, spongy asphalt. This is Neo’s first lesson in what happens when you don’t believe what the teacher teaches.

I know a lot of teens that don’t yet know who they are and don’t really want to understand (yet) what The Teacher is saying to them. No matter what the possibilities before them, they just can’t seem to make the jump. There’s a screaming mess of messages going off in their heads. They’re screaming: “you aren’t smart enough” or “you aren’t fast enough” or “you aren’t athletic enough” or “you aren’t rich enough” or “you aren’t pumped enough” or “you aren’t thin enough.” Whatever your messages are, you know that there’s the doubt in your head that you aren’t enough of something.

From the second reading:

Rejoice in the Lord always.
I shall say it again: rejoice!
Your kindness should be known to all.
The Lord is near.
Have no anxiety at all, but in everything,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
make your requests known to God.

Here’s the clue: You are ENOUGH of whatever you need. That’s one of the messages of Christmas and why this Third Sunday is so important. Christmas is not about babies born in a barn, it’s about The Teacher (Christ) becoming one of us, saying, “Look. I am proving that you are enough. I was one of you. I was just like you in diapers, acne, joy and fear and more. I have come to set you free. You are good enough. Believe! Rejoice! Leap! Jump!”

So, what would you do if you knew you could make the “jump” where you know you are already ENOUGH of whatever it is you want- because God has already given you the gifts? The youth group I mentioned before put out some interesting answers.

“I’d be nicer to my family.”
“I might stop cussing.”
“I want to quit hating.”
“I’d go serve food to the homeless.”
“I’d try to get the school to quit doing stupid things.”
“I would pray.”
“I’d get a new car.”
They had all kinds of answers.

If on the third Sunday of Advent you began to accept the challenge to “have no anxiety (worry) at all.” what would you accomplish? What gifts has The Teacher laid out in front of you? What do you need to ask of God? What is God just waiting for you to do- something God wants you to do?
Believe! Sing! Shout! Rejoice! Leap! Jump!