 |
| Image by Les Chatfield |
†
A GREETING
Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.
(Psalm 51:12)
A READING
Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy. When a woman is in labour, she has pain, because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world. So you have pain now; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.
(John 16:20-22)
MUSIC
A MEDITATIVE VERSE
For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.
(Mark 13:8)
A POEM
Then a woman said, Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow.
And he answered:
Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven?
And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.
- from "On Joy and Sorrow" by Kahlil Gibran
VERSE OF THE DAY
Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.
(Psalm 126:6)
†
 |
| Image by Les Chatfield |
Throughout the bible, the image of ‘birth pangs’ and the pain of childbirth convey the intensity of a moment of transformation in which death gives birth to new life. In most of these contexts, especially in the Hebrew Bible, the connection at first is to moments of tremendous violence and unimaginable suffering.
In Matthew, Mark and John, Jesus uses this phrase to help answer the question of how they will know that the time of the resurrection or the second coming of Jesus will be taking place. In Matthew and Mark, we hear Jesus say that there will be wars and rumours of wars, that nation will rise against nation, and that there will be famines and earthquakes. The description is of a catastrophic apocalypse. But then out of these horrors come “birth pangs,” a transformation into a new way of being, one in which there will be joy.
In today’s reading from John, however, Jesus spends less words on the suffering and more on the inevitable connections between grief and joy. But what kind of joy is Jesus talking about here? How can there possibly be a link between such tremendous suffering and joy?
We use the word ‘joy’ in Advent and Christmas in reference to the promise offered by the birth of Jesus. When Mary gave birth to Jesus, Herod the Great was ruler over the Galilee, and the one who ordered the slaughter of the innocents. It is his grandson, Herod Antipas, who will play a role in the trial of Jesus. Today’s music is a ballad composed to commemorate the slaughter of the innocents. It is written from the point of view of a mother of a slain child. The lovely tune belies the lyrics which tell us, “Herod the king, in his raging, charged… his men of might in his own sight, all young children to slay.” Herod’s hope was to get Jesus in the sweep. Several decades later, a new Herod will have a second chance.
Yesterday, we reflected on the perfume that will be brought by the women of the Cross throughout this week, to Jesus. Today, we consider the birth pangs, both metaphoric and real, of women who lose their children to political warfare. We think of Gaza. Ukraine. Yemen. Israel. And much more. In John’s gospel, Mary, the mother of Jesus, will be at the Cross. Having seen her son spared from one Herod, she will surrender him to another.
In our own time, Creation itself, in which Christ dwells, is suffering the agony of dissipation and decline. We use the image of ‘mother’ to characterize the earth. What will come out of our current climate catastrophe? Out of our own desecration of the planet, what will be the birth pangs that ensue?
Jesus wants us to understand, that when we dwell with Jesus and in the universal Christ that is in Creation, we have the chance to change the world, and therein is the way to joy. Out of the suffering of Jesus will come the birth pangs of consciousness, of waking up to our own reality. Out of our changed behaviour will come the joy of realizing we have made a difference. We can live through our own birth pangs, each time we turn to Jesus, and start anew.
Jesus is telling the disciples that he will see them again, in a restored world in which the realm of God lives on earth. He may come again in physical form, or they may just see him at his resurrection. But he will be there. And in this knowledge they can be comforted. We in our time can know that Jesus is always with us.
. There are times when we cry for joy after having shed tears of loss. Perhaps when we have been surprised by synchronicity, or a feeling of having been given a sign, a reprieve, a moment of redemption. Jesus lives in all of these. Grief is a sign of having once loved. Joy is a sign of having once felt bereft and seeing a new path emerge.
When have you experienced deep sorrow and joy in close connection? How can you invite Jesus into that memory now, as you prepare for the coming days?
 |
| Image by Marguerite Carstairs |
†
LC† Awakened by the Spirit is a project of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook, and on Twitter. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work.
Thank you and peace be with you!