Adv3C21.    Zephaniah 3:14-18a.    “Shout for joy, O daughter Zion!” “The Lord has removed his judgment against you.”  “He will rejoice over you with gladness, and renew you in his love.”  This is appointed by the Church to be the Sunday to rejoice in Jesus who is our joy!

Luke 3:10-18.  John the Baptist calls for a change of heart and mind from being self-centered to being compassionate and loving as is our God.  To be a follower of Jesus we need to think as God thinks with love for all.  This world calls us to be centered in ourselves; God’s mind set is to love even to the cross.  Christianity is a fundamental change in thinking and living.  John the Baptist proclaimed the coming the One who would give us the Holy Spirit as the one who would move us to live as heavenly beings while we are still here on earth.  He is the fire of divine life within our earthly bodies.  If that fire is not our life, there is another fire that will consume and devour whoever chooses not to be filled with God’s divine life.  Choose life by living united to the source of life, the God who loves us.

Philippians 4:4-7.  Joy is an ongoing state of living in the Lord.  Worry is an ongoing state of living as a partially godless self-centered being this world.  Despair is an ongoing state of one who seeks living totally without God.  When you                             “make your requests known to God, the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”  Joy and peace are God’s gift to us who live in him daily.  Turmoil and trouble without peace and strength are the hallmarks of a Godless life.