By Lily White
Gaudete Sunday, or Joy Sunday, is the day in our liturgical calendar when we take a break from the solemn waiting in Advent to take some time for joyful anticipation. When I think about Advent and rejoicing, my mind immediately goes to the story of the birth of Jesus, where the angels appear to the shepherds. You can read the full story in Luke 2:8-20. I’m sure you’ve heard the story many times (thank you, “A Charlie Brown Christmas”). But I encourage you to read it one more time, and as you read I suggest you change the word “shepherds,” for the phrase “workers in the field.”
This substitution from “shepherds” to “workers” isn’t a big adjustment, but it changed the setting in my mind. Suddenly, the workers were toiling in a field of cucumbers, picking crops so their families could eat, much like my mother did when she was younger than I am now. If angels were coming to announce the birth of Christ, wouldn’t they do it in a language with which the workers were familiar? They wouldn’t speak to Hispanic people in Latin, would they? Perhaps, but then the message might not be clear. In my scenario, the angels give the workers the good news in Spanish, saying, “No tengan miedo. Miren que traigo buenas noticias que serán motivo de mucha alegría para todo el pueblo.”
At this moment, the angels would break out in song, maybe a little something from Handel’s Messiah. Nope. Scratch that. If I know my people, it would be a little something closer to Selena, maybe “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom,” or “Suavemente,” by Elvis Crespo—music that all the workers understand and gets them up and dancing! Can you imagine workers in the field hearing from the angels and dancing? I think that’s what the angels meant when they talked about “good news of great joy.”
What does this retelling have to do with resistance? The resistance lies in going against the ideology that the angels sang in English or Latin, or the style of Baroque or Classical music. We resist the Eurocentric perspective by remembering that cultures outside of the majority believe in Christ, and in fact were not a part of Christ’s birth story. This child was an immigrant born in a land that was not his own. His parents searched for refuge as his mother was giving birth, but they were continuously turned away. After he was born, he slept in a manger, without even a bed to lay his head in. This is a birth story of resistance. A child born in an uncommon setting grows to live a life of resistance against the empire and injustice. What a beautiful beginning to our tradition of resistance!
If you would like to spend some joyful time of resistance, I’ve put together a playlist of music from various artists. Here’s the link: https://spoti.fi/3BmLmyB. I hope you find something new and something familiar. You’ll hear artists like Bob Dylan, Sam Cooke, P!nk, Indigo Girls, Michael Franti, the Resistance Revival Chorus, Músicxs De Chile, Sweet Honey in The Rock, and more.
May this music feed your joy, fuel your resistance, and fan your flame of excitement: Jesus is coming!
Lily White attends Perkins School of Theology – Southern Methodist University where she is a Baugh Scholar, a student ambassador for the Baptist House of Studies Board of Visitors at Perkins, and a member of the L@s Seminaristas, an ecumenical Latine student organization. Lily works at Alliance congregational partner University Baptist Church in Austin as the director of hospitality and serves as a seminary intern for the Alliance of Baptists. Lily is passionate about utilizing her expertise from the hospitality industry, where she worked for 14 years, to help the church be a more welcoming and inclusive space for all.
Beautiful! This put my head and heart in a different space. Thank you for the playlist as well!!