The Sudan is a country that is in the news a fair amount.  A civil war currently rages in the Darfur region, a war between the Arab population and the Black population there.  The war really amounts to a genocide, as the goal is to kill or drive out the black population.

The Sudan is a country that is divided between a largely Arab, Muslim north and a Black, Christian and Animist south.  From the time of its independence, it has been almost constantly in civil war.  Its First Civil War lasted from 1955 to 1972.  Its Second Civil War lasted from 1983 to 2005.  And the conflict in Darfur began in 2001.

The Arab, Muslim north has constantly sought to Islamize the south – to force the conversion of the Black Christians and Animists to adopt Islam.  The pursuit of this goal has involved wholesale killings, displacement, and even enslavement.  The slave trade is alive and well in the Sudan.  It’s not just about religion, however; there is a racial element as well.  For in the Darfur region, a kind of borderland between the north and the south, most of the Blacks who are suffering are also Muslims.

About six years ago, at the height of the Second Civil War, I met a priest from the Sudan.  We discussed the efforts of the Muslim-dominated central government to Islamize the south.  Those Christians and Animists in the south who did not convert to Islam either had to flee to refugee camps or face being killed.  Hundreds of thousands died.  They would not convert.

The priest told me that Islam had never had a lot of success in southern Sudan with converting the Animists.  On the other hand, Christianity, particularly Catholicism, was very successful there.

I asked him what the particular appeal of Catholicism was.  He told me it was the Eucharist.  They loved the idea that they could hold their God in their hands.

It made perfect sense to me.  An Animist sees the supernatural world as closely connected to the natural one, and so they believe spirits are very active in natural phenomena such as the sun, moon, and stars; in plants and animals; in the weather, etc.  For such a person, the immanent quality of Christianity – the knowledge that God is right down here with us, in our midst, deeply connected to us and concerned about our lives – would have an enormous appeal.  In other words, Christianity would make sense to them.  And so they grabbed onto it and clung to it.  The result is that the people of the southern Sudan hold onto their Christianity, in the face of horrifying circumstances. 

They have found their true joy.  They know that God is in their midst, even as they were forced from their homes, captured and taken into slavery, or ruthlessly murdered.

These folks have learned a lesson that you and I need to reflect upon: that joy is a far deeper, far more meaningful reality than mere pleasure or even emotional happiness.  Joy is the knowledge that God loves us, and that He is in our midst, no matter what the world may throw at us.

On this third Sunday of Advent, our focus is on that joy: the joy of Christmas when we commemorate the coming of our God as one of us; the joy experienced by the people 2000 years ago as they realized that God’s promises were being fulfilled for them in front of their very eyes; the joy of fulfillment that we look forward to when Christ comes again. 

“Shout for joy, O daughter Zion! Sing joyfully, O Israel!” says the prophet Zephaniah.  Why?  Because, “the LORD is in your midst,” he tells them.

And Paul tells the Philippians the same thing: “Rejoice in the Lord always.  I shall say it again: rejoice!”  “The Lord is near.”

When Paul wrote that letter to the Philippians, they were facing a persecution, just as the people of southern Sudan have faced persecution.  He tells them to rejoice and to have no anxiety. 

No doubt, that is a hard thing to do when the world is doing its worst against us, when some of us face challenges, difficulties, and obstacles; when some of us are confronted by disease, violence, and death.

Rejoice and remember that God is in our midst.  If there is something in your life that is a hardship to you right now, if you face sickness, if you are in the midst of difficult relationship, if you have financial problems, if you have family problems, if you have lost a loved one, REMEMBER that God is with you.

Think on the lesson of the Sudanese.  When we come to communion today, don’t let it be some mechanical action that we do without thinking.  Realize that you are holding your God in your hands!  He allows us to do so because He loves us.  He wants to be there for us.  He wants to help us with the courage and strength we need to face whatever life hands us.  And He wants us to be joyful, because only in Him is true joy found.