Anyone hearing these words out of context might assume that their author did nothing but lounge around all day nibbling on bon-bons. After all, it's easy to rejoice and to be gentle and worry-free when everything's just dandy. But we know that Paul is the author of these words, and that, in fact, he had good reason to be anything but worry-free. Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians while in prison, and he half expected that he was going to be executed. And yet, just when we might expect him to be most somber, he is most joyful-so joyful, in fact, that he uses the word "rejoice" nine times in the four short chapters that comprise Philippians.

Paul tells the Philippian church, "I want you to know, beloved, that what has happened to me has actually helped to spread the gospel, so that it has become known…that my imprisonment is for Christ." He goes on to explain that his imprisonment has emboldened both his supporters and his detractors, with the end result that each group has been preaching the gospel with fervency-his supporters because they no longer fear suffering for the sake of the gospel, and his detractors, ironically, because they are hoping to stir up ill will toward Paul, to which Paul responds, "What does it matter? Just this, that Christ is proclaimed in every way, whether out of false motives or true; and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice."

For Paul, the one thing worth rejoicing over is the gospel of Christ, which he understands not merely as proclaiming Christ, but as imitating Christ. Paul declares, "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead." This is why Paul can exhort the Philippians to "keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me," for he is instructing the Philippians to be imitators of him only insofar as he is an imitator of Christ.

Paul spells out quite clearly what it means to be an imitator of Christ in the second chapter of Philippians, in which he quotes an early hymn of praise. He prefaces it by writing:

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in [lowliness of mind] regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. [And here he launches into that hymn of praise:] Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

Who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
But emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death-
even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
So that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth
and under the earth,
And every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Here we can hear Paul at his most joyful, rejoicing in the advent of Jesus as the One who humbled himself for the salvation of the world. Here, Paul makes it clear that to imitate Christ is to have "the mind of Christ." But what does it mean to have "the mind of Christ"?

To answer that question, we should take a look at this morning's passage in its wider context. Paul's letters were often written in response to a conflict in the community to which the letter is addressed, and the church at Philippi is no exception. In the three verses preceding this morning's selection, Paul writes:

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved. I urge Euodia [You-OH-dee-ah] and I urge Syntyche [Sin-TOO-kay] to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life. [And then we get:] Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.

Our lectors may rejoice in the fact that the compilers of the lectionary spared them the agony of pronouncing You-OH-dee-ah and Sin-TOO-kay-which is spelled S-y-n-t-y-c-h-e, for those of you in the market for unusual baby names-but it's unfortunate that we don't know more about these two women other than the fact that at the time of Paul's writing they were apparently at odds with one another. What we do know, however, is that just as earlier in the epistle, Paul instructs the church as a whole to have the mind of Christ, here Paul tells these two to "be of the same mind in the Lord."

In this context, the next few verses may be read as a response to the question "What do people who have the mind of Christ think about?" For Paul writes, "Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, and those with the mind of Christ gotta think on these things. Whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, pleasing, commendable, excellent, praiseworthy-these are the things that the mind of Christ is fixed upon; not upon the false, dishonorable, unjust, impure, displeasing, condemnable, shabby, and accursed things of the world. As we find elsewhere in Philippians, Paul writes:

Let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind; and if you think differently about anything, this too God will reveal to you. Only let us hold fast to what we have attained. Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

This Advent, as we remember that "the Lord is near" and await in joyful and expectant hope the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ, we would do well to look at what our minds are truly fixed on, and ask ourselves: are we really concerned with the true and the honorable, or are our minds so set on earthly things that our focus is somewhere else entirely?

Tomorrow evening, I'll be offering an opportunity for anyone in this community to come together for a conversation on the state of the church. It is my prayer that in that conversation, we will indeed be able to discern the "mind of Christ," not necessarily by agreeing in every detail, but "in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving" letting our "requests be make known to God." In this way, I hope we will demonstrate our desire to attain "the mind of Christ," for then we are assured that "the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Amen.