 St Alban’s Episcopal Church Bolivar, Missouri Friday, December 10, 2021 Third Sunday of Advent More joy…Zephaniah 3:14-20   Zephaniah 3:14-20Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away the judgment against you, he has turned away your enemies. The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall fear disaster no more. On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands grow weak. The Lord, your God is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will rejoice over you with gladness as on a day of festival. I will remove disaster from you, so that you will not bear reproach for it. I will deal with all your oppressors at that time. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. At that time I will bring you home, at the time when I gather you; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says the lord.  Can you hear that song? Of course it wasn’t sung to us first; it is a Jewish prophesy, not a Christian one. Nevertheless, if the New Testament is true, we share in the promises given to Israel. We do not replace Israel; but we have been grafted into that tree. For that above all we can be full of joy. And because of it we can never tolerate anti-Semitism. We can, if we dare, “sing aloud” and “shout”; we can “rejoice and exult” with all our heart. “God is with us”; that’s exactly what we profess when we call Jesus, “emmanu-el”. And if God is in our midst, God is right now, “renewing us in his love,” “rejoicing over us with gladness as on a day of festival!” And don’t you love this? Once again, God chooses the least to become evidence of his power: “I will save the lame and gather the outcast” not just to rescue them and tolerate them as pathetic creatures, but to “change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth.” Listen, my friends. This is incredible. No matter what your shame, or loss, or your painful history is; you are being gathered, saved, rescued, brought home to God where God will – and does – sing over you with joy. No matter how badly the church has failed; no matter how much it has turned away from the simple beauty of the Gospel to opt for worldly power and wealth – and then found itself broken and ashamed; she is still the bride, the beloved. And God will sing her the song, and draw her back into the joy of her first love. “Rejoice in the Lord, always.” Just do.  |
Categories:
Tags:
No responses yet