Advent
December 12, 2018

Scripture Reading: Zephaniah 3:14-20

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 exult over you with loud singing
  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.  –Zephaniah 3:17-19

I am reading Frederick Douglas by David W. Blight. A segment of his book relates Douglas’ youthful faith development. How the prophets of his day and time continually reinforced his growing faith in God even during slavery, family breakup, and uncertainty. The pre-exilic, exilic and post-exilic prophets offered similar encouragement, food for thought, alternative perceptions for the people of their time that remain relevant for us today.

We live in a world, not unlike the pre-exilic times where some abound in great riches and others starve. The pictures of the emaciated children of Yemen juxtaposed against the wealth of Saudi Arabia comes to mind. We in the USA seem to be searching for a savior who can guarantee that we can have our cake and eat it too and care little about what is happening to other children of God. We indeed must be renewed in God’s love, if we are ever to find our way out of the chaos we are creating for ourselves.

In Advent, we have the luxury of hindsight as we read the words of Israel’s prophets for we know how the stories ended. The question is do we have the courage to see ourselves in similar circumstances and take the necessary measure of renewing ourselves in God’s love to prevent our repeating their mistakes?

Prayer: Lord, grant us insight into our behaviors that are detrimental to our living your love among and with all your children. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.