Singing (Third Sunday of Advent)

Advent Listening

Two weeks ago: Waiting… confessing our impatience and our longing to see what God is doing and will do… for this work of renewing all of creation is God’s work… and we get to join in.

Last week, preparing.

This week, singing.

Advent is the beginning of the church year and a reminder of the end or the goal of creation

And so during Advent, we keep in mind the FUTURE - what is the “end” or the goal of all creation?

Past - Jesus did come… we know this story and so it affects how we tell it.

Present - where do we long for Jesus to come and make things new? What is broken? What is dark?

This season of Advent is not only a time to prepare for Christmas, but also to re-orient ourselves toward the goal of creation. A world in which all the relationships are rightly ordered. Between humans, between us and God and between us and creation.

More than just whatever you’ll do on Dec 24 and 25. More than just the arrival of an infant.

Part of our preparation - is an “accumulation of light” - from one single candle, to four, to five, to a room full of candlelight on Christmas Eve…

And one of the things this lighting of the candles does… is it invites us to notice the things that are dark. The places we are experiencing the missing right-relatedness that God promises is the goal of all of creation.

So notice the darkness. And then we’ll light a candle.

It helps us learn postures and practices that will sustain us when we encounter the darkness anytime of year. Notice. Don’t ignore it. Don’t pretend it’s not there and hope it will go way. Don’t explain it or spiritualize it.

Name it. Feel it. Maybe even share it with someone you trust.

And then rather than despairing the darkness or cursing the darkness or falling for some sort of product that promises to erase the darkness, we light a candle. We invite God to be God. We remember what God has done in the past. And what God has promised to do in the future. And remember that God is with us now. And so we light a candle. And it doesn’t erase the darkness, but we trust that it is pushing back the darkness a little at a time. Helping us to see just enough to trust the One who is God With Us.

And so, during a season which is often full of noise and lists and errands and travelling or connecting long distance, we are going to seek to slow down on Sundays during Advent.

We are going to seek to slow down.

To take time to listen. To hear the Scripture read, as we always do in our Sunday worship gatherings, but then to stop and listen again.

We will slow down and pause. To hold space for ourselves and for one another. To ask God to speak to us, and then to have the audacity to practice listening - and to do this together.

We’ll hear the text read two times. And we’ll take a slightly different posture during each.

We’ll leave some quiet space just to help us with the whole slowing down thing. Just a minute or two…to just sit. To ask God to speak to you through this text…and to tell God that you’re listening.

Then, we’ll read the passage and simply notice if there’s a word or phrase that catches our attention. If something does stick out to you, go ahead and “get stuck” there… write down the word or phrase - and we’ll take a moment after the first reading to share our word or phrase with one another, if you’re comfortable.

Then, we’ll listen a second time, and during the second reading, we’ll ask God whether there might be an invitation for us in the text. Is there something we sense that God wants us to take with us?

And if you want to share what that invitation is with us, there will be an opportunity to do that.

Holy listening, you might call this. It’s one way that we can enter into Advent and intentionally SLOW DOWN, take time, and refuse to add to the noise and sense of busy-ness that often is a reality in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

We’ve heard from Isaiah. We’ve heard from Jeremiah, from Malachi, from Isaiah and now this week, we hear from Zephaniah.

Jeremiah & Isaiah - major prophets

Malachi & Zephaniah - minor prophets

-major & minor don’t refer to levels of importance, but rather length. Jeremiah & Isaiah & Ezekiel (one scroll each) and then “the scroll of the twelve”…

-Zephaniah was a contemporary of Jeremiah in the 7th c BCE

-message of the beginning of the book is “the day of the Lord will be utter destruction” -

Zephaniah 1:2–3 CEB

2 I will wipe out everything from the earth, says the Lord. 3 I will destroy humanity and the beasts; I will destroy the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea. I will make the wicked into a heap of ruins; I will eliminate humanity from the earth, says the Lord.

But then there is this call to repentance. Perhaps the threat of utter destruction is not a done deal. The conversation is still alive. Reconciliation is an option. Perhaps even articulating the threat of destruction is an act of seeking to find a way through that will avoid it…tension. Will they respond or is destruction assured?

Zephaniah 2:1–3 CEB

1 Gather together and assemble yourselves, shameless nation, 2 before the decision is made— the day vanishes like chaff— before the burning anger of the Lord comes against you, before the day of the Lord’s anger comes against you. 3 Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land who practice his justice; seek righteousness; seek humility. Maybe you will be hidden on the day of the Lord’s anger.

And then in chapter 3, there is hope…

Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (III. The Future of Jerusalem (3:1–20))

Sometimes life seems almost unbearable and completely hopeless. When we survey the current societal scene, we see crime out of control, families breaking up and pulling down the individual members of the family with them, and confusion and frustration on every side. Out of the darkness of our lives comes the dawn of God’s love and care. Zephaniah promised that God had not finished with his people. When life seemed the toughest, God promised to provide.

Zephaniah prophesied in such a way as to be called the fiercest of the prophets. Yet, in his fierceness against the sin of the people, the prophet knew that God was at work creating a faithful remnant who would serve him with all their hearts. Out of the judgment would come a time when God would restore the fortunes of the humble and faithful of the people of Judah.

There is an unresolved tension in Zephaniah. Proclamation of destruction AND hope for a future.

Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah 3. The Joy of the City (3:14–20)

“The Book of Zephaniah ends in almost unimaginable joy.”102

In Zephaniah’s prophecy, God moves from judge and bailiff to a new role: saviour.

And this salvation will not just be for Jerusalem and Judah, but even for their enemies.

When we get to our text for today, there is singing… notice who is invited to sing (Jerusalem) and who is already singing (God, the victorious saviour)

Look at the passage before we hear it read…

if you have a pen or a crayon, notice and mark all the commands

Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah 3. The Joy of the City (3:14–20)

“sing,” “shout aloud,” “be glad,” “rejoice”

Why?

vs 15 gives the reason for rejoicing

Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah 3. The Joy of the City (3:14–20)

(1) the punishment and the enemy have been turned away, and (2) the Lord is king in the midst of the people, leaving nothing to fear (lit., “The king of Israel, Yahweh, is in your midst”111). No wonder the people can rejoice.

vs 16

Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah 3. The Joy of the City (3:14–20)

The expression “do not let your hands hang limp” is unfamiliar to our culture. In Hebrew thought the hand symbolized strength or power. Letting the hands hang limp referred to a feeling of weakness or powerlessness, a sense of discouragement.

vs 17

God’s delight.

Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (3. The Joy of the City (3:14–20))

the point of the verse—God delights in you. The verb is most often intransitive, depicting the inward condition of the subject rather than depicting quietness conveyed to another.129 “Yahweh joins the people’s singing and soothes them by expressing love.”130 This amazing love of God for human beings is inexplicable. Human minds would never dream up such a God. Human actions or human character could never deserve such love. God’s love comes in his quiet absorption because this is who God is. In the core of his being, God is love (1 John 4:8). Zephaniah thus sings the prelude to the cross kind of love Jesus reveals, a love that “surpasses knowledge” (Eph 3:19). How can this not cause God’s people to praise! “Surely the greatest reason for them to offer praise is found here. They are to rejoice in Him because He, their gracious King and Savior, rejoices in them.”131

Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (3. The Joy of the City (3:14–20))

The promise of Zephaniah found its immediate fulfillment in the return from the seventy years of exile of which Zephaniah’s contemporary, Jeremiah, spoke. At that time the people were rescued and the reputation of the people restored.

The book ends where it began with a scene of the reversal of the whole world order. It began with cataclysmic overthrow. It ended with the blessings of God’s people being returned to the land.144 “God’s restoration of the nation in chapter three is as complete as His destruction of the world in chapter one. He is now a judge who pardons.”145

In some sense, the fulfillment describes the glorious promise of the Messianic age when the Lord promised through his Son to “take great delight in you, … quiet you with his love, [and] … rejoice over you with singing” (Zeph 3:17).

Moment for quiet.

Invitation to listen and notice a word or phrase.

Jeremy reads.

Zephaniah 3:14–16 CEB

14 Rejoice, Daughter Zion! Shout, Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, Daughter Jerusalem. 15 The Lord has removed your judgment; he has turned away your enemy. The Lord, the king of Israel, is in your midst; you will no longer fear evil. 16 On that day, it will be said to Jerusalem: Don’t fear, Zion. Don’t let your hands fall.

Zephaniah 3:17–20 (CEB)

17 The Lord your God is in your midst—

a warrior bringing victory.

He will create calm with his love;

he will rejoice over you with singing.

18 I will remove from you those worried

about the appointed feasts.

They have been a burden for her, a reproach.

19 Watch what I am about to do

to all your oppressors at that time.

I will deliver the lame;

I will gather the outcast.

I will change their shame into praise

and fame throughout the earth.

Zephaniah 3:20 CEB

20 At that time, I will bring all of you back, at the time when I gather you. I will give you fame and praise among all the neighboring peoples when I restore your possessions and you can see them—says the Lord.

Space.

Sharing word/phrase.

Space.

Listening for invitation. Somewhere that this text intersects with your life. WIth your story. God, speak to us…

Mary reads.

Zephaniah 3:14–16 (CEB)

14 Rejoice, Daughter Zion! Shout, Israel!

Rejoice and exult with all your heart,

Daughter Jerusalem.

15 The Lord has removed your judgment;

he has turned away your enemy.

The Lord, the king of Israel,

is in your midst;

you will no longer fear evil.

16 On that day, it will be said to Jerusalem:

Don’t fear, Zion.

Don’t let your hands fall.

Zephaniah 3:17–20 (CEB)

17 The Lord your God is in your midst—

a warrior bringing victory.

He will create calm with his love;

he will rejoice over you with singing.

18 I will remove from you those worried

about the appointed feasts.

They have been a burden for her, a reproach.

19 Watch what I am about to do

to all your oppressors at that time.

I will deliver the lame;

I will gather the outcast.

I will change their shame into praise

and fame throughout the earth.

Zephaniah 3:20 (CEB)

At that time, I will bring all of you back,

at the time when I gather you.

I will give you fame and praise

among all the neighboring peoples

when I restore your possessions and

you can see them—says the Lord.

Space.

Sharing invitations.

(Melanie) Prayer of Confession: