Tuesday, December 6, 2022  

Today’s Scripture Reading
Zephaniah 3:14–18

Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away the judgments 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 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. (NRSV)

Reflection

Friends, this passage left me bewildered. I feel a little sheepish about it—it’s a happy passage! Writing a devotion about a happy song to sing in joyful times should not be this hard. It’s a victory song. It’s a song of relief and celebration. That’s fine, right?

I’m stumbling over so much of this. I don’t like its gendered language—God is male, a king, a father. Jerusalem (we) are female—a daughter, helpless. God is a warrior, victorious; we are passive, saved, and clearly we deserved disaster, but God spared us from it so we should have a party. I don’t like passages that talk about vanquishing enemies like it is a good thing. I don’t want war with people.

I try to imagine battles that are not with people that would make me sing a song like this. Cancer? Addiction? Medical, student, or credit card debt? I imagine being delivered from those enemies would feel pretty good.

How about sexism? Racism? Poverty, violence, and exploitation? To me, those are the enemies from which I yearn for deliverance. It hurts to admit, but I have been victim, complicit, or both, in them. I suppose I am entrenched in disaster there. It’s not time to sing the song of victory over them yet. Will it ever be time to sing that song?

Oh. Oh, right. It’s Advent. Waiting.

Oooof, waiting is hard.

Prayer

Dear God, I’ve got a lot of barriers between me and your wisdom. Please help me find you this season. Amen.

Written by Kat Evans, Member of Fourth Presbyterian Church

Reflection and prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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