Reading
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. 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. (Zephaniah 3:14-20) Reflection At camp, we sing before and after everything – meals, prayers, worship, lessons, walks, games, campfire. There is a huge compendium of hymns and popular lyrics to which we turn, an encyclopaedical, doorstop of a book in blue cover, offering up everything from “Amazing Grace” to Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead. When that falls short of providing just the right vibe, we have Camel Hits, ring bound photocopies of action songs embedded into the fabric of Mount Luther summers. Many of these tracks feature re-crafted verses fit to life at Mount Luther. My guess is that someday its size and breadth may approximate that of the copyrighted Songs of the blue cover. The prophet of Zephaniah sings a song of joy, but not only joy: also of relief, assurance, validation, freedom, renewal, the removal of all that troubles and the restoration of anything lost. So many songs come to mind, so many feelings that beg expressing, like singing along with a song playing on the radio. Sometimes you hum, sometimes you join in on only the chorus, and sometimes you just gotta belt it out, full volume. If the words don’t fit, you make up your own. Today let the Lord be your audience. He’s your songwriter, your producer, your faithful accompanist. Sing your song of joy! --Heather Wolf Prayer Holy Spirit, Come! Fill me with your voice and let me please the ears of the Lord with my praise. Amen. Our devotions are based on this Sunday’s Revised Common Lectionary (RCL). The RCL is a three-year cycle of readings telling the story of our Christian faith and corresponding to the season church calendar. On any given Sunday, we are hearing and praying and examining the same Scripture with millions of Christians around the world. In our current Year C, the Old Testament readings progress through the Prophets and have the theme of the day that it is connected to the Gospel reading. The Psalm, a song the congregation sings in response to the Old Testament reading, most often corresponds to the theme of the Hebrew Lessons and/or that of the Gospel Lesson. The lesson from the Epistles or from Acts typifies the church’s focus on the meaning of Christ for today. The Gospel lesson is connected to the season of the Church Year. This year, our gospel readings are from Luke, who writes that Jesus is the universal Savior and the perfect Son of Man. In the current season of Advent, we long for Christ’s coming: Christ coming as a baby; Christ coming again; Christ in our lives today.
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