Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Zephaniah 3:14-20

14Sing aloud, O daughter Zion;
   shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
   O daughter Jerusalem!
15The 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.
16On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
Do not fear, O Zion;
   do not let your hands grow weak.
17The 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
   18as on a day of festival.
I will remove disaster from you,
   so that you will not bear reproach for it.
19I 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.
20At 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.

    
Once and future kings are intriguing mythical creatures.

15b - The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall fear disaster no more.

16 - On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: Do not fear. O Zion; do not let your hands grow weak.

What day is “that day” if it is not “that day” today?

You shall fear disaster no more! or it shall be “said”, do not fear. These suggest two different experiences of renewal or resurrection from fear unless we are back to a new creation being “said” into existence. Either way, there is an external pull or push which leads us to a different response than our usual one of knee-jerk fear, of fight or flight, and this makes us different creatures.

This passage is very G*D active. Can you imagine being exulted over with loud singing? I must admit that brings images of being conquered or a coercive courting. If G*D said the cost of having disaster removed from us would be the loss of free-will, how many would take it? (Look at that in terms of the popularity and power of “security” measures in our day.)

Learning a “no fear” response to disaster is one thing and to have disasters removed from our response-ability is quite another.

If it is all the same, I'll focus on G*D being in our midst rather than our being in G*D's midst. This sense of journeying together through high times and low is more attractive than being protected beyond my participation.