A Thought For The Week Of October 3, 2016

"Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem!" (Zephaniah 3:14) Rejoicing! As I read this verse (and all of 3:14-20) that's the main thing or the main feeling that comes from it. Our faith should involve a lot of rejoicing. Singing and dancing and just plain celebrating. But beyond this verse, perhaps the most exciting thing we discover in the extended passage isn't that it's we who should rejoice because of God - it's also God who rejoices over us! How in the world can we be worthy of having God rejoice over us? It makes very little sense. There's no logic to it. But it's what God does. And, in return, we're called to rejoice in God. Which leads me to wonder - seriously - what happened to us? So much of the time we spend together as people of faith seems to have little to do with actually rejoicing in God. We're pretty good at ritual. We pray the right words, and sometimes we do it with great passion. We sing the songs of the faith, but how often do we sound as if we're really rejoicing while we do? We enjoy sharing fellowship - but we're usually speaking of fellowship with each other rather than fellowship with God. And while we all know that there are churches that do seem to do a lot of celebrating - with lively services and gatherings - I sometimes wonder if that really isn't more about  having fun than rejoicing in God? I find myself wondering what it would be like to rejoice in God in response to God rejoicing over us? What would it look like? Sound like? Feel like? I'm not really sure to be honest. It would be - ? - different than what any of us usually do, I suspect. What if everything we did was joyfully directed to God rather than just being a rote performance to satisfy ourselves. I find myself wishing that I could go back to Zephaniah's day to experience it.