3rd Sunday of Advent (December 15). GOD EXULTS OVER YOU

Prepare to Listen.  If using the Advent wreath, light the pink candle with two purple candles.  The LORD, your God, is in your midst.
 
Prayerfully Read 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 judgements 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.
 
Prayerfully Wonder and Reflect
God “will exult over you with loud singing.”  How often do you think about God exulting over you with singing?
 
Zephaniah isn’t often read by most of us and we’re not alone.  It wasn’t popular with the early Christians and is never quoted in the New Testament.  Yet every 3rd Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of joy (hence the pink candle) these verses from Zephaniah 3 are read in many churches.  The passage begins with a familiar exhortation: “Rejoice and exult with all your heart.”  In the center of the passage, we read the less familiar: the Lord will rejoice and exult over you with loud singing.
 
The people rejoiced because God had won the victory, defeated the enemy, banished fear, freed them to return home after a long exile.  On this 3rd Sunday of Advent, we look ahead to the victory Jesus has already won for us and for the world.  He has banished fear, defeated the enemy and we are safe.  We live in trusting hope and rejoice, even though the victory isn’t obvious to us now.  And, as you rejoice, pay attention to our God who is rejoicing and exulting over and with you.  God leads the singing, dancing and shouting.  God’s love for us is an exuberant and abundant love, nothing holds back the joy.  It’s mind blowing to think about God rejoicing over us.  And we can join God and rejoice with him.
 
Pause and reflect on God singing, rejoicing, exulting over you in love; imagine what that might look and sound like.  Imagine the lyrics of God’s song.
 
Prayerfully Respond
Lord God, you continually surprise me with the ways you behave among your people.  Help me go out today with the sound of your joyful singing in my heart and with the assurance that you love me.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Live in acceptance of God rejoicing over you.