Zephaniah 3:14-20
14 Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem! 15 The 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.
16 On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands grow weak. 17 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 18 as on a day of festival.
I will remove disaster from you, so that you will not bear reproach for it. 19 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. 20 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.
I will bring you home, says the Lord.
Are you far from home tonight? Far from feeling at home where you are? Far from feeling at home in yourself? Far from comfort and acceptance and unconditional love? Far from settled rest? Far from peace?
I will bring you home, says the Lord. I will change your shame into praise.
As a senior in high school, I was a homecoming queen candidate. The local tradition was for each candidate to be escorted onto the football field by her dad, during halftime of the football game.
My dad had been gone over 5 years by that time. He didn’t die. He just left.
I can still feel the shame that spread like a fever through my body, the grief and anger that welled up inside me, as I thought about walking onto that football field without my dad at my side. Everyone else had their dad. Where was mine?
I will bring you home, says the Lord. I will change your shame into praise. I rejoice over you with gladness. I exult over you with loud singing.
I long ago abandoned gendered language for God. God is God. In my own devotional life, I love the biblical imagery of God as midwife, God as potter, God as mother hen.
But in this reading from Zephaniah, in this description of God rejoicing over daughter Zion with gladness, exulting over daughter Jerusalem with loud singing, I see a dad swinging his young daughter up over his head. She laughs and throws her head back. He pulls her close, enfolding her in strength, kisses her tenderly on the forehead, sings her name as only he can.
I will renew you in my love.
I don’t know what part of your heart needs God’s tender touch tonight. Maybe you’re missing someone too. Maybe you’re exhausted from all the running of these last weeks. Maybe you’re waiting and watching with one who’s preparing for a final homecoming. Maybe you’re aching to be heard, to be held, to be loved.
This is God’s word for you:
I will bring you home. I will change your shame into praise. I rejoice over you with gladness. I exult over you with loud singing. I will renew you in my love.
You are loved. Oh, so loved.
Come, Lord Jesus, come. Renew us in your love. Amen.