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posted by S and C at 7:43 AM
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Duties of a son, from The Story of Aqhat: To erect a stele for his ancestral gods; to build a family shrine in the sanctuary; to guard his footsteps from earth to underworld; to take his hand when he is drunk; to put his arm over one's shoulder when he is full of wine; to eat a funeral meal in the temple of Ba'al; to offer a sacrifice in the house of El.
8 Comments:
The relationship between inner ("spiritual-religious") and outer ("physical-political") transformation is intriguing in Ezekiel too, as you well know.
Would we be reading too much into the text, if we said that in Zephaniah "humility" and "doing God's mishpat" are urged in the face of the threat of judgement (2:3), while "pure speech" is the result of deliverance (3.13)? Maybe this tries to hard to differentiate between "doing God's mishpat" and "committing no wickedness"...
By the way, I am not preaching tomorrow which probably explains the meandering nature of my musings... I am keen to speak again from Zephaniah before long, however...
Well, I find your commentaries incredibly helpful, so be encouraged. That said, I preached from Philippians this week - sorry. Nonetheless, I do always try to do research on all the lectionary texts. I was able to connect the thought that both Paul and Zephaniah understood what it meant to be joyful in the midst of difficulties.
Thanks for the encouragement! ---Steve
Yes, focusing in on the singing as an expression of advent joy. I'm challenging people to sing out this season, though they may be surrounded by exile, darkness and enemies.
yes I will be preaching on Zechariah tomorrow.
Focus is going to be on the call upon on lives to proclaim the passion of Jesus for justice and what that means to us today.
The attempt will be made to relate this call to the joy that comes in proclaiming the good news and seeing the good news shed the light of hope in people's lives.
I will be preaching on this passage tomorrow - er in 12 hrs.
What I will be focusing on is the end part of this passage (v20):
At that time I will gather you;
at that time I will bring you home.
I will give you honor and praise
among all the peoples of the earth
when I restore your fortunes
before your very eyes," (TNIV).
What I will be comparing this image of Gods love (particularly the 'bringing home') to is bringing my first born, my daughter home from the hospital this week.
How an infant (even a grown one such as ourselves) can be a messy 'detraction' from our earlier lives, but still we wish to bring them home to be with us. How much more then will out God-Parent wish to bring us home, especially at this time which we call Advent (the coming of the Lord).
Wow. that sounds almost coherent.
I am doing an Advent preaching series on the four Old Testament readings assigned for the season of Advent (Jeremiah, Malachi, Zephaniah, and Micah). Moreover, I preaching the sermons as monologues from the perspective of each prophet. The overarching theme of the series is HOPE (...through the prophets you taught us to hope for salvation - BCP Eucharistic Prayer D).
Doug, that is awesome!
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