By Susan Miller Setiawan, associate professor of nursing
Scripture: Zephaniah 3:14-20 (NRSV)
More than any other season, I associate Advent with specific songs, and I suspect that I am not alone. We sing our favorite Advent hymns (Comfort, Comfort, O My People) and hum along to our favorite albums (The Roches’ We Three Kings). We carol for loved ones (while wearing a mask and staying outside to minimize risks!). Songs provide expression when words do not feel like enough.
The theme for this week is “dare to imagine God’s song!” I was pondering this invitation when I read the scriptures for today, so it’s no surprise that I noted singing in Zephaniah 3:14-20. This scripture assures us that God is in our midst—here, in the world that we live in. God rejoices over Zion with gladness and—wait for it– exults over God’s people with loud singing. This imagery of God singing over us is compelling. What does God’s song sound like, and how do we imagine or encounter it?
We are more likely to hear God’s song when we quiet ourselves. During the weeks before Christmas, our days are often full of practical preparations—we bake food to share, make or buy presents to give, practice music to perform. These preparations are right and good, and I’m not suggesting that we halt them, but they can be a distraction from the deeper tasks of this season: to wait, to imagine, and to inwardly prepare for the coming of the Light of the World. In other words, to make space for God’s song.
God’s song is there—always. It flows gently throughout our earth, perhaps a low humming or near-silent melody that is audible only when we stop and listen deeply. It is written deep into each of our hearts and into the created world. Let us quiet ourselves this season to listen for it.
Scripture: Zephaniah 3:14-20 (NRSV)
Sing 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.