The first reading for the Third Sunday of Advent is Zephaniah 3:14-20 and this is a short story about why part of that verse always stops me in my tracks.
Taylor Swift once famously sang that when you’re fifteen and someone tells you they love you then you’re going to believe it. When I was fifteen, I was gangly, unsure of myself, and generally did not think that I mattered that much. I do not know how the conversation started that led to Zephaniah started, but I do know where it ended. One of the staff members at the camp my family ran (also that summer, a professional theater troupe; long story, different story) named Lauren encouraged me by reading this verse:
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
as on a day of festival.
—Zephaniah 3:17-18a
Nearly thirty years later, I distinctly remember hearing this verse for the first time. And it was probably the perfect time for me to hear it. A few years later, I probably would have waved it off because Christians way too often decontextualize passages meant for the people of Israel and make it about us feeling good. I wasn’t there yet, so Zephaniah stuck with me. I guess when you’re fifteen and someone tells you God loves you, you’re going to believe it. So, thank you for that, Lauren. Context or not, that verse always reminds me that God loves me.
So let me offer that encouragement to you, context be darned. Because we are imperfect creatures prone to screwing up, we sometimes fall into this trap of believing that God can barely tolerate us. I do not believe that is true. I love Advent and Christmas because it reminds us that God is with us. That God loves us so much that there was a willingness to mingle amongst us screwing-up, imperfect creatures. Not just mingle, but live with us, eat with us, laugh with us, cry with us, show us how to love, and show us that we are loved. My faith gets battered and bruised sometimes, but I hold tightly to this notion of God with us.
Friends, God is with you. God rejoices over you with gladness. God will renew you with a love beyond what any of us can imagine. God will celebrate over you with loud singing. Let me repeat that image: God sings over you. You are loved. I hope you believe that.