Open-ended,
Life-centred,
Gospel-Focused Explorations of the Hebrew Bible
Eucharistic Readings from the Australian Prayer Book.
Nehemiah 8: 1-3, 5-6, 8-10... 3rd S. after Epiphany, Year C ....(For LK 4:14-21
scroll on site.)
NOTES: 1]Always read the Hebrew Bible in the light
of our Christian understanding of God revealed in Jesus in the New
Testament.2] There is much confusion over the
order of texts & events in the books Ezra & Nehemiah (a joint
book in the Hebrew Bible). 3]
In 538BC the Persians (who'd by now conquered the Babylonians who'd
conquered & deported the Hebrews in 586-7) let them return to
Jerusalem. c.445BC Nehemiah is sent by the Persian king as 'High
Commissioner' to oversee the rebuilding of the city walls & Temple. 4] The NJB refers to the occasion
of vv.1-3 as 'the birth of Judaism'.
WARMING UP: What does it
feel like to 'go back home'?
TREASURES OLD & NEW:
Identify God at work in anything this week?
ENTERING INTO THE STORY:
1-3 Have we ever been part of a
church re-building, or restoration programme? Do we ever experience the
air of excitement obviously abroad in Jerusalem that day at any of our religious festivals? Or have
they become pretty much ho-hum because we've never been deprived of
such things, as the Hebrews had been? How much of a part does 'God's
Law' (the Law of Moses - GEN to DEUT in the Hebrew Bible) play in our
experience of Christian faith today? What might happen today if a
church leader stood up in the town square & tried to do what Ezra
did? Have Moses' Ten Commandments been sosuperceded by Jesus' 'Two Great'
ones that the originals have been 'put on the shelf'? Do we even know
the Two, today, let alone the Ten?
Does NEH's reference to those
'who could hear with understanding' raise any questions about how much
hearing without understanding
might go on in our churches? If NEH simply means 'those old enough to
understand' does that in itself raise any question about our
understanding of how different age groups hear & respond to (or
not) the Gospel? How 'attentive' are we
to God's law?
5-6
Does Ezra's position standing 'above' the people say anything to us
about the physical setting in our own church & whether it either
helps or hinders worship in general, & 'hearing the law of God with
understanding' in particular? How well can we see, hear, generally take
in, be part of, what's going on? How much do positions we adopt, such
as sitting, kneeling, standing, bowing, the way we hold our hands,
shutting our eyes, making the sign of the cross, etc. affect the
quality of our worship? Or don't they? If 'worshipping the Lord with
our faces to the ground' isn't too much in fashion in Christian circles
today, might we have moved too far away from what's at the heart of
using such a posture? What is
at the heart of it?
8-10 How
well is 'the law of God' being interpreted to us ? Isn't everything we hear, see,
read, watch on TV, etc. a matter of interpretation? How can we be sure
that the 'law of God' is being interpreted to us in terms of God's
intention, rather than that of someone with their own axe to grind?
Are we as aware as we need to be of how much this issue is dividing the
church into 'fundamentalist', 'liberals', 'middle of the road', etc.?
What makes any day 'holy to the Lord our God'? What would make every
day 'holy'? Why does 'holiness' have such a bad press these days?
How effective are we at spreading our celebrations of God into &
among those who aren't part of them? How good are we at celebrating
God, full stop? Is 'the joy of the Lord' really our strength? How does
our 'joy in the Lord' level rate? Would others rate us as we rate
ourselves? Can we see any connection between this passage & today's
Gospel (see above)?
