Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-7, 8-10
Luke 4:14-21
“Do Not Weep”
We are gathered together this morning to do something that God’s people have done for millenia. We have come together, as we do every week, to read aloud from God’s Word and to interpret it for one another. There are other things that we do in our worship. We sing, we pray, we share Sacraments, and we make offerings. But the central part of worship in our Reformed tradition is the reading and preaching of God’s Word.
The Scripture passages that we read aloud today included two stories about God’s people doing something similar. First, there was the text from the Book of Nehemiah. After the Exile in Babylon, as the Israelites were re-settling in Jerusalem and Judah, the people gathered together in the square before the Water Gate.
They hadn’t yet rebuilt the Temple, and yet it seemed important to gather and listen for God’s voice. They met in one of the busy gathering places, where everyone went in and out of the city to get water for their households.
Ezra, the priest and scribe, took out the Book of the Law of Moses, and began to read. He didn’t read three or four short passages … Read more »