Nehemiah 8 – Currie-Jesson

January 26, 2025

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 »

January 27, 2019

“Gathered around God’s Word”

Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
Psalm 19
1 Corinthians 12:12-31a

The overarching theme in most of this morning’s scripture readings is the scriptures themselves. In particular, it is the question of how we use and interpret the scriptures.

The psalmist begins by making it clear that the scriptures are of utmost importance for God’s people. Of course, from the psalmist’s perspective, at least 500 to maybe 1000 years before the birth of Jesus, the scriptures consisted of the Law of Moses, perhaps as gathered together into the Torah — the rough equivalent of the first five books of our Bibles today.

The psalmist declares that the Law of the Lord is perfect. God’s decrees and precepts and ordinances are sure, and right, and true altogether. He thinks very highly of these texts and speaks of them with utmost respect and admiration and praise. And it’s not only that God’s commandments are true and right from the perspective of a wise and powerful God. The psalmist is arguing that they are actually useful for those who might read and pay attention to them.

God’s laws revive the soul, the psalmist claims. God’s decrees make the reader wise. Paying attention to God’s precepts and commandments brings … Read more »

January 24, 2016

Nehemiah 3:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
Psalm 19
1 Corinthians 12:12-31a

“Interpreting the Scriptures Together”

The overarching theme in most of this morning’s scripture readings is the scriptures themselves. In particular, it is the question of how we use and interpret the scriptures.

God’s laws revive the soul, the psalmist claims. God’s decrees make the reader wise. Paying attention to God’s precepts and commandments brings … Read more »

January 27, 2013

Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
1 Corinthians 12:12-31a

“Gather Around God’s Word”

On Friday evening I attended the Ecumenical Jazz Service at St. Francis Xavier Parish. It was one of the special services planned for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity here in Saskatoon. It was a lovely service, with musical leadership provided by an excellent jazz trio of piano, double bass, and drums. Under the leadership of Pastor David Hunter from Augustana Lutheran Church, the Churches of the Broadway-Nutana area worked together to lead the worship.

Before the Gospel reading, the congregation was invited to stand and sing a jazzy Alleluia in preparation for hearing the Gospel proclaimed. But when the song ended, the congregation waited, and no one stepped forward to do the reading. Something had fallen through the cracks in the planning, and there was no one ready to read. Realizing what had happened, David scrambled to solve the problem. And after glancing around, he asked the question of us all, “Does anyone have a Bible?”

The Catholic Parish in which we were worshipping only had hymn books and prayer books in the pews and David didn’t have one on hand either. As I was just realizing that I could access the … Read more »

January 24, 2010

Sermon by the Rev. Amanda Currie

Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
Psalm 19
1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
Luke 4:14-21

In the middle of our bible reading challenge here at St. Andrew’s, the lectionary has provided us with a wonderful set of readings on which to reflect and pray. The overarching theme in Nehemiah 8, in Psalm 19, and in our reading from Luke’s Gospel is the scriptures themselves — and in particular, the question of how we use and interpret the scriptures.