000 Allen FMT (i-xxii) - The Presbyterian Leader

284 Proper 27 [32]/Year C
midst . . . 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” (Zeph.
3:17–18). “Festival” is the meaning of Haggai’s name. Haggai works in
that period which Zephaniah anticipated. He wants to house the festival
with God in a Temple, as the Eucharist with God is housed in a church
building with a table set with bread and wine, a cross, and a baptistery.
Pastors raise an eyebrow at church members who hint that being present
when the community gathers for worship is not terribly important. After
all, is not God everywhere? Can we not commune with God in a garden,
on the golf course, or in the football stadium? But the point of the symbols,
rituals and, yes, the architecture of worship is not that they capture and contain
God, to whom access is nowhere else available. It is that in numerous
ways they symbolize, point to, and remind us of the actuality of the living
God who desires that we live in authentic community. Tangible, material,
ecclesial things focus our attention on matters of ultimate importance; the
football stadium and the golf course focus it on transient matters.
Job 19:23–27a* (Paired)
The story of Job is a single narrative so that a sermon on a text must set
the passage in the larger narrative context (see Proper 22/Year B). A theme
from Deuteronomic theology is in the background: obedience brings
blessing while disobedience results in curse. The book of Job challenges
this idea.
In Job 1:1–2:10, Satan set up an experiment to see whether Job would
reject God if Job’s prosperity ended. Job lost nearly everything. Job
laments (3:1–26). Three friends interpret Job’s suffering. Eliphaz says Job
suffers because Job sinned (4:1–5:27). Job challenges the friends to show
that Job deserves to suffer (6:1–7:21). Bildad says that Job should repent
(8:1–22). Job replies that his situation is hopeless since God is prosecutor
and judge (9:1–10:22). Zophar states that God could expose Job’s guilt
(11:1–20). Job accuses the friends of retreating into conventional wisdom:
Job wants to confront God (12:1–14:20). Eliphaz returns to point out that
Job cannot know the divine purposes fully (15:1–35), which calls for
another statement of innocence from Job and the cry that Job has no hope
(16:1–17:16). Bildad comes back to affirm that God punishes the wicked,
so Job must be wicked (18:1–21).
Job protests the harsh verdict of the three friends (Job 19:1–6). By sending
the calamities, God has dealt unfairly with Job (19:6–12). Job’s family,