Zephaniah: rejoice
Zephaniah spoke to a world in chaos, yet even in the darkness we can find joy in the Lord.
John is a licensed Reader and member of Christ Church

Zephaniah spoke to a world in chaos, yet even in the darkness we can find joy in the Lord.

The book of Judges documents the spiral of God’s people as ‘everyone did what seemed right in their own eyes’. What can we learn?

Like the Pharisees, we too can put our own rules and customs before a heart obedience to God. How can we avoid this trap?

Where is Jesus in the midst of the storm? Where is Jesus when it hurts? Asleep in the boat?

Like the Magi were, will we be serious in finding out about Jesus, and be prepared to offer him costly worship?

War without and conflict within… we all need peace. Only he can calm our inner turmoil and enable us to be peacemakers in the world around us.

The greatest task of all – Jesus’ Great Commission to make disciples of all nations – is one we are called to do together, not alone.

Is anyone among us in trouble? Is anyone happy? Is anyone ill? These are common scenes from church life – how can we respond to those in need?

Eager to hear Jesus’ teaching, the crowd had followed him, and now they were in need of physical food. Jesus invites his disciples to see what they have, and then does the impossible with it.

We can have real hope, because our belief is based on the historical facts of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Yet we still grieve at the loss of someone close to us.
What does the Ascension mean and what are the implications for us today? Jesus knows what it is like to be human, to go through our struggles and pain.