The Returned Exiles Worship and Rebuild

Text: Ezra 3:1-13

Reflection and Question: To fully appreciate this scene we need to remember that the remnant has returned to Jerusalem after decades of exile in which the city, including the temple, had been laid waste and there had been no traditional worship of God. I think this story prepares us for the day GLBT people are finally accepted fully in church and society. We will have the memory of pain, like the exiles, causing some to weep. At the same time we will rejoice, like the people here, at building a foundation of justice on which to glorify God. Was there a time you could not “distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from that of the weeping and wailing?”

Prayer: Mighty God, may your warning steer us to the way You have commanded us to walk. Open our eyes to false paths so that we may delight in You will and walk in Your ways, to the glory of Your Holy Name. Amen.

This meditation is based on the Daily Lectionary Year 1 from the Book of Common Worship for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (1993).