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October 31, 2016

A Place in the Choir

Jonathan C. Wallace   |   Read Haggai 1:15 , Read Haggai 2:1-9

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Lectionary Week
October 31–November 6, 2016
Scripture Overview

The rebuilding of the Jerusalem temple became a test of God’s promise. The prophetic word of Haggai insists on courage and labor, reminding the people that God’s Spirit is already present among them and points toward the future. In Second Thessalonians, some Christians have grown extremely agitated by claims that the “day of the Lord” has already come. The passage recalls what Jesus and God have already accomplished and insists that God’s future may also be trusted. Jesus’ response to the Sadducees confutes them, not merely by its cleverness (their question also is clever) but by its truth. The eschatological future cannot be understood simply as an extension of the present, except in one profound sense: God is Lord both of the present and of the future. This profound truth demands the praise to which Psalm 145 calls all creatures.

Questions and Suggestions for Reflection

• Read Haggai 1:15b–2:9. The people return home from exile—but home has changed. When have you returned “home” to a different setting than the one you left? How did you feel the changes?
• Read Psalm 145:1-5, 17-21. How fully do you participate in worship? In what areas are you more reserved?
• Read 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17. The phrase “shaken in mind” may be better translated as “shaken out of mind,” implying great distress. What basics and foundation do you return to when you are “shaken out of mind”?
• Read Luke 20:27-38. The Sadducees miss the core of who Jesus is. When has an “old” religious mind-set blocked your ability to see and hear a “new thing”?

Respond by posting a prayer .

Haggai 1:15

15 on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king.

Unless otherwise indicated, scripture quotations are from the Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible. Used by permission.

Haggai 2:1-9

1 On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the LORD’s word came through Haggai the prophet: 2 Say to Judah’s governor Zerubbabel, Shealtiel’s son, and to the chief priest Joshua, Jehozadak’s son, and to the rest of the people: 3 Who among you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Doesn’t it appear as nothing to you? 4 So now, be strong, Zerubbabel, says the LORD. Be strong, High Priest Joshua, Jehozadak’s son, and be strong, all you people of the land, says the LORD. Work, for I am with you, says the LORD of heavenly forces. 5 As with our agreement when you came out of Egypt, my spirit stands in your midst. Don’t fear. 6 This is what the LORD of heavenly forces says: In just a little while, I will make the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry land quake. 7 I will make all the nations quake. The wealth of all the nations will come. I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of heavenly forces. 8 The silver and the gold belong to me, says the LORD of heavenly forces. 9 This house will be more glorious than its predecessor, says the LORD of heavenly forces. I will provide prosperity in this place, says the LORD of heavenly forces.

Unless otherwise indicated, scripture quotations are from the Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible. Used by permission.

Ah, the “good old days”! How we miss them! In a rapidly changing world, nothing is more appealing than memories, real or imagined, of greater glory than what lies before us at the moment. How can our present attempts or future dreams possibly measure up to the “good old days”?...

Gracious God, may I bask in the glow of your work in the present, knowing that the best is yet to come. Amen.


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