Wednesday December 13
Ezra 3:1-7 Rebuilding the altar
When the seventh month came, and the
Israelites were in the towns, the people gathered together in Jerusalem. Then
Jeshua son of Jozadak, with his fellow priests, and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel
with his kin set out to build the altar of the God of Israel, to offer
burnt-offerings on it, as prescribed in the law of Moses the man of God. They
set up the altar on its foundation, because they were in dread of the neighboring
peoples, and they offered burnt-offerings upon it to the Lord,
morning and evening. And they kept the festival of booths, as prescribed, and
offered the daily burnt-offerings by number according to the ordinance, as
required for each day, and after that the regular burnt-offerings, the
offerings at the new moon and at all the sacred festivals of the Lord, and the offerings of everyone who made a
freewill-offering to the Lord. From the first day of the
seventh month they began to offer burnt-offerings to the Lord.
But the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet
laid. So they gave money to the masons and the carpenters, and food, drink, and
oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the
sea, to Joppa, according to the grant that they had from King Cyrus of Persia.
****
After seventy years of exile, the Israelites return to Jerusalem
and set out to rebuild the temple that had been destroyed in the siege by
Nebuchadnezzar II. Earlier in the book of Ezra it describes the gold and silver
vessels and other materials that had been gathered for the reconstruction.
But first the priests gather to erect the altar so that they can
begin to make their offerings to the Lord, even before the temple is started.
Even if it is not the perfect and complete location, the most important thing
was to be able to give thanks and praise to God.
Maybe sometimes we feel like our worship has to wait because our
“temple” isn’t perfect and ready. Perhaps we’ve been away from church for a
while, or our relationships with others haven’t been as good as we know they
should be, or the path we’ve been following hasn’t taken us as close to God as
we would wish. But we shouldn’t let anything keep us from “rebuilding our
altar” and turning to God, no matter how incomplete or imperfect or unready we
might feel. Our Lord is always ready to accept us as we are and he rejoices
whenever we turn to him.
Prayer: Dear Father, we know we are
incomplete and imperfect and need your help to rebuild from that brokenness.
Help us keep our hearts and eyes open to see all the ways you show us that you
are always welcoming us to you. Help us always to carry an altar of
thanksgiving to you in our hearts as we face every day. We pray in Jesus’ name.
Amen
Mary Beth Commisso
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