“All the people gathered together into the square before the Water Gate” (Nehemiah 8:1, the Richard Nixon memorial text). And then Ezra brought the book of the law of Moses and read it to the assembly, comprised of men and women and children old enough to understand the message (8:2, 3), in kind of a unison very-large-group Sunday School class, with Levites explaining the lesson to smaller groups within the assembled multitude (8:8).

Many people wept, hearing the words of the Covenant – perhaps especially the parts from Deuteronomy that had warned of the danger of exile, and then had offered hope of restoration after repentance. Everyone lamented all the heartbreak and loss that they, and their parents and grandparents, had suffered during the Exile.

Nehemiah, Ezra, and the Levites declared: “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep … do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (8:9-10). And so all the people shared in feasting, making sure no one got left out, and glad because they had understood the meaning of the text that had been proclaimed to them (8:12).

There are hard lessons to be learned along life’s way: struggles and failures, anguish and lost opportunities. There are so many times we have chosen badly, with painful results. Yet in the end, the call of our Lord is not about despair, but about deep and powerful celebration of God’s astonishing grace.

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In all our frailty and failures, O God, in all our lament and repentance over lost opportunities, give us this confidence, O God: that we belong to you, and therefore your joy, shared so freely with us, does indeed become our strength.