2:1 Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the
inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming, it is near-
2:2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness
spread upon the mountains a great and powerful army comes; their like has never been from
of old, nor will be again after them in ages to come.
2:12 Yet even now, says the LORD, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with
weeping, and with mourning;
2:13 rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the LORD, your God, for he is
gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from
punishing.
2:14 Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a
grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD, your God?
2:15 Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly;
2:16 gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the aged; gather the
children, even infants at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her
canopy.
2:17 Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the LORD,
weep. Let them say, "Spare your people, O LORD, and do not make your heritage a
mockery, a byword among the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples, 'Where is
their God?'"
As we enter into Lent, perhaps we ourselves the priests and the ministers of the Lord
need to lead the pack in weeping on behalf of the people (v.17) If the leaders won't lead,
then who would blow the trumpet, and who would gather the people?
I have been troubled a lot lately as I went through Medieval Church History. There were
just too much astroscities committed by the church, all was done in God's name.
"Where is our God?" was exactly my cry.
I started to realize that God cannot be motivated by pride. He would not worry so much
about His name become mockery among the nations. And it should be so, for Christ did not
shy away from shame but willing to embrace the cross of utter humiliation. If God was to
relent (as in Exodus 32), then it was not done for His glory in a prideful sense. (I may
need to develop a more corrective understanding about the Glory of God here)...
And to look back in Israel history as well as church history, it's always the fallen
leaders were the cause of deteriation and judgement. So, in this Lent season, may God have
mercy on me. For if I am failing in responding to God first, failing to weep for the
people, I will also fail to blow the trumpet and to gather the people, too.
Oh God, am I taking myself too seriously here? Surely you could accomplish what you
want to accomplish - I just don't want to fall through the crack.
Coho, Midway City
I am doing a series called "Habits that nail" My first nail is pride. I am
working from a tenebre service I found last year. The Scripture reference is Mark
12:38-40, but I may use this too. Pride keeps us from fully experiencing our faith.
Nancy-Wi
v. 15 - "sanctify a fast ..." "sanctify the congregation ..."
A fast made holy. A congregation made saintly.
The Lord relents... God will change God's mind based on our actions. This is a debate
we have in our UMC with our former Presbyterian brothers and sisters.
I like the thought of "who blows the trumpet?" I doubt my getting frustrated
with my congregants is really the same thing is weeping for them - caring for them to the
point of grieving over their lostness.
It also brings up another point of the priesthood of all believers. Do we weep for the
sinners we don't know? Are we able to sound the trumpet for them?
Sally
I am kind of intrigued by the image of an alarm sounding as we begin Lent. what happens
when an alarm sounds? We respond - we know there is danger somewhere - or that it is time
to wake up! - Alarms jolt us into responding. when the fire siren sounds in this town, the
community responds together. We need each other then and in Lent to preserve lives, to
remove the danger. Or if we think of an alarm clock, lent is a time to get out of the
comfort of our beds, to be conscious again maybe. Just playing with this image. Mary
Help - still working with this "alarm" - can't figure out the Hebrew. Does
anyone have an understanding of the Hebrew word translated here as "alarm"? Need
an answer fast guys - anyone else preaching on this for Ash Wed.?Mary
We don't rend much any more. Perhaps in anger a letter is torn, Paper shredders are
more common for security conscious people. But we don't rend our clothes. So, I've been
pondering what rending one's heart may be about Finally, I remembered reading accounts -
somewhat exagerated, I hope - made by the Spanish as they invaded and conquered Aztec
Mexico. They wrote of human sacrifices with countless victims marched up the pyramids. At
the top they would be held down and with one , stroke the priest tore open the chest and
lifted up the still beating heart. A heart was rent, a life was rent to destruction. Is
destruction what people will hear when we read this text? Everyday people give their
bodies over to surgical teams to rend their hearts as a form of healing. What kind of
healing can we anticipate if we rend our hearts in the care of the One who created the
heart? M/A in MN
How do you reconsile with a congregation the idea that the day of the Lord is one of
darkness and gloom with the understanding that ours is a loving God? It's an image of
judgement and judgement is a bad word in our society. I'm okay, you're okay, everyone's
okay. While it is true we all are loved dearly by God, we are not all okay. We all fall
short. Both love and judgement can be expressed by God (and us!). - Rev. Steph
The Hebrew in the verse in Joel goes like this: "Blow the trumpet in Zion"
The trumpet is the word Shofar, the horn used to call people to worship, or whatever. Then
the next part is "sound an alarm in myholy mountain." "Sound an alarm"
is one word, a verb, "Hariy'u" (Can't transliterate exactly on email fonts!). It
is the Hiphil of the verb "To raise a shout" , and a number of variations given:
can be a shout of battle, war cry, sound a signal for war or march, shot in triumph over
enemies, in applaus, cry out in distress,shout for joy etc. Hope that helps. Helen
Joel offers to my mind an image of opportunity. God offers, gives, opens before us the opportunity to lay before Him gifts of fasting, weeping, mourning. All these usually come at moments of sorrow but here we must celebrate sorrow. My theme for Lent is alwys one of remembering death: loved one, spouse, family member. Only in remembering the personal can we personalize the death of Jesus. Who is willing to die for you, me, us? Who, which family member, church member would we offer in sacrifice for our sin? No need, already done.
Joel is the old word but one given to us to remind us of past and future faith.
Phil in KS
I never liked the part about "Who knows whether he will not turn and
relent and leave a blessing behind him."
It sounds so iffy. i like passages that assure us that God will relent.
But I think I will preach on this. I will talk about how even if we were not
sure, there is no where else to go. Kind of like Peter and "Lord, to whom
shall we go."
And then I like the part about relenting and leaving behind a grain offering
and a drink offering. Isn't that the eucharist. YOu see we have it all wrong. We
think if we make and offering to the Lord then the Lord will bless us. What Joel
says if we return with all our heart and "rent (our) hearts and not (our)
clothing" then God makes the offering to us. Actually God makes the
offering to us and we return in thanksgiving. He offers us His Son.
Pastor Dana Izzo
