Saturday, January 28, 2023

Today’s Scripture Reading

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January 28, 2023
Scripture Reading
Joel 2:1–2, 12–17

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—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.

Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 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. 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? Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly; 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. 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?’” (NRSV)

Reflection

I come from a long line of farmers and have inherited a very green thumb! Instead of corn and beans I exert my efforts on house plants and have been called a plant dad because at last count I had more than 150 plants at home and in my office. I enjoy caring for each one of these plants in their unique ways, but during cold, dark Chicago winters I spend a fair bit of time nurturing and encouraging them to hang on until spring returns. It may even entail some hefty pruning and other drastic changes to keep them alive. The work during these winter months pays off, though, in the spring as the plants are restored to vibrant growth and burst into new life.

Joel writes, “Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 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.”

I am so grateful that the Lord is “gracious and merciful” and have learned that it takes a lifetime of work to return to the Lord good but real work. Joel describes that effort as fasting, weeping, and mourning, literally or possibly just metaphorically. That work may be fasting, like pruning some branches, or giving something up that is not good for me, or giving something up that is not good for those around us. It may involve weeping, a sadness that can lead to new joys, like the burst of new life in the springtime for my plants. It may even involve mourning, letting go of something we love, but only to embrace something else that is new. And we do all this work to change our hearts, to make change happen within ourselves, because lasting change comes from within. From this effort we do return to the Lord, because we all come from the Lord and are loved more fully than we possibly know. Yet the only way to fully comprehend that love is to finally return home to be in the loving embrace of God.

Prayer

Loving God, thank you for your grace and mercy; thank you for your abounding and steadfast love. Help me to glimpse that love even now and to know it finally and fully when I return to you. Amen.

Written by John W. W. Sherer, Organist and Director of Music

Reflection and prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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