Good morning friends and welcome to the beginning of Lent,
Tonight we'll begin our Lenten season together with an Ash Wednesday service at 6:30 in the sanctuary. Lent is a time to reflect on our lives and our relationship with God. We all drift away in our discipleship sometimes and Lent is a great time to come back to God. Our worship tonight will be quiet and reflective; I hope you'll be there. Lent is a great chance to recommit to daily personal scripture reading and prayer. Please let me know what I can do to help you seek a closer walk with God in this season.
Today's reading is from the prophet Joel. Joel urges the people to fast and repent because God's judgment is coming. The themes he proclaims are like many of the other prophets; his setting is unique. The army Joel refers to in this letter isn't the army of one of Judah's neighbors; instead it is a swarm of locusts that devastated Jerusalem. The historical setting is unknown but based on the writing scholars suspect it could be from the 400-500 BC (after the exile). Joel sees the locusts as agents of God's judgment and sees Israel's repentance in the light of God's promise for restoration. Joel's call to repent, fast and "rend our hearts and not our garments" is a good call for us to hear as we turn back to God in Lent.
Blessings for a holy day and holy Lent,
Sam
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
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 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness!
Like blackness spread upon the mountains their like has never been from of old,
nor will be again after them in ages to come.
12 Yet even now, says the LORD, return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
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.
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?
15 Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast;
call a solemn assembly; 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.
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?’”
Showing posts with label close to God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label close to God. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
hardship and repentance
Good morning brothers and sisters,
This morning's reading is a challenging one. Amos lists off disasters that have fallen on Israel beginning with "Cleanness of teeth" (famine) and including things like "killing your young men with the sword." All of these disasters are said to have come from God and were sent to call the people back to faithfulness to God. When things went badly for our puritan ancestors when they first moved to this continent, whether it was a bad harvest or illness or anything else, they considered the possibility that God was correcting them for some sin. Their response to hardship was to fast and meet together to pray so they could see where they were going wrong and mend their ways.
Today we usually understand different sources for our hardships: crops fail because the weather wasn't right; illness comes from germs, etc. The advantage to our viewpoint is that often by seeking a scientific cause to our problems we can find a cure. Also, we don't end up burdened by the idea that God is causing our hardship, which often makes our relationship with God more positive. On the other hand, we've lost the habit of repenting and seeking God anytime something goes wrong, and sometimes we feel like God is far away from real life. I wonder if there is a way to balance the two approaches where we can take hardship (and success too) as a call to examine our lives and repent while not assuming that everything that goes wrong is God's doing. Scripture has three main ways of looking at suffering. Sometimes suffering is random, things just happen. Other times suffering is the result of injustice: an abused spouse suffers not for her sin but because her spouse is unjust. And sometimes we suffer because we have done something wrong. These different causes are often mixed together, but we can always respond by seeking the Lord and trying to be more faithful.
God bless,
Sam
Amos 4:6-13
6I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places, yet you did not return to me, says the Lord. 7And I also withheld the rain from you when there were still three months to the harvest; I would send rain on one city, and send no rain on another city; one field would be rained upon, and the field on which it did not rain withered; 8so two or three towns wandered to one town to drink water, and were not satisfied; yet you did not return to me, says the Lord.
9I struck you with blight and mildew; I laid waste your gardens and your vineyards; the locust devoured your fig trees and your olive trees; yet you did not return to me, says the Lord. 10I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword; I carried away your horses; and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils; yet you did not return to me, says the Lord. 11I overthrew some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a brand snatched from the fire; yet you did not return to me, says the Lord.
12Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel! 13For lo, the one who forms the mountains, creates the wind, reveals his thoughts to mortals, makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth— the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name!
This morning's reading is a challenging one. Amos lists off disasters that have fallen on Israel beginning with "Cleanness of teeth" (famine) and including things like "killing your young men with the sword." All of these disasters are said to have come from God and were sent to call the people back to faithfulness to God. When things went badly for our puritan ancestors when they first moved to this continent, whether it was a bad harvest or illness or anything else, they considered the possibility that God was correcting them for some sin. Their response to hardship was to fast and meet together to pray so they could see where they were going wrong and mend their ways.
Today we usually understand different sources for our hardships: crops fail because the weather wasn't right; illness comes from germs, etc. The advantage to our viewpoint is that often by seeking a scientific cause to our problems we can find a cure. Also, we don't end up burdened by the idea that God is causing our hardship, which often makes our relationship with God more positive. On the other hand, we've lost the habit of repenting and seeking God anytime something goes wrong, and sometimes we feel like God is far away from real life. I wonder if there is a way to balance the two approaches where we can take hardship (and success too) as a call to examine our lives and repent while not assuming that everything that goes wrong is God's doing. Scripture has three main ways of looking at suffering. Sometimes suffering is random, things just happen. Other times suffering is the result of injustice: an abused spouse suffers not for her sin but because her spouse is unjust. And sometimes we suffer because we have done something wrong. These different causes are often mixed together, but we can always respond by seeking the Lord and trying to be more faithful.
God bless,
Sam
Amos 4:6-13
6I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places, yet you did not return to me, says the Lord. 7And I also withheld the rain from you when there were still three months to the harvest; I would send rain on one city, and send no rain on another city; one field would be rained upon, and the field on which it did not rain withered; 8so two or three towns wandered to one town to drink water, and were not satisfied; yet you did not return to me, says the Lord.
9I struck you with blight and mildew; I laid waste your gardens and your vineyards; the locust devoured your fig trees and your olive trees; yet you did not return to me, says the Lord. 10I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword; I carried away your horses; and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils; yet you did not return to me, says the Lord. 11I overthrew some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a brand snatched from the fire; yet you did not return to me, says the Lord.
12Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel! 13For lo, the one who forms the mountains, creates the wind, reveals his thoughts to mortals, makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth— the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name!
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