locusts

Good morning brothers and sisters,
This week we're getting ready for Pentecost and the gift of the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit came and Peter tried to explain what was happening he went back to a passage from the book of the Prophet Joel. So we're going to get ready first by getting to know Joel. Joel is a short book. We can't pin down Joel's setting exactly, but scholars guess the fifth century before Christ, which is after the return from exile.

Joel was sent to Israel to interpret a terrible plague of locusts that almost destroyed agricultural life. He interprets it as God's judgment and calls Israel to repent and return to the Lord. He talks a lot about temple sacrifice including grain and wine offerings to God. The locusts become apocalyptic and Joel see's the end of time. Let's take a look to see what we can learn about repentance and God's calling.

Blessings as you start your week,
Sam
 

Joel 1:1-13

The word of the Lord that came to Joel son of Pethuel: ²Hear this, O elders, give ear, all inhabitants of the land! Has such a thing happened in your days, or in the days of your ancestors? ³Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. ⁴What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten, and what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten. ⁵Wake up, you drunkards, and weep; and wail, all you wine-drinkers, over the sweet wine, for it is cut off from your mouth. ⁶For a nation has invaded my land, powerful and innumerable; its teeth are lions’ teeth, and it has the fangs of a lioness. ⁷It has laid waste my vines, and splintered my fig trees; it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down; their branches have turned white.

⁸Lament like a virgin dressed in sackcloth for the husband of her youth. ⁹The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off from the house of the Lord. The priests mourn, the ministers of the Lord. ¹⁰The fields are devastated, the ground mourns; for the grain is destroyed, the wine dries up, the oil fails. ¹¹Be dismayed, you farmers, wail, you vinedressers, over the wheat and the barley; for the crops of the field are ruined. ¹²The vine withers, the fig tree droops. Pomegranate, palm, and apple— all the trees of the field are dried up; surely, joy withers away among the people. ¹³Put on sackcloth and lament, you priests; wail, you ministers of the altar. Come, pass the night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God! Grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God.

the fig tree

Good afternoon friends,
Jesus continues his preview of the end by reminding his listeners to stay ready. When generation after generation passes but the end Jesus expected so soon doesn't come, it's easy to think the world is always going to keep going as it is. The truth is, we don't know when things might change dramatically. We can trust that one day God will make everything new. If we remember that there is more to life than we see, it helps us keep the everyday in perspective. When the world ends or we die it will matter a lot more how we have cared for others than the things we have.
God bless,
Sam

Luke 21:29-38
²⁹Then he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; ³⁰as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. ³¹So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. ³²Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. ³³Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.


³⁴“Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, ³⁵like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. ³⁶Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” ³⁷Every day he was teaching in the temple, and at night he would go out and spend the night on the Mount of Olives, as it was called. ³⁸And all the people would get up early in the morning to listen to him in the temple.

dramatic conclusion

Good morning friends,
Jesus concludes his description of his return in our reading for today. It's hard to imagine the scene when Christ comes back, but one thing seems for sure: we won't miss it. As subtle and easy to overlook as his original birth in Bethlehem was, his return at the conclusion of history will be dramatic and obvious. We don't know when it will happen, but we know how to prepare. We prepare with lives of faith, love and service. Advent is a great time to practice and to get our hearts ready for Christ's return.

God bless,
Sam

Mark 13:24-37

²⁴“But in those days, after that suffering,
   the sun will be darkened,
     and the moon will not give its light,
²⁵ and the stars will be falling from heaven,
     and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
²⁶Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. ²⁷Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

²⁸“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. ²⁹So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. ³⁰Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. ³¹Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

³²“But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³³Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. ³⁴It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. ³⁵Therefore, keep awake — for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, ³⁶or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. ³⁷And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”

more end thoughts

Good morning brothers and sisters,
Jesus continues his discussion of the "end of the age" in our passage for today. The big take away point to me is that the end will be scary and sudden, but God also takes our needs into account. It will also be a blessing because with the end, God's kingdom comes in power and everything will be made right. We can't predict the end, and Jesus himself felt it would come sooner than it has. We know God doesn't see time the same way we do.

The important thing when we think about judgment and the conclusion of history is that God will bring it at the right time. The appropriate attitude for us is trust because the end of time is in God's hands and God is more loving than we can imagine. There's also an appropriate level of urgency for our ministry because regardless of when the end comes, each day might be our last, so there's no point in waiting to do what we know we are called to do. Also, every day people we know face the day without the hope and joy that comes from knowing Christ. Today God might put an opportunity in your path to share a glimpse of that hope and love with someone.

God bless,
Sam

Matthew 24:12-22

¹²And because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold.¹³But the one who endures to the end will be saved. ¹⁴And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations; and then the end will come.

¹⁵“So when you see the desolating sacrilege standing in the holy place, as was spoken of by the prophet Daniel (let the reader understand), ¹⁶then those in Judea must flee to the mountains; ¹⁷the one on the housetop must not go down to take what is in the house; ¹⁸the one in the field must not turn back to get a coat. ¹⁹Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days! ²⁰Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a sabbath. ²¹For at that time there will be great suffering, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. ²²And if those days had not been cut short, no one would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.

devotion and the end

Good morning sisters and brothers,
Here Paul gets into thinking outside where God has specifically led him, and he's honest about that. One of the keys to understanding Paul's perspective on practical matters like marriage shows itself here. Here, he explains his thinking, "in view of the impending crisis, " and, "the appointed time is short." What he means in both cases is that the end of history is rapidly approaching. That was a conviction that not only Paul but all of the early Christian leaders held tightly. We can see why thinking the world would end in a month or a year would change the way we thought about marriage.

When Paul talks about being single as preferable, he's thinking only about how to make the best use of the short time we have left to proclaim the good news. Today, we have to take Paul's view with a grain of salt, because two thousand years later the world is still turning and the rent will still probably be due next month. At the same time, we have a lot to learn from Paul's sense of urgency. After all, tomorrow will be someone's last day. We never know how much time we have left, so married or single, let's make the most of it for ministry.

God bless,
Sam

1 Corinthians 7:25-35

25Now concerning virgins, I have no command of the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. 26I think that, in view of the impending crisis, it is well for you to remain as you are. 27Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. 28But if you marry, you do not sin, and if a virgin marries, she does not sin. Yet those who marry will experience distress in this life, and I would spare you that.


29I mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short; from now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none, 30and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no possessions, 31and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.


32I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; 33but the married man is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please his wife, 34and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin are anxious about the affairs of the Lord, so that they may be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please her husband. 35I say this for your own benefit, not to put any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and unhindered devotion to the Lord.

still waiting...

Good morning friends,
Today's reading concludes this section of Jesus' teaching on the coming of the kingdom. Jesus uses the analogy of knowing that summer is coming by seeing the new leaves on the trees. He says when we see the turmoil and destruction he predicts we know God's kingdom is coming in power. There are two problems here: the first is that wars and insurrection are always going on, as are earthquakes and floods. That has led many people across the generations to think they are living in the end times, but the end hasn't come. The second problem is that Jesus says all these things will happen within a generation of his proclamation, but we're still here 2000 years later.

At the same time in other parts of the Gospels Jesus says he doesn't know exactly when the end will come, only the Father knows that. The time between Jesus' ministry and the end of the world is an opportunity for the world to repent and hear the good news of God's love. As I said on Sunday, that time is an opportunity for us to testify to the world that God loves us and wants a relationship with us. We don't know when the end will come but we are called to be prepared for it any time. We are called to live in such a way that if the kingdom comes or we die tomorrow we won't regret how we spent the time we've been given.

Blessings as you use the gift of the new day,
Sam

Luke 21:29-38

29Then he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; 30as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. 31So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. 32Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. 33Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

34“Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, 35like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. 36Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” 37Every day he was teaching in the temple, and at night he would go out and spend the night on the Mount of Olives, as it was called. 38And all the people would get up early in the morning to listen to him in the temple.