Tears of hope
Summon all the elders...and cry out to the Lord (Joel 1:14)
I have just received a shock. It was a very minor thing that had gone wrong, but it got under my skin. I felt like crying. It didn't make sense until I came to ponder today's reading. Then I realised. For all the calmness of the present moment, the lack of rushing around from one meeting to another, the empty diary. For all that blankness in my schedule, I am very much on the edge.
I want to summon all the elders and cry out to the Lord. 'Lord what are you doing? How can you allow such a thing to happen in our time? A disease that picks out the weak and vulnerable, that attacks the elderly and infirm, can never be your will, can it? Lord, where are you?'
Yes, I know there are memes going around that remind us of all the good that is happening around us as a consequence of this crisis. CS Lewis words on the effect of the Second World War are particularly pertinent. And I know that even the greatest of evils often has good trailing in its wake. Some even speak of Hitler's murderous regime providing the fertile ground for the founding of a Jewish homeland. But none of this stops the evil being evil.
Joel is particularly relevant here for he does not see the unfolding disaster as a judgement from God. He calls on the people to mourn and wail, to turn to the Lord, to pray, to cry out, but there is no talk of the plague of locusts as punishment. God is not the kind of God who sends a plague that picks out the weak and elderly, we can be pretty sure of that, but that is no reason not to cry out to him for mercy, for help, for safety.
So, if you, like me, feel on the edge of tears for our world, our nation, our towns, cities and villages, and for all the people who are suffering, I have one thought: let it go. Let the tears flow. Cry, cry out to the Lord that he may yet have mercy. Not just on our suffering neighbours, friends, and families, but on each one of us.
Call on him in tears that he may hear our cries and turn our hearts back to him. Turn to him in sadness that we may find hope for today and joy for tomorrow. Pray with sorrow that our tears may water the ground for fresh growth. Look for the revival of the church for which many have been waiting so long. Long for a turning away from the things that satisfy so little and a turning to new ways of living that accord with God and nature.
Summon the elders and all who live in the land ... and cry out to the Lord.
I have just received a shock. It was a very minor thing that had gone wrong, but it got under my skin. I felt like crying. It didn't make sense until I came to ponder today's reading. Then I realised. For all the calmness of the present moment, the lack of rushing around from one meeting to another, the empty diary. For all that blankness in my schedule, I am very much on the edge.
I want to summon all the elders and cry out to the Lord. 'Lord what are you doing? How can you allow such a thing to happen in our time? A disease that picks out the weak and vulnerable, that attacks the elderly and infirm, can never be your will, can it? Lord, where are you?'
Yes, I know there are memes going around that remind us of all the good that is happening around us as a consequence of this crisis. CS Lewis words on the effect of the Second World War are particularly pertinent. And I know that even the greatest of evils often has good trailing in its wake. Some even speak of Hitler's murderous regime providing the fertile ground for the founding of a Jewish homeland. But none of this stops the evil being evil.
Joel is particularly relevant here for he does not see the unfolding disaster as a judgement from God. He calls on the people to mourn and wail, to turn to the Lord, to pray, to cry out, but there is no talk of the plague of locusts as punishment. God is not the kind of God who sends a plague that picks out the weak and elderly, we can be pretty sure of that, but that is no reason not to cry out to him for mercy, for help, for safety.
So, if you, like me, feel on the edge of tears for our world, our nation, our towns, cities and villages, and for all the people who are suffering, I have one thought: let it go. Let the tears flow. Cry, cry out to the Lord that he may yet have mercy. Not just on our suffering neighbours, friends, and families, but on each one of us.
Call on him in tears that he may hear our cries and turn our hearts back to him. Turn to him in sadness that we may find hope for today and joy for tomorrow. Pray with sorrow that our tears may water the ground for fresh growth. Look for the revival of the church for which many have been waiting so long. Long for a turning away from the things that satisfy so little and a turning to new ways of living that accord with God and nature.
Summon the elders and all who live in the land ... and cry out to the Lord.
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| Chicago from the John Hancock Centre restaurant, urban sprawl disappearing into the distance |
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