Main Text: Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 (2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10; Matthew 6:1-6,
16-21)
Change is often devastating and disruptive. We can all handle the little technical changes to adjust direction within a certain path. When the entire path changes in front of us or disappears completely, little adjustments no longer work. For those who have become familiar and comfortable with the current path, this can feel like judgement. In this passage from Joel, God is coming with an incredible army that is unstoppable. Everything that the people of Israel have built and known is about to be totally thrown into the air if not completely destroyed. These words are a warning to the people to prepare for change coming. Listen carefully, however, and you can hear a word of hope. It comes with the word “Yet”. “Yet even now…,” the reading says, God might leave behind a blessing. There has been a lot of change happening. Paths that were tried and true no longer seem to work or are blocked by current realities. What used to be appears to have been tossed in the air and scattered all around like some childs play room. It can sometimes feel like judgement on our past. Lent, however, is not about judgement but journey. Lent is about growth. God is about to do something new. Even as we grieve and mourn, may we always look for the blessing that God has left with us. How can we look at the change happening all around not as judgement but opportunity? How can we prepare for a God to do a new thing?