Last week when we talked about Hosea I gave you a bit of historical background about Hosea and the world that Hosea was living in. The thing I can tell you about Joel is that he is the son of Pethuel, and that's it. I can't tell you when the book was written. I can't tell you anything else about Joel. I can't tell you anything about the locust swarm itself except that it was happening then and it has happened since then, even in the last 100 years there has been a locust swarm that has decimated the land of Israel.
So, here's Joel and he is in this place where a very bad thing is happening and this very bad thing reminds Joel of the time that is coming that will be the final judgment of God. He talks about these locusts in lion and lioness terms, as cavalry, or an invading army. But then Joel goes on to say that if we return to the Lord, if we come back to being the people that we were called to be, that we were meant to be we will be immune from all that is coming. The in chapter 2, and they are verses that you might not realize are from Joel because we're Christians and Peter said them in Acts chapter 2, but he says "I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days." And in Acts chapter 2 Peter, in his sermon, says that this time where sons and daughters will prophesy, where old men will dream dreams and young men will have visions is happening then. And so, this day where all of God's followers are prophets, where all of God's followers know the will of God is happening right now, in our midst.
I wrote this sermon on Friday night at like 3 in the morning, because I do strange things like that, and I had a thought of what it all meant, and I had all this stuff I was going to talk about. I went to bed at like 5 in the morning, Friday night, and woke up at 7 in the morning, Saturday morning, by the grace of Henry and lived my life on Saturday and the world happened. Here's Joel, thousands of years ago, noticing a calamity around him and the calamity makes him remember the destruction that is to come. If you haven't been paying attention to the news, on one hand you may be lucky, but in Virginia there was a gathering of White Supremacists marching against, they were taking down of a statue of General Lee and they were marching partly in protest of that and partly in protest of anyone who didn't look like them or think like them or believe like them. Then there were protesters there protesting them, which is what happens, when one group gets together those who are against them get together also. Among the things that happened, there were fights, there was violence, there was screaming and there was a guy who decided to run his car into people, so far killing one and injuring 19.
I woke up this morning and Mary was telling me that the guy who drove the car lived down the street from a Church of God in Maumee Ohio, a church that I have visited, a church that Mary has preached at, a church that a friend of ours pastors. It got me thinking that sometimes we turn on the news and we talk about what is happening over there, the anger that is over there, the hatred that is over there, the prejudice that is over there, and the evil that is over there. And we think I'm here, and we're fine here, here we're ok, it's over there. Last week I was in South Bend and I was having a conversation with someone and they asked me what I did, I said that I work at a food pantry in Anderson and that I pastor a church in Elwood. And they were like, "Oh, Elwood." And I said "It's not like it used to be." I said that as a positive thing, but it got me thinking that there are probably people who say it's not like it used to be and mean it as a negative thing.
We see the progress, we see the culture changing but sometimes we see the culture changing because that's what we want to see. In Virginia there were people carrying torches walking along, not even needing hoods because nowadays believing what they believe they don't care if anyone knows who they are. At least back then they wanted it to be a secret, they didn't want anyone to know it was them, that it was the judges or the cops or the baker or the school teacher or the janitor or the whatever they were. Nowadays we just walk on down the street and proclaim whatever hate we want to proclaim.
I was watching on Facebook this morning, and there was a video by Brian McLaren and two other pastors/priests, they were there because a call went out for religious leaders to come as kind of a buffer in Virginia, to try to keep peace, to try to quell the violence, and they were saying that if you go to a church tomorrow and your pastor doesn't talk about race you may want to think about changing churches. But the problem is that I am certain that there are plenty of pastors in pulpits this morning that are not and there are plenty of people in churches who are well meaning, they are against the hate and the bigotry and the prejudice as much as me, but they are silent. And we are living in a day and age where we cannot afford to be silent anymore.
We walk around wanting God's will for this world and in some ways we don't know what that is, but there are some very clear ways that we do, There are very clear ways how the Spirit has rolled down, has given us dreams and visions and has made each one of us a prophet. Hatred is not on God's agenda. Bigotry in not on God's agenda. Prejudice is not on God's agenda. Exclusion is not on God's agenda. Deciding that I am better than anyone else, for whatever reason is not on God's agenda, not because of my skin tone, not because of my education, not because of my religion, not because of what town I live in or what country I was born in, not because of anything.
I'm not telling you anything that you don't know, because I know you, I know your hearts on matters such as this, and I know what we feel. But it's becoming, it's not enough just to feel it, it's not enough just to think it, it's not enough to sit in our little corners and think "man, they shouldn't be doing that". It is not enough because our silence has allowed the world to happen.
As I said, the guy who drove the car lives a few block away in Maumee, Ohio, it's a suburb of Toledo. And the guy who lives in a suburb of Toledo drove to Virginia, 15 16 hours away, the violence isn't somewhere far away, it's somewhere down the block. You know, it's not that you have no power about what happens in this world, because there were people around this man who just let him think whatever he wanted to think who let him believe whatever he wanted to believe, no matter how wrong it was. You know, it's difficult for us in Elwood to do anything about ISIS, in Asia or in Europe. We can pray, we can do that kind of thing, but it's difficult to do tangible things to stop that. But we are fully capable of doing tangible things to stop the anger and the hatred around us. Everytime I tell them Elwood is not like it was, which is great, but we are not where we need to be. That's not just Elwood, that's everywhere. That's Anderson, that's Indianapolis, that's every town in every corner of the globe, we are not where we need to be. But, we've gotten to the place where this progress is enough, this change is enough, that wherever we are that we are not how we used to be so that's good. But we say that it's good and we turn it into that's good enough.
And it's not good enough, doing as little as we've done is not good enough. Joel sat there thousands of years ago and saw the locusts swarm over the land, eating the vegetation, eating the trees. We spent quite a bit of time talking about trees, about the strength of trees, about the power of trees, about the welcoming of trees and all that stuff, but there are stronger powers in the world that want to destroy the trees, that want to destroy the world, that want to destroy the faith, that want to destroy whatever they can destroy. But then, there's a people that God has chosen in order to bless they world. And let me tell you, our God, is bigger, stronger, more powerful than anything else. Better than the devil, he's just a punk. Better than those carrying torches. Better than those preaching hate. Better than those who try to lift themselves up and put other people down.
The Bible has this thing, that if God is for us then who can be against us, the truth of the matter is that there can be plenty of things against us, but none of them are going to prosper. The very gates of hell will fall to our God. The anger the hatred the prejudice the bigotry the blindness will all fall before our God. But God needs our help, God has called us, God has equipped us, God has empowered us, the Spirit has rolled down the mountain so that way we could be prophets in our day. Joel called a whole nation to turn back to God, we just need to call upon our neighborhoods to do the same, we just need to call upon our friends and our family, those we encounter day in and day out. Not for our good, but so that world will be a better place. So that next month, or the month after, or the month after or the month after we don't hear on the news that someone from two blocks down is creating havoc somewhere else in the world.
That's what it comes down to, we can change things. We don't have to say this is good enough. We don't have to say that there's nothing I can do. We don't have to say that it's too big and I'm too small. We have to say, sign me up, you need hands and feet I will be them. You need a voice in this neighborhood on this street corner in this town, I will be that voice. Cause, the world is in desperate need for our voices, they are in desperate need for mercy and kindness and joy and forgiveness, hope and love. That's what's going to fix this place, that's what's going to make our corner of the world better, not a law on the books, not a larger police force, not anything like that, those are just drops in the bucket. But we have what the world needs, we have been given it, let's start sharing it. Because I am sick and tired of turning on the news and seeing one person trying to destroy another.
Let us pray.
Holy God,
Once again I want to lift up all those who were touched and anger in Virginia, and across our nation and across our world. But more than praying for those who have been hurt or for families who have been torn apart, I want to pray for each person in this room Lord, but not only that for each person that is sitting in a church this morning Lord. Each pastor, each usher, each piano player, each tech person Lord, each congregant whether they are on a board or a committee or whether they just sit in the pews Lord. May we realize the awesome responsibility that you have given us, that your Spirit is upon us that we have a responsibility to be prophets in our midsts, that we are blessed so that way we can be a blessing to others, that we are taught love and mercy and kindness and grace and hope and joy so that way we can share it with those around us. Give us the strength to do that, because all by ourselves we can't do it, we don't want to do it, but with your strength, with your guidance, with your power we can. And if we can do it in our corner and someone else can do it in their corner and someone else in their corner, then your mercy, your joy, your love can be made manifest in our day and our age Lord. In the precious name of Jesus we pray, Amen.
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