Rend Your Hearts, Reflection on Joel 2:1-2, 12-17

As we begin Lent, we read this message (warning?) from Joel: Sound the alarm. The day of the Lord is coming, a day of darkness and gloom. (Read Joel 1:1-2:11).

Yet, even in the face of our deserved judgment, the Lord continues to beckon, "Return to me."

As Christians travel through Lent, let us heed Joel's reminder: Rend your hearts and not your clothing. What do we need to give up (or to take up) that is our way of fasting, weeping, and mourning?

Keep reading.

In verse 13, we see the familiar doxology of God's mercy (Exodus 34:5-7).

Again, Joel says, "Sound the alarm," and adds:

Sanctify a fast.
Call a solemn assembly.
Gather the whole congregation including the old people and the very young.

In verse 17, he reminds us that our lives demonstrate what we really believe about God. There's an old cliche' that your life is a sermon that you are preaching everyday. What if it is true?