Rend Our Hearts

Open Our Hearts

Joel 2:12-17

v. 12) Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
(v. 13) rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.
(v. 14) Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain-offering and a drink-offering for the Lord, your God?
(v. 15) Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly;
(v. 16) gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the aged; gather the children, even infants at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her canopy.
(v. 17) Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep.
Let them say, “Spare your people, O Lord, and do not make your heritage a mockery, a byword among the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?”

The whole nation is facing a threat and God makes a call of repentance. These verses shows the depth of the nation’s sinfulness. God’s people have to come back to God by putting the values of the market(world) back and should come towards the merciful and just God.

These verses have to be read in the context of climate change, poverty, wealth accumulation, nuclear threats, military invasions, innocent killings, alienating the communities and individuals in the name of caste, colour, religion and gender so on. Church is loosing its credibility and witness and could not resist the penetration of evil in its basic realms. The so-called agents of God’s reign are armless to resist the evil and death which penetrates in to the life of the world. Church and its followers conformed to the world and leading a very selfish, passive and neutral life. There are new theologies and spiritual movements which support and encourage this passive and other worldly life which is coming up. Life is under threat and world is facing challenges of falsehood. In this context we should read this text.

Return to God

Threat to life is near and return to God is essential to protect and nurture life. Death is near and God asks us return to the Godhead, one who affirm life. Return to God means giving up the values of this world. This text says that we should return to God with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.
with fasting - focusing to God
with weeping - accepting the failures
with mourning - the magnitude of of our grief and state of being
While returning to God we express our willingness to give up the values of death and our faithfulness towards to affirm and enhance the life. It is a journey from hypocratic life to a transparent life. God says that we should rend our hearts. Open our hearts in front of our God the one who is merciful and gracious to accept our short comings and limitations.


Sanctify the Congregation

God asks to call an assembly and to sanctify the congregation. Repentance and the process of sanctification is not an individualistic and emotional experience but it is a community experience. God wants the whole congregation has to sanctify through a process of repentance. Nobody is exempted from this process of sanctification. Aged, youngsters, infants, brides, bridegrooms, priests, all should undergo this process of sanctification. Here lies the role of the agents of God’s reign. We are supposed to make some noises so that people should realise that the forces of death is near to destroy the life. Today we should open our ears to the voices of the environmentalists, sociologists, theologians, economists, politicians, who advocates the life and to resist the forces of death. There are so many trumpets that warns the ruin of the whole universe. It is a call to join in the process of sanctification.

Be the Agents of Reconciliation

Priests should weep in front of God for reconciliation and forgiveness. Truth, justice and fear of the Lord are alien to the nation and the priests of the nation should come to the presence of God and should weep for the nation. Today the priesthood is defined and interpreted in a wider way. Pray for the nation and the people so that they may experience God’s mercy. The dangerous thing is that the priests of today are weeping for power, money and fame. The agents of reconciliation are taken the side of death and annihilation. We lost tears from our eyes because we consciously chose to be with the falsehood and lost the signs and values of life from our hearts, minds and spirituality. Millions are struggling to sustain their life but the so-called leaders of the nations and churches are busy with discussions to destroy and annihilate others in different means for their personal agenda and aspirations. Do we have the eagerness to be the agents of reconciliation by weeping for others?

Prayer

Lord help us to fast so that we should deny the ungods of today
Lord sanctify our minds, perceptions, leaders, church and our families
Lord helps us to regain the values and signs of life
Lord helps us to turn to you by rendering our hearts...Amen