Great Aunt Lucille died a few years ago. She was 101 years old. Whenever I would see her, she would tell me the story of her family – my family.
Now, she didn’t live through the Civil War, but her father did. And she would tell me the story of how all of his brothers died during that war. She would tell about how her father turned 15 years old – which in the last few months of the war was old enough to fight. But his family took him into the mountains of Virginia and hid him, determined not to lose this last child.
She would talk about how from time to time either the Union Army or the Confederate Army would come through. It didn’t matter which army went through, they would take the good horses and leave their tired old horses. The women of the family would have to cook for the soldiers. She could even tell you the food that was served.
She would often tell me about her Uncle John. He was the first of our family to die in the Civil War. She could go into great detail about how he was shot, and how he lingered painfully for three days.
If my father was in the room during this time, she would tell this part of the story with great bitterness.
You see, Great Aunt Lucille is from my mother’s side of the family and they all fought on the side of the Southern Confederacy. They refer to the Civil War as the War for Southern Independence, or the War Between the States, or – most commonly – simply as “THE war.”
But Dad’s side of the family fought for the North. I think Great Aunt Lucille always thought that my father’s ancestors were personally responsible for her Uncle John’s death.
I tape recorded these stories once. At the time she was 70 years old and we figured she wouldn’t live much longer so we’d better get the stories on tape. Ten years later video cameras were available and so we got her on video tape. And the stories are almost word for word the same – and remained the same until she died at age 101.
It’s amazing that she could remember these stories so well – because she did not live through the Civil War. But her father would tell these stories to her as she was growing up.
In our Old Testament lesson, Joel has lived through an event such as that. Something so destructive that he asks the elders of his community, “Have you ever lived through anything like this? Has there every been a day like this?”
So powerful and tragic is that moment that Joel lives through that he talks about how people will tell their children. And the children will tell their children. And their children’s children will pass it onto the next generation.
My great-grandfather was the only son of 10 to survive the Civil War. At the dinner table he would sometimes speak of that war to his children – including his daughter who was my Great Aunt Lucille. She told those stories to me.
There are those moments of history that are so powerful. So tragic. They must be told from generation to generation.
There are those experiences we have had – we’ve all lived through them, when we want to ask, “Has there ever been a day like this?” There are those experiences that we live through and we know the moment we endure it that it will be as the Prophet Joel said, you will “Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation.” (Joel 1:3)
We’ve been where Joel was. Everyone of us here this morning has lived through some terrible events.
For some it was World War II, or Korea or Vietnam.
Perhaps you lived through the depression.
I suspect many of us have lived through tornadoes, earthquakes or blizzards.
It was only 10 years ago that Hurricane Andrew devastated South Florida.
And, of course, it was only one year ago that we all lived through September 11th.
These are times like the event that Joel had lived through – you look around and say to yourself, as Joel did, “Has anything like this ever happened?”
You tell the story to your children, and they repeat it to their children.
For Great Aunt Lucille, it was the Civil War.
For all of us, it will be the War on Terror.
For Joel, it was a natural disaster of – well, let’s call it “biblical proportions.”
We are continuing our series on the Minor Prophets – the last 12 books of the Old Testament. We started with Hosea last week, and this week we take a look at Joel.
We don’t know much about Joel. We know a lot about Hosea, down to the intimate details of his marriage. But with Joel it is different. We know his father’s name, but not much more.
But there is one thing we clearly know. Joel lived in one of those terrible moments of history.
The word of the LORD that came to Joel son of Pethuel. Hear this, you elders; listen, all who live in the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your forefathers? Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation… A nation has invaded my land, powerful and without number; it has the teeth of a lion, the fangs of a lioness. (Joel 1:1-4)
The invader? The event that Joel lived through? It was a swarm of locusts. Now, please don’t belittle this. “Bugs? He’s complaining about bugs?”
That’s like someone responding to your stories of Hurricane Andrew by saying, “Wind and rain. So what’s the big deal?”
Locusts are not like termites that slowly eat away at your home.
They invade as a swarm. Without warning.
You see them on the horizon. There are so many locusts you wouldn’t know they were insects at first, but a dark cloud growing and moving.
Then you would hear them. It would sound to us like some sort of machinery. Like a large jet. But in Joel’s day, there was no such thing. And the sound would be terrifying. And it would grow louder and louder.
Then in a few minutes these insects would be on your crops. And within moments the crops would be destroyed.
Your income for the next year is gone.
Your food is gone.
Your life, as you know it, has gone.
A day such as that you tell your children about. And they tell their children. And their children’s children.
The day the locusts came.
The day the World Trade Center collapsed.
The day you were told you had cancer.
The day your wife died.
As the prophet Joel moves through his message to his people, he gives some excellent points on how anyone should respond to disaster. And it doesn’t matter whether that disaster is a swarm of locusts, a terrorist attack, or the doctor telling you that you have cancer.
1.Mourn
Joel tells us that the first step in dealing with disaster is to mourn. That makes sense. It’s the natural first step anyway.
In Joel 1:8-13, the prophet looks out at his land. It has been devastated. And his first and natural response is to grieve and mourn.
He says, “Mourn like a virgin in sackcloth grieving for the husband of her youth … The priests are in mourning … the ground is dried up; the grain is destroyed … Despair, you farmers … The vine is dried up and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, the palm and the apple tree-- all the trees of the field-- are dried up. Surely the joy of humanity is withered away.”
It could be Great Aunt Lucille’s Civil War, or our own September 11th. It could be the doctor telling us we have cancer, or the news that our wife has died.
Joel tells God’s people that the first step we are to take in dealing with disaster is to mourn.
Death, injustice, horror, hatred—these things should cause those of us who know God’s life and justice and mercy and love to recoil in shock and grief. Joel says our first response to disaster is to mourn. Paul tells us in Romans 13:15 that as followers of Christ we are to—rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.
2.Gather
But the book of Joel doesn’t leave us static and alone in our mourning. The second step Joel gives us for dealing with disaster is to gather. As Joel moves on his message, he says in verse 14 of chapter 1, “Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.”
Joel discourages God’s people to try deal with disaster by themselves, he tells us to gather together. It is a time of finding strength in one another—a time for discussion and reflection that requires us to assemble together.
St Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians (2 Cor 1:3-4), said, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”
When we encounter a disaster, sometimes we want to isolate ourselves, and that might be helpful for a time – but in the long run, we need to be around others. We need the comfort and fellowship of other Christians.
3.Pray
But it’s not just breaking the routine and seeking the comfort of others through our gathering. When we gather we are told that we have a third way of dealing with disaster. Praying
Referring again to Joel 1:14: “Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and … cry out to the LORD.” When we come together, we come together to pray.
You cannot deal with the news that you have cancer without praying to God.
You cannot deal with the news of terrorist attacks without praying to God.
You cannot deal with any disaster in your life without turning to God in prayer. Because to try to deal with a disaster without turning to God in prayer is to simply face another disaster.
When we don’t know what to do, when we don’t understand, we are to turn to God in prayer. We are to call out to him, asking him to provide his comfort and understanding and peace.
The prophet Joel says in verse 19 of chapter 1, “To you, O LORD, I call, for fire has devoured the open pastures and flames have burned up all the trees of the field.”
When all the props of our sufficiency and comfort, our satisfaction and complacency, are stripped away, where else can we turn? Where can those who have lost loved ones, friends, associates, businesses, and property turn? What can replace these people and things? Nothing can but the Person of Jesus Christ. Only he can bring sense out of the senselessness. We need to turn to him with our questions and our grief.
We mourn.
We gather.
We pray.
4.Return To God
And – we return to God.
Joel informs us that there is a fourth step we are to take as we deal with disaster. He says in chapter 2, verses 12 And 13, “‘Even now,’ declares the LORD, ‘return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.’ Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God...’”
God will often use the disastrous circumstances we face in life to get our attention firmly focused back on him. He tells us to return to him.
In the Old Testament History, prior to this catastrophe experienced by Joel, God’s people had hearts that were cold and calloused. They went through the motions of religion, but didn’t have hearts that were really inflamed with a passion for God.
How true that is of today’s American church. Our passions are for such insignificant things—the pennant race or the SuperBowl, an upcoming cruise, a new car, a new house, the ups and down of the stock market, a big sale, a date to homecoming, the latest movie or novel.
But September 11th came last year and it helped many people refocus their spirits and hearts back on God.
5.Trust in God
Joel says in chapter 2 verse 13, that we are to face disaster by putting our trust in God. Others may face disaster and say, “Where is God? God failed us. God let us down.” But Joel says we are to face disaster by returning to God and trusting in God. He says in Joel 2:13, “Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.”
In other words, trust in the love and mercy of God.
God is gracious – and we can trust that he will remain gracious. He gives us what we don’t deserve. His grace extends to all and is free to all. The gift of his love is available to all who will come to him and seek his forgiveness through faith in Jesus Christ.
God is compassionate— and we can trust that he will always remain compassionate. He feels the pain and suffering of those who have been touched personally by the wickedness and evil of this disaster.
God is slow to anger—and we can trust that he will continue to be slow in his anger toward us. He is patient with our complacency and has shown remarkable restraint in tolerating our rebellion against him. There is a limit to his patience and his anger will flare up on a Day of Judgment, but that day, although nearer now than yesterday, is still future. Right now, in this present moment, God remains slow to anger so that many may respond to his love and be delivered from their bondage to sin.
God is abounding in love—and we can trust that he will continue to love us, so much so that he gave his only son for us and for our redemption – and he has never regretted giving his son.
In the midst of disaster, the world around us can change, but God does not change.
For Joel, the locusts came and changed everything, except God.
For Great Aunt Lucille, the Civil War came and changed everything, except God.
For each of us, September 11th means our world will never be quite the same – except for God. He remains the same.
We all live through disasters in our lives.
We wait for the next big hurricane.
This week we lived in expectation of another terrorist attack – we went from a yellow level warning to an orange level and suspects were arrested on I-75. If not this week, will it be next week?
Every visit to the doctor’s office brings with it the possibility of a diagnosis of cancer, or other disease.
On any given day, parents know something tragic might happen to their children.
And Joel, who lived through disaster, gives us good instructions to mourn, gather together, pray, return to God, and trust in God.
(Special thanks to Mike Maggard who wrote a sermon, "Dealing With Disaster," for his insights which contributed to this sermon. As either St. John or St. Paul said, "I get by with a little help from my friends")
Copyright W. Maynard Pittendreigh
All rights reserved
2002
