Daily Office Readings for Monday of Proper 27: Year 2
Morning, Psalm 80; Evening, Psalm 77, [79];
Joel 1:1to13; Revelation 18:15to24; Luke 14:12to24
“Hear this, O elders, give ear, all inhabitants of the land! Has such a thing happened in your days, or in the days of your ancestors? Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten, and what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten.” (Joel 1: 1 to 4)
In the Joel reading we hear of four different kinds of locusts. There are cutting locusts, swarming locusts, hopping locusts and destroying locusts. Therefore, no matter what kind of defense they plan, there comes a different kind of attack. It sounds similar to our Covid pandemic.
But Thanks be to God, we are never without hope. We have had to endure many social limitations and when I read “Grain-offering and drink-offering are withheld from the house of your God” (Joel 1:13), I remember that we, in the Church, had to omit the chalice part of our Holy Communion. We did however get the bread or grain-offering.
The ever restructuring locusts were not too different from our Corona Virus. Some catch it, and some re-catch it. In Joel we read, “For a nation has invaded my land, powerful and innumerable; its teeth are lions’ teeth, and it has the fangs of a lioness” (Joel 1:6). However, we believers must remember that no virus or any “bug,” is more powerful than our God. And as the hymn goes, “Our God Reigns.”
And while the virus made us separate, I believe it is coming together in the right way that we will be enabled to eradicate this pandemic. We had to come together heeding the advice to wear face coverings, maintain social distancing and washing our hands often. Perhaps, just perhaps, these words came from the Spirit of God down through the saints of God. I want this pandemic to be over. And, I want to touch people again during the Peace. And with my grain offering, I’m glad to have the chalice back too. Thank You Lord Jesus.
Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine.
As we listen to what the Spirit is saying to us, let us live to love, to serve, and to teach, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
onewhoponders 