Preaching in WiNK

I love our WiNK service. There is nothing quite like it anywhere.

WiNK stands for Worship in a New Key. The service is grounded in PC/USA tradition, yet with really fun music. Some weeks it is bluegrass, other weeks gospel, other weeks Celtic, and so on. 

What makes it fun is it is truly a "come as you are service." Many places (including this same church's Sunday morning service) will say that, but when I showed up in a brightly colored dress on a beautiful Spring day that was also Good Friday, and everyone else wore somber black clothes, it doesn't always feel that way. (Will note, the following year I wore a dark outfit, and noticed some others wearing brightly colored outfits, so maybe it was okay.)

A few years ago when I saw our intern preach wearing shorts and sandals on a warm sunny day and no one batted an eye, I knew this service truly was "come as you are." I do clean up from my Sunday afternoon activity, but I no longer dress up for church, and it feels nice. I can be myself and still be loved. We all talk to each other. The services tend to be more interactive, and definitely more intimate with about 30 worshipers instead of well over 100. We tend to move the chairs around to fit the preaching style, something that you can't do with fixed pews.

In a normal year, which as we all know this isn't, WiNK meets from mid-September through Memorial Day. WiNK changed after we mad the move to be fully virtual. No more music. Instead it turned into a weekly check-in. Everyone is encouraged to talk and share what is on our hearts. Instead of 30 people, we are down to 10 in a good week, often only six. But those 10 people are getting to know each other on a deeper level.

Us mighty few wanted to continue worshiping past Memorial Day. We wanted to do it in a way that did not create extra work for the staff, which is already being stretched with creating new ways to worship virtually. 

One change is we will only worship every other week (I think we agreed to every other week as opposed to twice a month, which gets confusing with a five Sunday month). The other big change is we would rotate choosing a scripture and "preaching," so as to give our staff a break.

I volunteered for the first service. I chose Joel 2:19-32.

I preached to the other five people who came last Sunday. More people might read this on my blog than heard it in person. 

My sermon is as follows: 

I was recently reading a book called "Sixteen Brides" by Grace Whitson. The book is about Civil War widows moving to Nebraska to start new lives. The plot is not that important, because it isn't really that good of a book. I bring it up because each of the 30 chapters begins with a snippet of scripture. I'll admit for the first 20 or so chapters I didn't even notice that. Nor did I realize unitl now that some of the scriptures are repeated.

There is the gem, Isaiah 55:8: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neighter are your ways my ways."

And Psalm 86:15: "But thou, Oh Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth."

And Hebrews 11:1: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Then I came across Chapter 29: Joel 2:25: "And I will restore to you the years that the locusts hath eaten...."

I will admit I've never heard of the book of Joel. It is all of three chapters long (well, four in the Jewish tradition). His is the second of the 12 minor prophets, minor in length, found in the Old Testament.

We know very little about Joel beyond his name, and his father's name (Pethuel -- verse 1:1).

So why did I choose this passage?

1) I bet none of you have heard a sermon on it, therefore you have no preconceived notions of what I should talk about.

2) Seriously, as we leave what the French have called this a period of confinement, and we call quarantine, I found it encouraging to read that the Lord restored the people during Joel's time. He will restore us again even as we suffer globally from massive unemployment and nationally from racism in ways most of us white people have never faced head on.

3) One scholar places Joel around 800 BC (though another places him during the Second Temple, 616 BC to 70 AD). Many of you know last summer I spent four weeks on an archaeological dig in Israel (though not in Judah where these verses take place). During the dig we found pottery dating from the 8th century BC. I touched pottery and other items from that time period. I brought a few home with me. Complete rejects deemed not exciting enough to save.

Let's dive into the text a little bit. The people in Joel's time had been attacked by locusts. We tend to think about swarms of locusts as a problem from Biblical times. The closest we can relate to are when the 17-year cicadas make their reappearance, which should be again soon. This year killer locusts are making a resurgence in West Africa. According to a Business Insider article from January 22, which is complete with gruesome images, "each locust in a swarm can eat its own weight in food per day. A small portion of an average swarm eats around the same amount as 10 elephants or 2,500 people."

Almost makes what we are going through with the Corona virus feel manageable.

During Joel's time many prophets were telling people exactly what they wanted to hear ... this will soon pass, don't worry about it, etc.

Sound familiar.

Enter Joel.

Okay, not that Joel, but it is hard to find an image of Joel from biblical times, and I'm a Billy Joel fan. Much better than the images I saw of locusts attacking people.

Joel tells it like it is. These are tough times. We will face a terrible plague. This is the time to fast, mourn, and repent. He encourages people in Judah and Jerusalem to weep over their sins, to fast because the day of the Lord is near. Who really wants to hear THAT message when others were saying what they wanted to hear?

The plague did come and was devastating.

The locusts came and darkened the sky and destroyed everything until the land was left barren.

In the second half of Chapter 2 Joel swoops in again with today's reading and fills the people of Israel with hope. "He took pity on his people."

"I am sending you grain, new wine, and olive oil, enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object of scorn to the nations."

These are exactly the words I need to hear as we open up the world again. They are the words I want to believe.

"Do not be afraid, land of Judah, be glad and rejoice. Surely the Lord has done great things. Do not be afraid, you wild animals, for the pastures in the wilderness are becoming green. The trees are bearing fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their riches."

Over the past 12 weeks we have continued to drive in to Princeton nearly every week to pick up food from our favorite Chinese restaurant, Tiger Noodle. I want my favorite small businesses to survive (and thrive). I worry about the racism towards Chinese (even though this Chinese restaurant is owned by family from Taiwan) because "they" brought the Corona virusl to the world. And so each week we drive to Princeton. In the beginning our 20 minute drive took 10 minutes because the roads were THAT clear. We nearly saw a fox saunter down Nassau Street. Even last week we had a Socially Distant photo shoot at Princeton University with Ashley in her prom dress and cap and gown. There were no other people in our pictures in the normally crowded Prospect Gardens. There were some people, but we were taking pictures on what was slated to be Reunion Weekend. The area should have been covered with people wearing the most hideous Orange and Black jackets imaginable. Yet, there was no one.

This weekend we returned to Princeton to pick up some chocolate -- a huge weakness in my life. With the lockdown lifted, we were back to a 20-minute drive to Princeton and having to search for a parking space.

It was nice.

I felt I could see God's promises coming to life before my eyes.

Even as we hear about the numbers spiking in about half of the country, here in bucolic Lawrenceville we are slowly coming back to life. Tomorrow we can enjoy outdoor dining again -- I'll give you one guess as to where we'll be dining. In another week we can hide our true colors in a socially acceptable way on the tops of our heads as we visit our hair salons.

On field graduations are being set for July. We felt the love Notre Dame put into creating a virtual graduation for the Class of 2020, but look forward to the graduates gathering one more time on July 18. In the end, THAT is what they wanted -- to see their friends and teachers. I'm not sure if parents will be allowed to attend, but it is no longer about us, it is about them seeing everyone one more time. To say their good-byes. To have their closure.

"Be glad, people of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God," (23)

"The threshing floors will be filled with grain, the vats will overflow with new wine and oil." (24)

And now we come to the verse I read in the book, the one that planted the seed for this sermon: "I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten ... you will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will PRAISE THE NAME OF THE LORD YOUR GOD who has worked wonders for you." (25-26)

It may have only been a few months, but there are times it felt like years, especially with the anticipation as we open up the world we will be sealing it up again and returning to another period of confinement.

I take comfort that God will restore us, both from racism and from economic ruin. I'll be honest, I don't know how. I also don't see how it is possible. I do know that God loves us. It is not easy to trust him when the world is a mess.

I like the next section, too "And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people." (28) Won't that be a wonderful time?

According to Joel's prophecy life will get scary before it becomes wonderful again. Aren't we seeing that with protests over police brutality, and riots, and the rising number of Corona deaths? Life is scary, but Joel chapter 2 ends with: "And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

As the world opens up both economically and with the lifting of our eyes to the suffering of our black brothers and sisters, let us remember it is God who is in charge and has promised to restore us.

Amen.

An addendum ... during the discussion we talked about the blood moon (v. 31: the sun will be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.) Turns out the next blood moon will be May 26, 2021 -- three days after Pentecost, the day Christians celebrate as the founding of the church. Pretty amazing timing.

A second addendum ... Joel chapter 2 is divided into two chapters in the Jewish tradition, thus making it a four book chapter instead of a three book one.