This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 119:97-120; Joel 2:12-19; Revelation 19:11-21; Luke 15:1-10
This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 11 (“The Third Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 60:1-3,11a,14c,18-19, BCP, p. 87); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 16 (“The Song of Zechariah,” Luke 1:68-79, BCP, p. 92)
Today is Veterans Day in the United States. This holiday in remembrance of military veterans began as Armistice Day. When armistice was declared on November 11, 1919, the world was wracked not only by mutually suicidal warfare among European powers, but it was in the throes of the H1N1 virus flu (the Spanish flu) that, between 1918 and 1920, infected 500 million people (a third of the world’s population), and killed perhaps 100 million.
If you are a military veteran, God bless you for your service.
Now, as on the original Armistice Day, we look for equilibrium in a world in which the human family seems unhinged. We search for sanity in a seemingly crazed & malevolent universe.
In a freefall world, equilibrium. Hold me up, and I shall be safe, * and my delight shall be ever in your statutes. — Psalm 119:117. Though this note may seem like an inconsequential sidebar, I am grateful that every Wednesday, the Daily Office offers a portion of Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the whole Bible, a chapter dedicated to praise of the God who, in the words of Christian apologist Francis Schaeffer, “is there, and he is not silent.” It is of no small importance daily to soak oneself in God’s statutes and ordinances; promises and proverbs; and prayers and praises. In a freefall universe, doing so can bring equipoise, grace, and even “delight.”
It’s never too late to repent. Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing — Joel 2:12-13a. Unlike other prophets, Joel does not rehearse specific charges against God’s people for the ways they have violated their relationship with Yahweh. Still, he urges them to recognize their sin, and to return to Yahweh “with all your heart.” I’ve known too many people who have said: “I’ve been so bad, I know it’s too late for me.” It is never too late … no matter how late … no matter how bad.
Joel points us to the God who is the very definition of grace and mercy, of reticence in punishment and abundance of steadfast love (Joel 2:13). Joel’s “who knows whether he will not turn and relent” is one of the most wonderful understatements in all of Scripture—if you will “turn,” the Lord of grace and mercy will indeed “turn” as well! As the Prayer of Humble Access so elegantly puts it: “But thou art the same Lord whose property is always to have mercy.” That’s a line worth returning to again and again.
There really is a new sheriff in town. …he will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, ‘King of kings and Lord of lords’. — Revelation 19:15-16.
Hovering above what’s happening on the historical plane, according to the Bible’s view of things, are sinister supernatural forces. The Bible foresees a day when there is, in the words of theologian Herman Ridderbos, “an explosion of evil.” Revelation anticipates that day when an unholy trinity emerges—the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet—to rally unrepentant humanity against the Lord’s anointed and his people. The last half of Revelation 19 prophesies the demise of the beast and the false prophet at the hand of the Faithful and True Rider, the King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:11,20). Revelation 20 (which the Daily Office will cover at this same time next year!) prophesies the dispatching of the dragon (20:7-10).
So jealous is the Heavenly Groom for the Bride who is presented to him in the first half of this chapter—and “Jealousy” is his name!—that he discloses “the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty” for her honor, her purity, her safety, her beauty. We dare not emotionally neuter God. We dare not consign an imagined weak or mild Jesus to the gentle slopes of Galilee. We must follow Warrior Jesus to the Temple where he takes up the whip for its sanctity. We need to understand that while one reason he mounts the cross is to suffer for the sins of the world, another reason he is “lifted up” on that cross is to completely conquer evil, and to be enthroned as King of kings. On the cross, Jesus is simultaneously “Suffering Servant” and “Christus Victor.”
You can make heaven smile. Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.’ — Luke 15:8. As lost and disoriented as you may feel in this moment of your life, you can be confident that the Shepherd of your soul is not in the business of just letting his sheep wander off without his coming after them. You may feel that your life has fallen through the cracks like a forgotten penny, and that you’ve long been given up as lost. Not so. He counts his coins diligently, and is determined not to lose a single one—and that includes you! Contemplate the joy when what is lost has been found!
Be blessed this day,
Reggie Kidd+