[RCL] Joel 2:23-32; Psalm 65; 2 Timothy 4:6-8,16-18; Luke 18:9-14 Joel 2:23-32 This passage of apocalyptic poetry in Joel provides the hope and affirmation that the people of Israel need after their time of deprivation and suffering. In this case, the people had fallen prey to a devastating plague of locusts; that same sense of…

Joel 2:23-32 This passage from the book of the prophet Joel begins by calling the children of Zion to rejoice as the writer tells of God’s plentiful provision. The rain has come in abundance, the threshing floors overflow with grain, and the people of Zion will feast and give thanks to the Lord their God….

Joel 2:23-32 In the brief writings of the prophet Joel, Israel has suffered a devastating loss of crops due to swarms of locusts. This destruction of natural resources seems to have come as a kind of discipline that pointed toward “the day of the Lord” in which God’s justice would come and eliminate the evil…

Joel 2:23-32 The book of the prophet Joel addressed a message of hope to an Israelite people who had experienced devastation by locusts and drought. For those who survived as subsistence, shallow plow farmers, anything that affected crop production – floods, insects, lack of rain, etc. – had profound and lasting effects on their emotional…