Making Room

One of the parts of the church that I love the most as we enter the end of the year is the putting together of the Thanksgiving and Christmas food boxes and of the different giving trees we have that are meant to help people in our community. Every year we hand out many boxes stuffed with food so that a family can have a meal at these two holidays that they likely would not have otherwise have had. It is this kind of returning to God that I feel this passage is calling all people to do.

It’s not always easy to do though, as we are constantly faced with the consumerist side of things trying to make sure we get just the right present for our loved ones and that we get presents for our family, our extended family, etc. We are constantly asked what we want for Christmas that it’s not that hard to get into the mindset that Christmas is about me, what I want and what I get out of it on top of getting things for others. We focus on who we should invite versus who we want to invite to our house this year. We know what the right thing to do is but we aren’t always so quick to act upon it because we don’t want unpleasant conversations with family that we might not get along with as well as others.

And that’s just the Advent and Christmas season. Think about all the other times of year that we think and act that way about weddings, graduations, birthdays, and other holidays. We get so caught up on managing things to make sure that everything goes well that we sometimes and dare I say oftentimes lose sight of the real reason that we are gathering friends and family to this event or holiday. And maybe even forget to focus on God during those times as well.

Which is why once again it may seem odd to have the prophet Joel for our second week of Advent, and yet how appropriate these words are for us as we continue our season of waiting and anticipating. I have talked about briefly in the past about how when someone tears their clothes it is a sign of deep sorrow in one way or another. It could be at the loss of a family member or loved one. It could also be done when someone hears news that they are deeply moved by and want to express how much it has affected them.

However, in this passage of Joel, he wants people to think about what it means to rend your clothing, but do it with your heart. Which to me sounds an awful lot like we should break our hearts. AKA we should have a broken heart. Which is an expression that I think is more relatable to us today. Now I don’t know about you but typically when we think about a broken heart it is not something that we want to intentionally go through.

But as I mentioned before if we have lost sight for the real reason for something then perhaps an intentional rending of our hearts, an intentional heartbreak is something that we need to go through. Think about some movies or TV shows where one of the lead characters has to intentionally break their heart and the heart of the person they are with to truly be happy with themselves. It doesn’t have to be in film though as I am sure whether your yourself or someone you love has had to intentionally go through a heartache to get to a better place.

So perhaps to focus on God with a right mindset and a right motivation. To truly serve God in the way that we have been called to serve and in the way that brings joy to God, we need to intentionally break our hearts from things that we have grown to call normal or grown into complacency with so that we can focus on what truly matters in our faith and in our relationship to God.

Part of that process is knowing that part of verse 13 which is a famous passage. Which once again hearkens us back to Job who als says this phrase. God is willing to wait for us as we go through the process of turning our hearts back to God. God waits because I believe God knows it takes us time to move from our habits and our mindsets of doing things to be able to focus back on what is truly important in this life and the life to come.

I know we skip a whole bunch of verses to the second part of our Joel text, but in this context it appears that when we return to God and start the process of realizing what is most important in this life, then we will come to an understanding of how God works through us in that changing of our hearts and our action upon that change.

It was on Confirmation Sunday that we heard one of our youth speak about how much they love doing the Thanksgiving and Christmas food boxes and how that service to neighbor and especially their neighbor who is in need is what brings them real joy and a sense of closeness to God. I have heard other youth speak this way about these meal boxes that we put together and I truly believe that is what this passage is all about.

When we turn or return to God with our hearts broken or emptied for God to fill and we fill it with the things that God places in it then we are able to do mighty things. That is why I believe this passage is so important for us at Advent. As I mentioned last week about our consumerist society and as I mentioned earlier about focusing on the wrongs things for any gathering or Holiday or for anything really we take the focus off of God and place it on ourselves. This passage from Joel reminds us that when our focus is on God and we pay attention to what is actually most important then we are able to accomplish amazing things with God’s help.

As we move through this cold season of Advent and the coming of Christmas may we break and empty our hearts so that we can let God in through the coming of the Christ child. The one who brings light and joy into our lives no matter where we find ourselves in this journey of life and faith. No matter the place, no matter the time God is with us, and made known to us through Jesus Christ our savior and Lord. Amen.