i let it take me over

from the toenails to the crown

A sermon on Joel's hard-boiled prophecy

Unless you’re here to worship, and I mean really worship, you might as well save yourself the hassle and just go home. If you’re only here because “that’s what you do,” well, don’t. And if you turned up today because you think a little religion will do you or your family some good, the prophet Joel bids an unceremonious good riddance to all that bad business. No, the stakes today are much too high for any of that folderol.

While we’re on it, you can take a hike if you’re not here to worship the God who really is God, too. If you’re here looking for a little help to manage your little middle-class life, you’ve come to the wrong place. And if all you want is some moral guidance, go somewhere else. Sorry, but the prophet Joel won’t have any truck with all that false religion.

How’s that for throwing down the gauntlet? Have I got your attention? I hope so. I hope I’ve got your attention because we’re not here to think nice thoughts, honor tradition, or even lead more virtuous lives. No, nothing less than really worshipping the real God will do today.

…Ok. I’ll admit, I like standing up here and giving these dictums. It’s fun! But the truth is, I stand just as convicted by these provocations as you do. Nevertheless! Nevertheless, this is the word of the Lord to us today! And you don’t need me getting between you and this word. Do you?

My job this morning isn’t to stand here and tell you how to give your heart to the Lord with one easy little prayer. And my job isn’t to say, “Yes, I know this sounds demanding, but let me explain how it really isn’t.” No, my job is to stand clear for the Holy Spirit to make Joel’s words ring out all over again with all their ferocious clarity! And here it is: “Return to the Lord with all your heart!” 

All means all, too. Sorry. Nothing but absolutely everything will suffice. Unless you’re here to really worship the God who is really God, you’re wasting your and everyone else’s precious time. Let that sink in…

However, it goes without saying that this is hard. Isn’t it? If your heart is anything like mine, it’s a tangled web of competing desires, mixed emotions, and all too much ambiguity. I’m reminded of Jeremiah’s prophecy: “The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse—who can understand it?”

At best, I’m shrewd when it comes to my heart. I’m uncomfortable with its vagaries. I don’t want to deal with my own twisting impulses and urges, much less bring them before others, especially God! No, instead of bringing all my heart to God, I’m tempted to offer the right parts, the parts I’m proud of, or the parts I’m ready to have mended. 

Understandable though this desire may be, it’s misguided. This instinct is nothing more than another comorbidity of my defective cardiovascular system. Yes, putting forward a version of myself I’m comfortable with seems safe, but in reality, it’s really very dangerous! Guarding my heart is the surest way to leave it defenseless to lovelessness and lifelessness. Holding back from life is the best way to never live a real day in your entire life!

…This is the problem of idolatry, by the way. God doesn’t get uptight about false gods because God’s ego is so fragile. No, God is dead set against idols because we are! Idols break us. We are the first victims when the First Commandment is broken. The imago dei, the image of God, is defaced when the First Commandment isn’t kept. 

This isn’t as esoteric as it may seem, either. Consider the example I just gave. What’s behind this impulse to protect ourselves? It’s that we don’t want to be vulnerable. We want to be in control of how others regard us and how we are affected by them. Isn’t it?

But what really happens? We hurt ourselves! Don’t we?!? By trying to protect ourselves, we expose our own hearts to the poisons of indifference and disregard! 

We hedge our bets. But in reality, we take the sure thing! By refusing to risk heartache, we guarantee our heart will suffer neglect! It’s as distressing as it is ironic. Isn’t it?

…It doesn’t have to be this way, of course. And, in fact, it isn’t anyway. You can’t shield yourself from life. As the ancient Greeks understood, the very path you take to run from pain is often the road that will lead you straight to anguish every time!

Don’t get me wrong, though. This isn’t a matter of knowing better! If we could just talk ourselves out of the painful futility of protecting ourselves to our own injury, we would have done that a long time ago! Wouldn’t we?!? No, this is a matter of the impenetrable workings of the devious heart. 

Here’s the deal, though: Not only can’t you talk yourself out of this, you don’t have to, either! You were never asked to! No one expects you to bring your own heart to heel!

At that, though, perhaps you protest. “Hey, just wait a minute right there, Pastor,” you think. After all, I began this sermon by telling you to get lost if you weren’t up to returning to the Lord with all your heart. Didn’t I?

Well, if that’s what you were thinking, all I have to say is, “Good on you!” You’re paying attention! However, I anticipated this objection myself. And you know what? It’s the heartbeat of this entire sermon!

So, let’s get to it. Shall we? Ok! Here we go: For starters, I mean it. I mean it when I say you’re not expected to shilly-shally your soul into shape. As Lutherans, we’re far too realistic for any of that malarky! 

Plus, just think about it! It’s irrational! How can hearts that have sold themselves up the creek get themselves out of the drink, too?!? It makes no sense! It’s impossible! Why would you ever think that would work?!?

Not that it stops us from trying. But it never works! Relying on the same defect that created the trouble only makes everything worse! Doesn’t it? It’s why we hold back in a vain attempt to reach out!

Most importantly, though, you don’t have to monkey around with any of that flimflam! Just ask Joel! Yes, Joel. I know Joel is the one who tells you to return to the Lord with all your heart! But Joel is also the one who has no illusions about the condition of your “heavy, dirty soul!” —as the theologian Tyler Jones of the band twenty one pilots put it.
Listen again if you don’t believe me! And no, I’m not talking about the pop song. Although, go ahead and do that later, if you want. But no, I’m talking about today’s Scripture. 

How does Joel tell you to return to the Lord? Does he tell you to do it with an ideal heart? Does he tell you to do it with a heart that’s on the mend? Does he tell you to do it with a heart that’s going to get its act together?

No, he doesn’t! No, Joel tells you and me to return with weeping and with mourning! Joel knows a thing or two about hearts that are all torn up! Joel knows about hearts that fast because they’re too upset to take nourishment! And you know what else? Joel doesn’t have the slightest problem with hearts like those! 

Far from it! Au contraire, says the prophet Joël! Broken hearts are just perfect for the Lord! God isn’t interested in hearts that go no further than the formalities. No, God wants hearts that are really frayed!

…Before I go any further, let me be clear: This isn’t because God is some sort of sadist. No, God wants broken hearts because God is real! God isn’t interested in imaginary hearts that don’t know a thing about real heartbreak. And God isn’t interested in forced etiquette that hides the real hurts of reality, either. No, God wants real hearts! God wants real hearts that can really sing along with John Prine when he wails, “Broken hearts and dirty windows make life difficult to see.” 

So if that’s you, and just as sure as it’s me, it’s you, then take heart! Take heart because the Lord has called you today! Glory be, your number just came up! You, yes, you: you, return to the Lord! 

You don’t have to get your act together first, either! And you don’t even need to promise you’re going to shape up someday! No, God has sent Joel to look you down and point his finger right at you. Return to the Lord with all your heart, thus saith the prophet! 

…God wants all of you! And God isn’t about to blush at this prospect, either! No, God is absolutely unafraid of your worst secret or your deepest shame! God knows what God’s getting into.

What’s more, God isn’t about to compromise! God won’t negotiate when it comes to you! The world, sin, or even the devil may try to claim you. But God refuses! No, insists God, this one is mine! 

This, and this alone, people of God, is the God who can dare bid you to return with all your heart! Only the all-loving God can make this appeal! God calls you to return with all your heart because God loves all of you with all of God’s holy, mighty, and all-powerful love! All of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit loves all of you, forever and ever!

It’s like Richard Selzer writes in his memoir, Mortal Lessons: Notes on the Art of Surgery. “I stand by the bed where a young woman lies, her face postoperative, her mouth twisted in palsy, clownish. A tiny twig of the facial nerve, the one to the muscles of her mouth, has been severed. She will be thus from now on. The surgeon had followed with religious fervor the curve of her flesh; I promise you that. Nevertheless, to remove the tumor in her cheek, I had to cut the little nerve. 

Her young husband is in the room. He stands on the opposite side of the bed, and together they seem to dwell in the evening lamplight, isolated from me, private. Who are they, I ask myself, he and this wry-mouth I have made, who gaze at and touch each other so generously, greedily? The young woman speaks.

"Will my mouth always be like this?" she asks. 

"Yes," I say, "it will. It is because the nerve was cut.”

She nods, and is silent. But the young man smiles.

"I like it," he says. "It is kind of cute." All at once I know who he is. I understand, and I lower my gaze. One is not bold in an encounter with a god. Unmindful, he bends to kiss her crooked mouth, and I so close I can see how he twists his own lips to accommodate to hers, to show her that their kiss still works. I remember that the gods appeared in ancient Greece as mortals, and I hold my breath and let the wonder in.”

Beloved, and I choose this address intentionally, beloved, none other than this is the God who calls you to return with all your heart! What are you waiting for?!?

…It begs the question, though, does it not? How are we ever to return to this God of unfathomable love? What is the path we are to take? And are we, mere mortals that we are, even up to it?

If that’s what you’re thinking, allow me to direct your attention back to the prophet! Joel tells you where and how to return to this Lord! And it’s no great secret, either! At least it’s not for you and for me. No, it’s the royal way trod by that man of constant sorrows himself, Jesus the Christ, Jesus, God Thyself, in the flesh! 

The path is your grief! The tear in your heart is where the Holy Spirit interrupts! The rips and shreds in your life are where you finally give God all of your heart! It’s where your heart fails that you truly rely on the sacred heart of your savior, Jesus Christ! Broken hearts are the only ones that dare to actually worship and let the chips fall where they may!

Listen, I’m not pretending this is pretty. But it is real! If you want imaginary spirituality where faith is never required, go somewhere else! But if you’re caught, if you’re inexorably drawn to this God and also afraid of showing all yourself, you’re right where real spirituality really begins! Remember, true spirituality is life in reality!

If you’re pulled between God and everything else, you should know, William Butler Yeats was right. The center will not hold! However! However, the one who was born into this torn-up old world is the one who fills the fissures with himself! Christ, by his eternal wounds, fills your broken heart with his never-ending love! Return to him, ye brokenhearted!

…Don’t you get it? It was never a demand! It was always a promise! And oh, what a promise it is! 

This prophecy doesn’t mend wounds. No, it transforms them! This prophecy transforms your wounds into sacred ground! The cracks in your life are now the place where holiness happens! You know the way to the Lord. It’s none other than the ruptures you hold close to the heart. Moses was right all along: the word is near you; it’s in your mouth and in your heart.

“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. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from punishment.”

“…Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit.”

Thrilling. Isn’t it? Yeah, I thought so. Coincidently, so did our hymn-committee! The Hymn of the Day is hymn number 246, Hark! A Thrilling Voice is Sounding! Hymn number 246. Hark! A Thrilling Voice is Sounding! Let’s lift our voices in true worship! Hymn number 246. Hark! A Thrilling Voice is Sounding! Let’s sing!