by Rev. Aidan Moon
Waiting for Joy
You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking this SoundCloud link.
“Consecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly…
Is not the food cut off
before our eyes,
joy and gladness
from the house of our God?“– Joel 1:13, 15, English Standard Version
We’ve been counting down the weeks to Easter together as a family with a series of candles, one for each week. Outside of purple on the altar at church, there is a good chance you haven’t really thought a lot about “sackcloth and ashes” or “consecrating a fast” this Lent. Does it have real application for us today?
Our day-to-day lived experience is often more like Lent than anything else. We don’t have to fast to feel the sense that “joy and gladness” have been cut off. There are places that are wildernesses in our lives. There are places we feel dried up, worn out, and like our faith is barely hanging by a thread. But in this, we can be honest. While we know Jesus is risen, we also still live under the cross. Lent is, as some have said, a microcosm of the struggle that is Christian life.
But we walk with Jesus. So, we count down the days to Easter, living in the reality of Jesus’ path through suffering and shame and the cross, where joy and gladness seem cut off, also knowing this isn’t the whole picture. Our Easter celebration finds its sweetness, even if our life still feels “Lenty” because we know joy is coming. In Jesus’ own words before his crucifixion:
“ Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy…I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.“
– John 16: 20, 22, ESV
Copyright Family of Christ Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado
