Something Big is Coming

It happens to all of us. We hear about something big about to happen in our lives and we get anxious. We may even get excited if we know ‘what’ is coming, but just the idea of something big is enough to distract us from today. It is totally natural.

When this happens, especially if we know the ‘big’ thing that is about to happen, we immediately prepare ourselves, even spending time strategizing how we will be affected. Preparation is the key. Today we get to find out what the ‘something big’ is that is coming.

Most Orthodox Christian began fasting from meat this week. Today (and again on Friday) the Church gives us a hint at Great Lent. The services and readings for today (and again on Friday) are Lenten, even though Great Lent doesn’t begin until Monday NEXT WEEK.

You could call this ‘the tell’ from the Church. Based on today’s reading from the Prophet Joel, Great Lent and Pascha are the ‘something big’ that is coming, and we need to start preparing. Since ancient times all spiritual preparations always included fasting.

“Yet even now,” says the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.”  Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and repents of evil.  Who knows whether he will not turn and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, a cereal offering and a drink offering for the Lord, your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people.  Sanctify the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants.  Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber. Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep and say, “Spare thy people, O Lord, and make not thy heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations.  Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?'” Then the Lord became jealous for his land, and had pity on his people.  The Lord answered and said to his people, “Behold, I am sending to you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations. “I will remove the northerner far from you, and drive him into a parched and desolate land, his front into the eastern sea, and his rear into the western sea; the stench and foul smell of him will rise, for he has done great things. “Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things!  Fear not, you beasts of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness are green; the tree bears its fruit, the fig tree and vine give their full yield. “Be glad, O sons of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord, your God; for he has given the early rain for your vindication, he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the latter rain, as before. “The threshing floors shall be full of grain, the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.  I will restore to you the years which the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you. “You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you.  And my people shall never again be put to shame.”

Joel 2.12-26

Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehosh’aphat; for there I will sit to judge all the nations round about. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.  Go in, tread, for the wine press is full.  The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision!  For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.  The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. And the Lord roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth shake.  But the Lord is a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the people of Israel. “So you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who dwell in Zion, my holy mountain.  And Jerusalem shall be holy and strangers shall never again pass through it. “And in that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the stream beds of Judah shall flow with water; and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord and water the valley of Shittim. “Egypt shall become a desolation and Edom a desolate wilderness, for the violence done to the people of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.  But Judah shall be inhabited for ever, and Jerusalem to all generations.  I will avenge their blood, and I will not clear the guilty, for the Lord dwells in Zion.”

Joel 3.12-21

Taken together, these readings from the Prophet Joel both encourage us to prepare for the journey ahead, and to be willing to leave it all behind. We can’t prepare for the Kingdom of God and Pascha so long as we are stuck here in the earthly mud.

The Church has been urging us to prepare our soul for the Great Lenten Journey for more than three weeks now. Now, with just a few more days before the journey begins, we are called by the Prophet to fast. So…..let’s get ready to fast.

When we fast, we learn to put God first. When we fast, we learn to desire God more than we desire ourselves. When we fast, we tell our physical bodies that heaven is our destination rather than the earth.

God sent His Prophet to help us break away from our earthly desires. Today’s reading tells us about the destruction that is coming. We hear about the political and physical challenges the globe will experience. He tells us this, so we are more willing to leave it all behind.

Great Lent isn’t the destination. Great Lent is the journey to ‘something big’ for our soul. If we want to fully experience the joy of Pascha and the Kingdom of God, we must first be willing to leave this all behind. So….start getting ready!