Sunday October 27 readings

The only comments I have for the moment on the Luke reading is to studiously avoid the anti Jewish tropes we often use in discussing the  Pharisee. Since we are in the midst of a section on prayer, this could be a great place to consider Calvin's quote on prayer being the chief exercise of faith.

Joel 2:23-32 appears in a new light when not read on Pentecost. After the plague on nature, the shame, the curse, we switch. In our ecological age, not only does nature mourn a lost good, but now it responds in abundance. God. god is making recompense for the loss, like a tort claim (v. 25).  I am open to the cutter being a natural plague or a symbol for invasion by a very human army.

Shame (v.27) could well be something to work with. The church has a focus on guilt, although that is rapidly  diminishing. Shame strikes me as a deeper issue. It is more than being mistaken; it is seeing oneself as a mistake, as unworthy, as less. Shame is connected to diminished self-esteem and we know the deleterious effects of that disposition well.  a nation, this is a difficult for powerful America, the land of promise, but the president touched a real nerve with maga. The promise of winning so much spoke to that feeling, perhaps.

We know well the Spirit outpouring for Pentecost, but look at what follows. We get a classic apocalyptic  reading of the day of the Lord as terrible, not to give Israel power. When history looks bleak, we see a movement to kicking change upward, into the divine realm, as we feel helpless.

The final verse (32) has both particular and universal elements. The Reformed tradition woujld be well served to examine such  words with real care.