November 24, 2024
Introduction: Who is Joel?
I remember a gathering of faculty and students when I was in seminary. A friend of mine casually asked our Old Testament professor about the Prophet Joel, only to be told that he didn’t know much about him at all.
We got a big kick out of that. But, as it turns out, our professor wasn’t any more ignorant than any other scholar of the Hebrew Bible. We know Joel’s name—one of the grandest in the entire Bible: It means The Lord is God. And we know his father’s name: Pethuel. But he doesn’t tell us when he lived or where he lived. He doesn’t mention any kings or make any other references that might help us put a date to his prophecies. He does mention that there’s a temple, which rules out certain periods. But even so, there’s a seven- or eight-hundred-year range of when Joel might possibly have lived.
I can’t speak to how our Jewish friends view Joel. But we Christians associate him with some of the most important days of the year. The first is Ash Wednesday, when we hear these words:
Turn to me now, while there is time. Give me your hearts. Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead. Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not punish.
—Joel 2:12-13
The other day is the Day of Pentecost. In the first sermon preached after the birth of the church, the Apostle Peter quoted from that same chapter of Joel:
I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions. In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on servants—men and women alike.
—Joel 2:28-29
So we may not know much at all about Joel, but we really can’t understate the importance of his words—especially the second chapter of his book. Because sometimes, such as this year, we read from Joel 2 on Thanksgiving as well.
Part I: Ancient Catastrophe
In the Thanksgiving reading which we just heard, there has been some sort of natural disaster—a drought, a famine. Sometimes when crops fail, our grocery bills go up. But it’s been a long time since people in our country have had to worry about famine. Of course, this isn’t true of other countries. At this moment, conflict is causing severe hunger in Gaza, and war and drought are causing starvation in Sudan. These aren’t the only places on earth where people are hungry, but they’re probably the most significant examples.
But knowing there is famine thousands of miles away on the other side of the ocean is something we’re used to in our day. And it’s a relatively new development that most of us can survive drought conditions relatively unscathed. But this wasn’t the case until recently, and starvation was probably relatively common in the prophet’s day.
So we don’t know what catastrophe Joel was writing about. But we can count on the fact that there was great suffering. The bad news was that it hadn’t rained and insects had destroyed the crops before they could be harvested. But Joel had good news: God is still your God, and will send the rain, remove the insects, and take disgrace away.
Part II: Thanksgiving
Throughout history, people have had to deal with bad news—devastating news. One of these stories is part of the foundation of our country and our church. In September 1620, a group of religious pilgrims set out from England in a ship called the Mayflower, and in November landed on Cape Cod. A few weeks later, they crossed Massachusetts Bay and set up housekeeping in a place they called Plymouth.
This little band of pilgrims barely survived their first winter—in fact half of them died—but with the help of the natives of that place, they planted and harvested. And despite all the bad news, they chose gratitude over complaint. The feast of thanksgiving they held was still remembered in 1863 when, in the midst of the Civil War, President Lincoln proclaimed a day of thanksgiving to show gratitude for evidence of God’s abiding presence.
Most of us don’t realize that the President still issues a Thanksgiving proclamation every year. But I have very fond memories of American Thanksgiving services at my church in Bogotá back in the 90’s, at which the U.S. ambassador to Colombia stood and read to us the President’s proclamation.
Thanksgiving is probably something we take for granted. But it’s a day different from just about any other holiday in the world. It’s not about patriotism. It’s not about gift-giving. There are no fireworks. It’s not even religious—at least not as fat as most people are concerned. It’s more a homecoming feast. But more than that, it’s a time for taking stock.
Most of us probably imagine that our national day of taking inventory of our lives is New Year’s. But think about it: It’s at Thanksgiving that we think about the year that is past. We remember our struggles and we remember our blessings. And it’s the blessings we choose to vocalize. But the more we’ve struggled—the more bad news we’ve had, the more we appreciate the good news. And that’s how we begin the holiday season: with a holiday specifically dedicated to giving thanks.
Part III: Shaboozey
I’m going to digress for a minute now. And draw your attention to somebody you’ve probably never heard of. It’s Collins Chibueze, an American singer with Nigerian parents. Most people mispronounce his surname, so he leaned into that. He’s known throughout the world as Shaboozey, and his current song (called A Bar Song) is No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It’s been No. 1 for well over four months now—one more week and Shaboozey will set an all-time record.
I tell you this, because Shaboozey released a new song last week called Good News. It starts out like this:
Man, what a heck* of a year it's beenKeep on bluffin', but I just can't winDrown my sorrows, but they learned to swim
The refrain says:
I need some good newsSittin' here, sippin' on cold truthNobody knows what I'm goin' throughBet the devil wouldn't walk in my shoes
I think many people—for a variety of reasons—can relate to Shaboozey: Man, what a heck of a year it’s been. Many of us for many reasons have had a difficult 2024. And now that another Thanksgiving has rolled around, we take stock of the year. We can remember the adversity and give thanks for the blessings. Because gratitude is the best response.
Conclusion: Showing Gratitude
I’m not talking here about the power of positive thinking—only looking at the bright side. In my opinion, this is dangerous. Positive thinking refuses take into account the negative and almost seems to take good outcomes for granted. So why bother giving thanks if good news is the only thing you could possibly deserve?
True gratitude is acknowledging the difficult times, the tough outcomes, but still looking giving thanks. Gratitude is knowing about—and even experiencing—the fear, the dry, cracked soil, the swarming locust, but believing God is still there. At Thanksgiving, we bless God for all that God has done to keep us alive, all the people that God has sent into our lives, all the smiles and the laughs, the warmth and the safety.
Gratitude is perhaps the most positive emotion we can express. It improves our outlook and helps us broaden our viewpoint. When we give thanks, we are no longer letting negative thoughts control us—regardless of how bad things seem to be—but intentionally looking beyond our current unhappiness to see that the world is still a beautiful place, and that God is still our God.
We can’t find the good news without sorting through the bad news, too. But in finding it and giving thanks for it, we also re-discover the One who is with us through it all, and will bring us through to the end.
—©2024 Sam Greening
*not the original word
