Return and Weep
[Joel 2:3-17 ESV] Fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns. The land is like the garden of Eden before them, but behind them a desolate wilderness, and nothing escapes them. Their appearance is like the appearance of horses, and like war horses they run. As with the rumbling of chariots, they leap on the tops of the mountains, like the crackling of a flame of fire devouring the stubble, like a powerful army drawn up for battle. Before them peoples are in anguish; all faces grow pale. Like warriors they charge; like soldiers they scale the wall. They march each on his way; they do not swerve from their paths. They do not jostle one another; each marches in his path; they burst through the weapons and are not halted. They leap upon the city, they run upon the walls, they climb up into the houses, they enter through the windows like a thief. The earth quakes before them; the heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. The LORD utters his voice before his army, for his camp is exceedingly great; he who executes his word is powerful. For the day of the LORD is great and very awesome; who can endure it? “Yet even now,” declares 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 he relents over disaster. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Consecrate 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 your people, O LORD, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?'”
Call to Worship – Psalm 28 v1-7 (UMH 760)
Leader:
1 To you, O Lord, I call;
my rock, be not deaf to me,
lest, if you are silent to me,
I become like those
who go down to the pit.
my rock, be not deaf to me,
lest, if you are silent to me,
I become like those
who go down to the pit.
All:
2 Hear the voice of my supplication,
as I cry to you for help,
as I lift up my hands
toward your most holy sanctuary.
as I cry to you for help,
as I lift up my hands
toward your most holy sanctuary.
Leader:
3 Take me not away with the wicked,
with those who are workers of evil,
who speak peace with their neighbors,
while mischief is in their hearts.
with those who are workers of evil,
who speak peace with their neighbors,
while mischief is in their hearts.
All:
4 Repay them according to their work,
and according to the evil
of their deeds;
and according to the evil
of their deeds;
Leader:
repay them according to the work
of their hands;
render them their due reward.
of their hands;
render them their due reward.
All:
5 The Lord will break them down
and build them up no more,
because they do not regard
the deeds of the Lord,
or the work of the Lord’s hands.
and build them up no more,
because they do not regard
the deeds of the Lord,
or the work of the Lord’s hands.
Leader:
Blessed be the Lord,
who has heard the voice
of my supplications!
who has heard the voice
of my supplications!
All:
7 The Lord is my strength and shield
in whom my heart trusts;
so I am helped, and my heart exults,
and with my song
I give thanks to the Lord.
in whom my heart trusts;
so I am helped, and my heart exults,
and with my song
I give thanks to the Lord.
Music
467 – Trust and Obey
2036 – Give Thanks
377 – It is Well with My Soul
415 – Take Up Thy Cross
2036 – Give Thanks
377 – It is Well with My Soul
415 – Take Up Thy Cross