Can a parable be a commentary? Prophet Joel

"Sarah, he knows all that you have been through, what a terrible time you've had, the black mold, the expenses, the debts.  Instead of helping you, your neighbors have taken advantage of your situation.  He knows they took all that he had and what was precious to you.  They even wanted your children.  Yes, they managed to remove two, a son and a daughter.  Not only did they sell both of them, but then they used the money to party.  What they have done in unthinkable.  He know and he is in the process of getting the children back.  And, on to p of everything, the fire, it was devastating!  It destroyed what you had left.  You were used to having plenty for yourself and to share and help others.  Now you do not even have food to eat.  You will have plenty again.  If you will come to him, he will take care of everything.  He is near and wants you to come to him.  He will make it all up to you and pay you back for everything that you lost and for your years of suffering.

"He is already planning a wonderful future for you and all your family.  He will provide for your parents in their old age and for the children.  They will all be able to dream of a new future and see their dreams fulfilled.  HE will turn everything around, and there will be nothing but good times.

"Now is the time to cry; today is a day to weep, and as you weep, get ready, get your children together and go to him.  He wants yo to come back to him.

"He has planned a gathering with those who hurt you.  It will be a terrible day for them; it will be his turn, his day.  Some neighbors may think that they were hurting you to get back at him.  He had done nothing to them, but now he will deal with them as they deserve.  HE has the law on his side, and they have no possible defense:; they will feel the ground shake.  It will be a day of justice, a day of hard exacting justice.

"His exact words to you are, 'I will dwell in our hose forever.  This will be our home, and it will be the home of our children, of our grandchildren, and their grandchildren.  There will always be an abundance of food in the pantry and wine in the cellar.  We will be a blessing to all  those around us,  and I will never remind any of what they have done.  I will have pardoned them.´"



After reading story above, let's go back to the Hebrew scriptures, the Old Testament, and reread the book of the prophet Joel.    It is only a few pages.  


What has Israel suffered?   What did they do to deserve it?   Who is responsible for their sufferings?   What is God going to do with Israel and with the other nations?   


Why did anyone write such a book?   Why would God inspire such  writing?  The book was around for centuries before Peter quoted it (Acts 2:17-21) on Pentecost; what did readers understand from it?

Hint:  About the puzzle in the last blog, the next 4 letters that go in the blanks form a word that describes what God did to Jonah.

Where to begin?

"The problem is that there is obviously no legitimate starting point for theological reflection, and one must begin somewhere."

Walter Brueggeman - (Theology of the Old Testament, p. 17)

I usually like problems. I like them to be brief, well stated and challenging, but I also like them to have a definite solution. For example:

In the infinite series below, what word is spelled by the next 4 letters?

O, T, T, F, F, S, ___, ___, ___, ___, . . .

The problem of establishing a starting point is a bit more complicated. Whether is is a blog or theological reflection, it isn't easy to decide where to start. Breuggeman states the problem briefly and clearly; I must begin this, but . . . where do I begin? I know it is a serious simplification, but I think that, wherever I happen to be, I start from there. The problem behind the problem is that, apart from my physical location, I may not know where I am, and there may not be the public vocabulary to describe a location for intellectual reflection. How many degrees am I from an idea?

I can compare my location to those around me, but that only gives a relative location. I had a friend who saw himself as a radical. He went to a conservative religious university, and managed to get himself suspended by speaking out on racial equality and sacred cows. He was then accepted into a public university, where he found himself to be a flaming conservative. I think I am in a similar location; I am to the left of some and to the right of others. In one group, I am the token liberal, but in another I am too conservative to be taken seriously.

When I am considering physical location, it is not a permanent place. Right now, I am obviously here at my computer. This isn't typing itself. Soon, I will get up and get something to eat. Where I stand on an issue is also temporary; new information will move me and reflection will take me down the road.

Now, if I begin here at my computer and give directions for which way I am going, how can that be relevant to someone who isn't here in my shoes? When, if ever, I call for directions, I want them to give me directions from where I am, not from where they are. When I check Google Maps, I don't want directions from Google headquarters, much less a satellite. It is more difficult when I read a book. The author isn't giving me directions from where I am. He/she doesn't even know me, but soon I feel like I know him, as I come to understand his path. Sometimes that helps me along my path.

From where will I start; I can only start from here. Wherever it may be, here is the only place that I am. I will leave 'legitimate' for another day and wrap this up with a hint on the problem above: The seventeenth letter would be "S".

Introduction

Naming a blog or a web page can be an interesting process. Today I was blessed. There was no process, because the first title I typed in was accepted. Here I was getting ready to describe what all I went through to come up with a good title.

Ideally good thinking will transfer into good actions, but here we will try to concentrate on the thinking things through.

I consider myself an active thinking Christian, so many of the blogs will be concerned with ideas and beliefs related to Christianity. I have no desire to attack anyone who thinks differently, but I do hope that we can think and dialog in positive ways.