Our theme for Lent is "Remaining in Christ." We are to be as fruitful branches, securely connected to the vine. Joel's prophetic insight is that 'returning' is the first step in 'remaining.'
'Returning' is done, he says, with 'all your heart.' For Joel, that means fasting, weeping and mourning.
Fasting is a discipline of the will. It involves our thinking. I find in fasting that I have to tell my body what I will do that day. There will be no food. Then the hunger goes away, although my resolve does get tested from time to time. So, returning to God involves the will to obey God. You tell your body what you intend to do each day. Our words have power. Commitments and affirmations enable us to do God's will.
Weeping is a matter of the heart, or spirit. God looks for a broken and contrite spirit. We weep, not because someone hurt us with words or actions, but because we hurt God and others with our behavior. Weeping is not a matter of feeling the pain that we have received, but feeling the pain that we have caused. This is the capacity to feel in the heart what our words do to others, and what our irresponsible behavior causes in others, and to sincerely weep over our sin.
Mourning is a very physical reaction to loss. It can be described as an illness. It takes time to recover. Something of great value in our lives is missing. There is a feeling of being incomplete, of being empty. In the spiritual life it is knowing that you are 'poor in spirit.' It is the experience of restlessness that moves you to God as the only source of life.
Jesus calls us to love God with all our mind, heart and srength. This is the way of returning to God.
"Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love."
