Karl Barth once remarked that the greatest tragedy in human life would be to come to the end of our days and to realize that we have been totally worthless in the purpose of God. Or in the thought of our Epistle lesson, at the end to realize that God has poured out his grace on us through all our years, and yet we have done nothing with it (2 Corinthians 6:1).

 

It is that "end" that the prophet Joel is preaching about in our Old Testament lesson, the end of our lives, and in fact, the end of human history. Joel 2:1-2 concerns the Day of the Lord, the dies irae as it is called in so much music and liturgy. That is the final day, when God comes to earth to destroy all of his enemies and to establish his reign over all things and persons. Thus verses 1-2 of our text picture the blowing of th…