On  the 25^th anniversary of Rich Mullins’ death in 1997, I was reading some articles by people he had influenced.  My memory of his music was stirred, music from the 80’s and early 90’s that still touches me today.  As Bethel McGrew observed, Mullins would “have defied easy categorization in today’s Christian culture wars.” Mullins was indeed a “ragamuffin” Christian for Brennan Manning’s “Ragamuffin Gospel” for people of faith who are among “the bedraggled, beat-up and burnt-out.” Mullins “was flawed and broken, every bit the raggamuffin he claimed to be and more.  But he told us the truth as he could see it,” noted Russell Moore.  Andrew Greer and Randy Cox wrote about the tension Mullins felt with the evangelical establishment of his time. “Rich chafed against the paint-by-numbers parameters of the gospel music industry.  From his ragamuffin perspectiven, his choice was clear: he could either appease the mass-market demands of a religiously ‘right’ constituency by softening his creed and diluting his dialogue or he could appeal to people’s heart through honest and human exchange.” In my early days of spiritual growth, Mullins’ appeal was two-fold for me.   First, as Greer and Cox observed, Mullins appealed to the heart.  He knew and expressed emotional and spiritual suffering.  His songs expressed these sentiments.  The second aspect of Mullin’s influence on me was his searching for spirituality within the Catholic tradition (an asymptotic catholic).  He was positioned as a kind of “folk theologian in the space between Protestantism and Catholicism.” There are several songs that I especially remember.  The first Awesome God, which was almost anthem during the height the the charismatic movement.  Both Judy and I have fond memories of those days.  It is a simple refrain: “Our God is an awesome God/He reigns from heaven above/With wisdom, power, and love/Our God is an awesome God.”  I can almost hear a large crowd singing this with all their might. The second is Hold Me Jesus.  It is a haunting song of spiritual struggle.  I identified with Mullins’ struggle in this.  One verse goes: “Surrender don’t come natural to me/I’d rather fight You for something I don’t really want/Than to take what You give that I need/And I’ve beat my head against so many walls/Now I’m falling down I’m falling on my knees.”  Wow.  I still identify with these words. The chorus brings back a lot of memories: “So hold me Jesus ’cause I’m shaking like a leaf/You have been king of my glory/Won’t you be my Prince of Peace.” I remember identifying with “the leaf.”  It described my heart condition.  I was only learning to put my hand on my heart and look up to Jesus and cry for mercy.  Thank you, Jesus, for Rich Mullins’ vulnerability. The third song is If I Stand.  I can still identify deeply with the chorus.  “So if I stand let me stand on the promise/That you will pull me through/And if I can’t, let me fall on the grace/That first brought me to You/And if I sing let me sing for the joy/That has born in me these songs/And if I weep let it be as a man/Who is longing for his home.” Wow!  How often I still  have to “fall on the grace” that brought me to Jesus in the beginning.  I am thankful that God has given me the gift of tears, to weep over my own sins.  While I continue to journey, now on the homeward stretch, I long for home and for what is yet to come.  Thank you, Rich Mullins, for your influence in my life.  

The “Day of The Lord” is an expression found frequently in the Old Testament prophets.  It points to an extraordinary event.  It could refer to a present event (like a locust plague) an even in the near future (like the destruction of Jerusalem) or the final period in history when God will defeat the forces of evil.  However, in Joel’s day,  many of God’s people had come to believe the day of the Lord referred to a day of blessing.  It tended to produce complacency.   

When Joel saw the day of the Lord as a day of judgment, it caught the people by surprise.   He prophesied, “The day of the Lord is near, the day when destruction comes from the Almighty.  How terrible that day will be!” (1:15)  Then in 2:2-11, the prophet gives a vivid description of all the devastation across the land.  He cries out, “The day of the Lord is great; it is dreadful; Who can endure it?” (2:11).

I want to ask – “In what way is the day of the Lord relevant for our day?  How should we prepare ourselves for a contemporary day of the Lord?  Are we as a nation approaching such an event in the near future?  In my heart I have a sense of foreboding.  Is God trying to get the attention of His church?  Are we behaving more like victims rather than bold witness to the sovereignty of God in our national affairs?”

Joel’s counsel for us in our day is to “cry out to the Lord” (1:14).  “When we are facing bitter and utter desolation, it is not our immediate reaction to cry out to God.  It is easier and more common, to withdraw and to take it out on others…….this has the effect of devouring our faith in God.  Joel’s instruction effectively tells the people to jettison any vestige of pride, self-sufficiency, anger or rebelliousness” ( Bible Speaks Today).  

Joel exhorts the people, “Put on sackcloth.” (1:13)  There is to be external actions that express the inward cry of the heart.  The prophet calls for the priest to “Declare a fast [and] call a sacred assembly.”  They are to “Summons the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord” (1:14).  “There is a suggestion here that in times of national crisis, spiritual leaders should take the imitative in calling on political and other leaders to cry out to God” (BST). 

There is a dramatic change in the second part of the prophecy.  “Then the Lord was jealous for his land and took pity on his people” (2:18).  God makes a promise: “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten – the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm – my great army that I sent among you” (2:25).

I wonder about the  present condition of our nation?  Is the Spirit of God stirring the hearts of  people in the church to come before him and cry out for God to the merciful to us as a nation?  Are enough hearts being broken for the sins of our nation?  Are we coming with humble, repentant hearts, asking for forgiveness and boldness to live as loving servants in a dying culture?  I wonder.  

My challenge to men is to take the lead in coming before the Lord. Dismiss the fear-mongering so prevalent in our nation and cry out to the Lord to have mercy.    God is looking for men who will be his witnesses in our day.