Growth on the ruins of yesterday (Joel 2,21-27) / Wednesday after fifth Sunday after Easter, BCP/

‘And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.’
 
The of renewal bestowed on us is told here. God can restore our lives upon the ruins of the day (a whole culture). When everything is broken, this is God’s ‘Eucharistic presence’ from which we can regain our hope in the future and the necessary vitality to rebuild it. Joel’s vision is our inspiration to ‘stand in the rain’ of Divine sustenance. Let God be God, the Life-giver again, among us. ‘Be not afraid you beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength. Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the and shall overflow the wine and oil.’
 
Being showered upon by grace (= God’s life in us) is beautifully expressed in the second, ‘Andante’, movement in Mozart’s first Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in F major, K.37. Our world, when the anti-terrorist armed military personnel are patrolling the streets of London and other cities, really should listen to this healing voice of Mozart-Joel.

Musical illustration: Mozart, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No.1 in F major, K.37, second ‘Andante movement’, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r71CE16ONzg