| Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 |
| 1Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near—2a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness spread upon the mountains, a great and powerful army comes; their like has never been from of old, nor will be again after them in ages to come. 12Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 13rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from punishment. 14Who knows whether he will not turn and relent and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God? 15Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; 16gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the aged; gather the children, even infants at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her canopy. 17Between the vestibule and the altar, let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep. Let them say, “Spare your people, O Lord, and do not make your heritage a mockery, a byword among the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’” |
| It’s mid-winter and yet there are signs of spring. It’s been warm enough to walk outside. The changing path of the sun reveals how dirty the windows are and how grimy the floor is from the winter mud and snow. It’s getting time for spring-cleaning. “Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people.” These words of the prophet Joel are an invitation to new life. Lent is the church’s season for spring-cleaning. To begin Lent, ashes will mark our foreheads in the sign of the cross. The gritty ashes recall more than mortality; ashes long have been an ingredient of soap and sometimes can be substituted for soap as a cleansing agent. We cleanse our hearts the same way we clean our homes. First we have to get all the stuff out in the open and spread it around to see just what we’re dealing with. How did this get in here? Why are we keeping that? Don’t need those anymore! To hear myself struggle with what needs to stay and needs to be let go of is to begin to hear something not only of who I am but also what I’m becoming and what I’m failing to become. It would be easier to avoid the struggle. It can be uncomfortable; it can hurt. But there is that call of that trumpet! For we have a God who is “slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” I have the forgiveness and grace of God in Jesus Christ. So blow the trumpet! Call a solemn assembly! It is Ash Wednesday. Lent is here. And, while ashes are at the start of it, something like new life—like Easter!—is at the end. Prayer: “Gracious God, out of your love and mercy you breathed into dust the breath of life, creating us to serve you and our neighbors. Call forth our prayers and acts of kindness, and strengthen us to face our mortality with confidence in the mercy of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen”—ELW, Page 26 –Pastor Mark Nelson |