Ash Wednesday Reflection

 Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
Ash Wednesday Reflection
James Sledge                                                                            February 14, 2024 

Honk, honk, honk, honk. The car alarm drones on and on, and nobody pays it much attention. I’ve sometimes wondered how useful such alarms are if they don’t get anyone to do anything. Often people just want to get the alarm turned off, to get rid of the annoying honk, honk, honk.

Blow 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. Honk, honk.

I’ve lost count of the school shootings, of the mass shootings. The carnage of gun violence is sickening, and no one does anything. Honk, honk, honk.

Blow 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. Honk, honk.

The evidence becomes more and more overwhelming that we’ve reached a tipping point on climate change. The storms in California were just the latest episode. And I read where some scientists say we need to add a Category 6 to the hurricane scale because they have gotten so much stronger. Honk, honk, honk.

Blow 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.  Honk, honk.

Sometimes the very foundations of our democracy seem to be threatened. If people won’t trust the outcome of elections, what happens next? Honk, honk, honk.

Blow 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.  Honk, honk.

We’re good at ignoring alarms. We shrug them off. Many alarms scream that something is amiss in our world. Yet other than a little hand wringing, many churches hardly seem to notice. Too often, we act like religion is a strictly personal, private thing, even though the Bible insists faith is about community, about God’s people working together to proclaim good news to the poor, release to the captives, freedom for the oppressed, justice for the weak. But we work on our spirituality and ignore the alarms. Honk, honk, honk.

The Bible and God’s prophets insist that we cannot ignore the alarms. Joel is typical. When the alarm of crisis fills the land, it is not someone else’s problem. It is a call for the community of faith to come together for soul searching, repentance, and renewal. 

Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly. Assemble the aged; gather the children, even infants at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her canopy. But this trumpet sound is not that of an alarm. It is the ringing of the church bell. Ding, dong, ding, dong. God calls the community of faith to respond. “But the children have a soccer game. I did my part at church when I was younger. I’m just too busy.” Ding, dong, ding, dong.

The biblical prophets insist that when the world is amiss, it is not the fault of other folk. It is the fault of the community of faith. Our culture celebrates greed and getting whatever you want right now. It says that happiness comes from having it all. And we in the church nod in agreement as we bow before the gods of consumerism. Honk, honk, honk. Sound the alarm.  Ding, dong, ding, dong. Call the church to action.

Our society allows there to be one justice for the rich and another for the poor despite the Bible command that this cannot be. And we in the church shrug because we’re not poor.  Honk, honk, honk. Sound the alarm. Ding, dong, ding, dong. Call the church to action.

The civilian death toll in Gaza, the number of children left orphans, the number maimed, is beyond appalling. And we in the church mostly shrug because Israel is an ally, and it’s all a long way away. Honk, honk, honk. Sound the alarm.  Ding, dong, ding, dong. Call the church to action.

The prophets say that when the alarm sounds, it is the community of faith that must respond because it is the community of faith which has not done its job. Jesus says that we must be willing to deny ourselves. We must be willing to lose ourselves for the sake of the gospel. Honk, honk, honk. Sound the alarm.  Ding, dong, ding, dong. Call the church to action.

I can think of no more appropriate place to answer the alarm, and to respond to the church bell, than at the beginning of Lent. Lent is a time to remember that in a sinful world, a Christian life looks like the life of Christ, a life that is willing to go the way of a cross. Lent is a time to heed Jesus’ call to quit worrying about earthly treasure and concentrate on what really matters. Lent is a time to remember that we can celebrate the joy of Easter only because Jesus walked the way of the cross. Lent is a time to remember how seldom we carry our own cross and follow Jesus.  Lent is a time to remember what Jesus did for us, and to show our thanksgiving by renewing and redoubling our efforts to follow him as faithful disciples.

In just a few moments we will invite you to come forward and be marked with the sign of the cross. This mark of ashes is a sign of our human frailty, of our dependence on God, a reminder of the price that was paid for our sakes, of our failures to live as Christ calls us, and our call to live as Christ did. Honk, honk, honk.  Ding, dong, ding, dong. The alarm is sounding. The church bell is ringing. Will we answer?