The prophet Joel provides instructions for the clergy for a day like today. He says, “Between 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?’”
When you walk out of here today with your smudge of ash on your forehead, it may be that no one says it aloud, but people will look at you and at me, and they will wonder “Where is their God?” Long before the 21st century decline of religion in America, the prophet knew that many people would look askance at faith. Many people have given up putting faith in a God who wants us to seek forgiveness for the things we have done wrong, and who wants us to store up for ourselves treasures in heaven.
Maybe you came to church wondering yourself, “Where is my God?” It seems like it can be harder and harder to find God in the world today. Maybe that’s because God has made himself harder to find; but maybe it’s because our vision is more clouded than it’s ever been, and we have so little practice at finding God when we want him or need him. The prophet’s instructions make it clear that on a day like today we should make it easier to find God, not harder. And it’s always easier to find God when you are on the lookout for God’s love.
If God has called you to this place to receive ashes, and to share in the holy communion of his Body and Blood, it’s because God wants you to know that he loves you and will give anything for you. One of the surest ways God shows his love for his people is by offering forgiveness. And anyone who’s ever been in love knows that eventually you are going to have to ask for forgiveness. Eventually you are going to do something or say something that you shouldn’t have, or that you didn’t really mean, or that felt good at the time but is eating away at you now. Sometimes we even have to ask for forgiveness for things that we did or said thinking they were loving, only to discover that we were wrong.
Why should it be said among the peoples, “Where is our God?”
It’s not the ashes you get today that provide the answer to that question; it’s the forgiveness.
Where is our God? He is right here, listening to you, loving you, and forgiving you. The ashes are not much more than a sign that you know that you need to be listened to, you need to be loved, you need to be forgiven.
The implication of the prophet’s instructions are that if God left us to rot in our selfish sinfulness, to become the people we would become if we never sought out forgiveness and had forgiveness bestowed on us, then we would be a sorry lot of people, marked only by ashes, and much to be pitied by others, who might well wonder, “Where is their God.”
But the ashes we’re being given today are, ironically, a sign that were are a people marked not only by ashes, but by the love of God who forgives us. The ashes are a sign that you have remembered to return to the Lord with all your heart. The ashes are a sign that I have done my small job and asked the Lord to be generous in his pardoning of all our sins. And the ashes are a sign that you knew where to look when you wondered, “Where is our God?” You came to him, and you let God love you, and forgive you.
Preached by Fr. Sean Mullen
Ash Wednesday 2023
Saint Mark’s, Locust Street, Philadelphia
