LC, Ash Wednesday ; A Sermon by The Reverend Alice Marcrum

February 2010

We have come here today to humble ourselves before the Lord God in repentance of our sins, both known and unknown; for no one can say with integrity that they are without sin. This corporate act of repentance is done by the Church in the hope that the Lord God will hold back His judgment upon the earth. In the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham asked the Lord God to spare these cities for the sake of ten righteous people. When the angels of the Lord came down to see for themselves the wickedness of the people, not even ten righteous ones could be found. Only Lot, his wife and two daughters were spared the destruction of these cities. Even then, Lot’s wife disobeyed the angels of the Lord by looking back. She paid for her disobedience with her life.

Here in America, the Church has lost her influence on the culture. In fact, in some ways the culture has influenced the Church to abandon her moral compass and to replace it with secular standards. We as a nation are falling away from the Lord God Almighty. As the prophet Isaiah wrote, “We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost. We've all done our own thing, gone our own way.”  

To see God’s response to our sins, we have to go to Calvary where the Son of God paid for our sins with His life. Isaiah writes, “And God has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong, on him, on him.” For it was on Calvary where all the sins of humanity – past, present and future-were heaped upon the Son of God. Every time we sin, the sacrifice of Christ is proven once again to be our only hope of salvation.

It is in sorrow that we come here today. Knowing that once again, we as the Church have failed not only personally in our witness for Christ; but also corporately in winning the world for Christ. Christianity is no longer the fastest growing religion. Instead, more people, including the young people, are turning away from the Judeo-Christian roots on which this nation was founded. Respect for the sanctity of human life is spiraling downward at a rapid rate.

Just recently, while many of us watched the Super Bowl from the comfort of our living rooms or with friends at a Super Bowl party; young girls barely out of puberty were trafficked for prostitution on South Beach and Downtown Miami. These girls were brought in from all over the country by their pimps to profit from the masses flocking to Miami for this national sporting event.

Quoting the Miami Herald, “Ernie Allen, who heads the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said girls typically enter prostitution at age 11 or 12. ``This is truly an example of supply and demand,'' said Allen. ``They use these kids as commodities for sale or trade, and go to where demand is the greatest, and where they can make the most money. That's why they follow events like the Super Bowl.''

Allen called child prostitutes ``21st-century slaves.''

This is just one example of how far our nation has pulled away from her Christian heritage. No longer do parents fear that their sons and daughters might run away to join the circus. Instead, there is real evil waiting outside our doors. Evil that is seeking to steal the hearts, minds and bodies of our young people into a nightmare that rarely has a happy ending.

In today’s reading from the Old Testament, we heard the prophet Joel warning the people of God to repent for the day of the Lord is coming.  The prophet Joel writes,

“Blow the ram's horn trumpet in Zion! Trumpet the alarm on my holy mountain!
Shake the country up!
   God's Judgment's on its way—the Day's almost here!
A black day! A Doomsday!
   Clouds with no silver lining!
Like dawn light moving over the mountains,
   a huge army is coming.
There's never been anything like it
   and never will be again.
Wildfire burns everything before this army
   and fire licks up everything in its wake.
Before it arrives, the country is like the Garden of Eden.
   When it leaves, it is Death Valley.
   Nothing escapes unscathed.”

 “Nothing escapes unscathed.” Even the righteous of the land are affected by the coming of the Day of the Lord. Yet, in the midst of this alarm there is hope. Hope for a future that doesn’t resemble Death Valley. Hope for a future of peace and prosperity. The prophet Joel tells the people to humble themselves and to repent. The Lord God may spare them from His wrathful judgment if they seek His face not for their sakes, but for the Lord’s. Joel writes, “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?’”  

Before the Church becomes a byword among the nations, perhaps this Ash Wednesday will be different. Perhaps, we who are the people of God will have a real change of heart.  Then God will find a way to heal this land and restore the soul of her people. The healing begins with the Church on her knees and a broken and contrite heart. It is a journey that leads us to the cross of Christ, our only hope for salvation and redemption.