Returning to God with All Our Heart

St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Owings Mills MD

March 5, 2025

Ash Wednesday

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17

Psalm 103:8-14

2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Returning to God with All Our Heart

Let us pray.

God of Life,

May today’s ashes remind us that each day is precious.

May today’s ashes invite us to prayer and sacrifice and good works.

May today’s ashes inspire us to return to you with all our heart.

Amen.

        When I was a young, it seemed that Ash Wednesday was mostly about getting told that someday I was going to die.

        “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.”

        To be honest, I’m not sure I believed it.

But now… I’m not so young, and every day the increasing number of gray hairs on my head remind me that time is passing. 

By now, lots of people I’ve loved have died and I’ve presided at many funerals, including during my time here at St. Thomas’.

And every time we enter or leave this church, reminders of mortality are all around us.

But, sure, if any of you happen to still need it, Ash Wednesday is certainly a vivid reminder that we don’t have all the time in the world - that this life is short and precious, and we do not know that day nor the hour.

But Ash Wednesday is more than just a reminder of mortality.

Ash Wednesday is a call from God – a call from God who will not let go of us no matter what, God who will not let go of us even when our bodies are merely dust.

Long ago, God spoke through the Prophet Joel:

“Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning, rend your hearts and not your clothing.”

Ash Wednesday and the holy season of Lent are calls to repent, to return to God with all our heart.

And we return to God with all our heart by asking forgiveness for when we have messed up, setting aside attitudes and habits that we know aren’t good for us, shedding the sins that divide us from God and one another.

        We return to God with all our heart by spending even just a little bit of time in prayer – could be only a few quiet moments, or simply a word or two, like “Help” or “Thank you.”

Those will work just fine.

We return to God with all our heart by striving to live with patience, kindness, mercy, understanding, and, most of all, love. 

We return to God with all our heart by being here, even when we don’t feel like it, even when life gets busy and stressful, especially then.

Today we are called to return to God with all our heart.

And, with God’s help, if we answer this call, then in just a few weeks what a joyful Easter we will have, what a celebration of new life we will have, right here, with Mary Magdalene and all of Jesus’ friends.

        But first, it’s Lent.

And especially during Lent, 

        God calls us

        to return.

        To return with all our heart.

Amen.