Guess what? We’re sinners!

March 9, 2011 

We don’t like to think of ourselves as sinners, but on Ash Wednesday it’s hard to avoid thinking about our sinfulness. The texts and actions within this service make it perfectly clear that we are far from perfect.

I once put a message on the sign outside of the church for all to read: “Sinners welcome.” My intent was to say to all those who thought they were too sinful to come to church, that they were welcome. As I spoke with a member with young adult children, she said the sign was having an effect opposite what I intended. Her daughter refused to go to a place that called her a sinner. 

Each week, when we confess our sins, that silence for reflection can seem terribly long, or terribly short, depending on our perspective. It is not enough time to list all of our sins, or it isn’t enough time to remember even one of our sins.

Our texts for today/tonight make sure we know we are sinners. How many if us, for example, think of sin as only a personal matter? For Joel, it was a matter pertaining to the whole people of Israel. The immediate concern appears to have been an infestation of locusts, which turned the sky black, and consumed the entire crop the people were depending on to feed themselves. Joel speaks for God and accused the people as a whole. They have acted faithlessly and thoughtlessly, and God was punishing them.

A similar concern for us is global warming. We have acted together, consuming and abusing the earth God has given us and future generations. Joel would accuse us and declare that the challenges we are about to face are God’s punishment for our faithless and thoughtless actions. We need to repent and turn our hearts toward God.

Our texts for today/tonight make sure we know we are sinners. How many of us, for example, take living our faith as seriously as Paul does? How many of us would welcome beatings, imprisonment, shame, and the like as part of our ministry? Yet for Paul, it simply comes with his calling to share the good news of God’s mercy in Jesus Christ. He turns the hardships into joy, an expression of his faith in Jesus.

Not everyone must experience what Paul does to share our faith in Jesus, but for most of us, telling someone else we believe in Jesus and do such and such – or don’t do such and such – because of our faith is difficult for us to do. In the US, it is not normally risky to express our belief in public, yet we keep silent – we were taught to never discuss religion, politics, or money in polite company. And so, we keep our faith – our Jesus – to ourselves.

Our texts for today/tonight make sure we know we are sinners. How many if us, for example, are just going through the motions when we come to worship, because our minds and hearts are elsewhere? I don’t know about you, but when I take that moment of silence before we begin worship, I am working to gather my scattered thoughts about all the things I have to remember and do, I am working to chase away the distractions which draw me away from my focus on God, and I am working to turn my full attention to God and what God wants from me for the next hour.

Our texts for today/tonight make sure we know we are sinners. How many if us, for example, at least secretly want people to know how generous we are, how much we have given to help such and such a cause? For sure, the people with wings and buildings named after themselves in hospitals and university campuses want their generosity known. Or, how many of us don’t want it made known how little we give in Jesus’ name? How many of us put too much of our faith in our financial treasure, and not as much faith in the treasure of faith in Jesus?

The good news for us is that when we admit our sinfulness, our imperfections, Joel promises us that God is gracious and merciful, abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing. Paul declares that we are made right with God through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. And Jesus promises that God hears us when we pray, especially when we pray and confess in the secret of our hearts.

Of what do you need to repent? In what ways are you imperfect? In what ways are you guilty of abusing God’s abundance? For what do you need forgiveness? Where do you need God’s mercy?

Forgiveness and mercy have been promised to us. The more we confess, the more we are able to realize our sinfulness, the more we are able to appreciate the gift of God’s mercy, love, and forgiveness.

Today/tonight we wear the ashes of confession and repentance. But the ashes do not need to remain on our foreheads. In fact, if you wish you may wash them off as you leave worship. We have been made right with God by Jesus – and wear the invisible but always present sign of his love in the cross marked on us at our baptism.

Please pray with me. Merciful God, we forget so often that you are God and we are not. We fail to realize the sins we commit as a whole people, and as individuals. Have mercy on us, your own people. Amen