Reflections on “The Black Cross” Joel 2: 1-2; 12-17 Ash Wednesday, 2026

I read Brian Coulter's  Ash Wednesday meditation "Mortality"as found in Journal for Preachers, Vol XLIX, Number 2  for Lent 2026, which led to many reflections on Ash Wednesday and how I have celebrated Ash Wednesday in years past.  It was a wonderful time of reflection with lots of memories.  I did not mention it in the sermon, but one of my favorite memories was having people gather to walk a labyrinth, do a devotional as they reflected on the experience, and then receive ashes in a "come and go" approach we used at the church I served previously.  I have noticed through the years that Ash Wednesday is also a day when people seek out the church so they can experience the imposition of ashes.

“The Black Cross” Joel 2: 1-2; 12-17;  St. Andrew Presbyterian Church; Feb 18, 2026

Joel 2: 1-2; 12-17

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—

2 

a day of darkness and gloom,
    a day of clouds and thick darkness!
Like blackness spread upon the mountains,
    a great and powerful army comes;
their like has never been from of old,
    nor will be again after them
    in ages to come.Is not this the fast that I choose:
    to loose the bonds of injustice,
    to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
    and to break every yoke?

Yet even now, says the Lord,
    return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;

13 

    rend your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the Lord your God,
    for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love,
    and relenting from punishment.

14 

Who knows whether he will not turn and relent
    and leave a blessing behind him,
a grain offering and a drink offering
    for the Lord your God?

15 

Blow the trumpet in Zion;
    consecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly;

16 

    gather the people.
Consecrate the congregation;
    assemble the aged;
gather the children,
    even infants at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room
    and the bride her canopy.

17 

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?’ ”

Introduction: Ash Wednesday always has me in a reflective mood.

Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return

Powerful words to ponder.

I usually move into my reflective mode as I watch the dried out palms from last year go up in flame to be ashes for this year.

Something about seeing that transformation - the long green branches, reduced to gray ashes

Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

Move 1:  through the years, I have done the imposition of ashes in different worship settings, 

at different times of day,

in different places.

This morning, my day started with a photo arriving on my phone from my daughter.

she was doing “ashes to go” at the Ballston Metro station in DC for the morning commuter crowd.

the photo showed her signing the ashes on a young woman whom I had baptized and confirmed in OH, who now lives in DC and got her ashes to go on the way to work.

when we imposes ashes tonight, we join in a tradition of the church that traces back centuries.

generation after generation people have begun Lent by having a black cross signed in their foreheads

to acknowledg their sinfulness and need for repentance,

to face their mortality 

to turn in repentance and hope to the God who breathed the breath of life into the dust of the earth

to turn to the God of resurrection who will receive them at their death

Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return!

Move 2:  I was driving through the UNT campus today and saw multiple students walking down the sidewalks with black crosses on their foreheads.

the prophet Joel calls for the trumpet to blare so that all the inhabitants of the land to listen:

Consecrate the congregation;
     assemble the aged;
gather the children,
     even infants at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room
     and the bride her canopy.

All of us need to hear it again:

As the Apostle Paul writes: “to live is to die”

None of us escape our mortality.

Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return

Move 3:  The prophet Joel calls us to repent and live new lives:

Live in ways that  work to loose the bonds of injustice,

  join in the struggles to undo the straps of the yoke,

lead the charge to let the oppressed go free,

     be at work to break every yoke?

From whatever vantage point you look at the world, you no doubt see and feel the need for things to change.

Joel gives us all the direction in which we need to go - reaching out to others with justice and hope.

It is not just a matter of changing our actions, but changing our hearts.

the prophet Joel reminds us that God makes it a matter of the heart.

return to me with all your heart,

     rend your hearts and not your clothing.

the Lenten journey that begins with a black cross marked on our foreheads calls us to a change of heart and new life.

Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.

Amen.

 

“With Light Comes the Dawn”; Isaiah 58: 1-9a

this was the final sermon of this preaching series.  It has beena  difficult series for me to preach.  In retrospect, I should have spent more time the first week going over how biblical scholarship views Isaiah - particularly the distinction between First, Second and Third Isaiah - although contemporary scholarship is changing how it views that approach as well.

It also has been difficult to preach during a time of so much civil discord in the United States.  Some who gather, here Isaiah's condemnation and see the currents actions of the government as an example of abuses God dislikes; others are wary of any suggestion that the government is doing anything wrong and sees the activists as acting out against God's call. 

The concluding story was a last minute addition.  I literally decided to include it during worship.  I sort of stumbled through it.  I think it could have been a really effective sermon illustration, but my lack of preparation on it made it mediocre.

 “With Light Comes the Dawn”; Isaiah 58: 1-9a; St. Andrew Presbyterian Church; Feb 8, 2026

Isaiah 58: 1-9a

Shout out; do not hold back!
    Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
Announce to my people their rebellion,
    to the house of Jacob their sins.

2 

Yet day after day they seek me
    and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness
    and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments;
    they want God on their side.[a]

3 

“Why do we fast, but you do not see?
    Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?”
Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day
    and oppress all your workers.

4 

You fast only to quarrel and to fight
    and to strike with a wicked fist.
Such fasting as you do today
    will not make your voice heard on high.

5 

Is such the fast that I choose,
    a day to humble oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush
    and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast,
    a day acceptable to the Lord?

6 

Is not this the fast that I choose:
    to loose the bonds of injustice,
    to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
    and to break every yoke?

7 

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
    and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them
    and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

8 

Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you;
    the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

9 

Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
    you shall cry for help, and he will say, “Here I am.”

Introduction:  A final week in the prophet Isaiah and images light. Undoubtedly we will encounter Isaiah and light at future times, but this is the final sermon in this The preaching series.

you will no doubt, notice Recurring themes

As Isaiah continues to use the image of light,

Isaiah comes at us with a challenge and a hope.

Move 1:  Reminder of the context

a.  This chapter of Isaiah if from what scholars call Third Isaiah

1. The Israelites have returned from exile.

2. They are hopeful.

3. They are Trying to find their identity as God’s people as they rebuild Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple, the center piece of their communal worship.

4.  Walter Brueggemann has described this overarching narrative as "a continued meditation upon the destiny of Jerusalem” (Brueggemann, Walter (2003). An introduction to the Old Testament: the canon and Christian imagination. Westminster John Knox. ISBN 978-0-664-22412-7.)

b. How are they going to live into their identity as God’s people?

1. if you were asked what is fundamental to being a Christian, 

or maybe a Presbyterian,

what would you answer?

2. Relationship with God through Christ would probably be at the  top, but I bet worship would be near the top as well.

3.Worship has always been fundamental to what it means to be God’s people.

worship is so impirtant to the Israelites that they have a tabernacle that travels with them through the wilderness.

worship is so important that rebuilding the Temple is a top priority for the returning exiles.

think about how important worship is to you and your life of discipleship:

the gathering together

the prayers

singing hymns together

listening to glorious music that transports us to the heavenly realm

encountering God’s word in ways that comfort and challenge.

5.  Worship is the place where God’s people in all times, 

and particularly in the time when they return from exile, 

find their identity.

Move 2:  isaiah has a Challenge for them - their worship has to be more than just worship.

a. I saiah points out a discrepancy in their worship.

1. On the one hand,  Isaiah notes that the people are seeking out God.

they delight to know God’s ways.

the seek to practice righteousness.

and perhaps cynically Isaiah notes, they want “God on their side”

But, they see the importance of being in right relationship with God

so they are worshipping and fasting,

fasting being an important act and symbol of their devoted worship,

in ways to lay claim to to their identity as God’s people.

2.  And I imagine, and scholars suggest, that their worship was glorious.

 

c.  But, Isaiah say,

and we know it is an important but because God calls Isaiah to prophesy like a trumpet blaring.

1. a trumpet blaring gets people’s attention.

2.  God has seen the people worshiping and fasting, and this is God’s response.

3.  da dada da

   Is not this the fast that I choose:
    to loose the bonds of injustice,
    to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
    and to break every yoke?

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
    and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them
    and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

d.  It is not enough to love worship;

it is not enough to fast;

it is not enough to come to worship wanting to be in right relationship with God.

1.  Worship must shape the people to act like God’s people.

worship must shape us so that we go into the world and follow Christ.

2. Ironically, Isaiah is prophesying to people whose recent history has had them as the ones who had been exiles, 

the ones who had been oppressed

 

and at the mercy of whatever justice Babylon imposed.

3. But as they reshape themselves as and reclaim their identity after their return to Jerusalem, Isaiah puts them on notice that they are called to 

do justice

free the oppressed

feed the hungry,

clothe the naked,

extend hospitality.

4. their worship should point them,

push them,

challenge them to live into those expectations.

e. that challenge is before us even today.

1.  We who love worship must be shaped by the Glorious music.

shaped by the liturgy and prayers

shaped by the word read and proclaimed

shaped by our communal gathering.

2. Shaped to go into the world and serve.

Move 3:  With the challenge comes the hope.

a. as we are shaped to go into the world to  do justice and care for others,

our light shines forth like the dawn.

1.  Light breaking forth into the dawn brings up powerful images of how God is at work.

2.  We remember creation, 

when the world was covered in darkness, God’s first act was to bring forth light.

each day, as dawn arrives, we are reminded that God has given us a new day.

3. Or consider the darkness of the night that surrounds the tomb where the crucified Christ had been buried;

at first light, the dawn of the new day,

the women arrive to discover the empty tomb 

and new life.

3.  As we live into our calling as God’s people, our light breaks forth like a new dawn and brings us new life.

4.  In her book Bird by Bird, Ann Lamott mentions hearing a “Hope begins in the dark; the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don't give up.” (Bird by Bird, xxiii)

5.  Or as Isaiah describes it:   

as our worship shapes us to do justice and extend ourselves to those in need,

we discover new life

and we find our hope in the world. 

b.  Our Light shines forth as a sign of our hope, but also as a sign to all the world.

1.  That is how Jesus uses the image of light.

2.  “You are the light of the world. 

let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to God in heaven.

1.  We often associate Jesus’ comment on light with the song we teach our kids

“This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine

“hide it under a bushel, NO,  I’m going to it shine

2.  What a great image for the kids  to imagine a light shining that we do not want to hide.

3.  But, Isaiah reminds us that shining our light is more than just a bumper sticker message 

or announcing to the world that we are Christians.

it is more than inciting people to come enjoy worship with us 

it is showing the light that shines forth justice,

that extends hospitality,

that feeds the hungry,

that clothes the naked,

that invites others to the new life God has for each of us.

Conclusion:  dawn story - in college worked at summer place, Presbyterian camp in port Arkansas

Went there for the week-end with some friends late onFriday night;  spent Saturday and Saturday night doing beach stuff; decided to get up early to watch the sun rise on the beach.

It was the the night the clocks turned back - before smart watches that changed automatically, 

before smart college guys remembered turning back out watches.

About 15 minutes into wondering why the sun was not rising, the radio announcer said, “hope you remembered to turn you clocks back.”

We decided to stay. As the next hour hit, one of the noted he had spent a week there last summer and never saw the sunrise because of the clouds.

We Never saw the sunrise.  But the sun was rising behind the clouds.

I thought about that this week when I read Isaiah and the light breaking forth in the dawn.  

if we don’t show our light, God is still out there, waiting and hoping that we will show our light,

and then God will answer, 

“Here I am.”

Matthew 5: 13-16   13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything but is thrown out and trampled under foot.

14 “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. 15 People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket; rather, they put it on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.