St. John Lutheran Church

Ash Wednesday, 2018

Joel 2:12-19

“Blow the Shofar”

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Throughout history trumpets, bugles, and horns of different types have been used for communication. Many are familiar with the bugle playing Reveille to gather the troops for roll call or the playing of taps at the end of the day and at military funerals honoring those who served and have passed away. Others may  be more familiar with the horn being blown when the Minnesota Vikings complete a first down or have watched a Ricola commercial. Interestingly those alpine horns were sometimes used in place of church bells. Could you imagine us beginning the service with an alpine horn?

The trumpet or more accurately the Shofar; the ram’s horn was used in our Old Testament text for Ash Wednesday. Twice the prophet Joel called for the blowing of the Shofar. “Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming…” (Joel 2:1) “Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber.” (Joel 2:15-16)

Blow the shofar. And don’t just blow it for anywhere…blow it from Zion; the dwelling place of the Lord. Warn the people. Gather the people together. Stop whatever it is you are doing and pay attention. Think of the shofar as a modern siren warning of an impending bombing like that in WWII or during the Cuban missile crisis.

Blow the Shofar in Zion. For judment, punishment, condemnation is at hand. Blow the Shofar. Gather together. Pray. Repent. “Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near,  a day of darkness and gloom.” (Joel 2:1-2) “Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people…Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep and say, “Spare your people, O Lord, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’” (Joel 2:15-17)

Blow the Shofar. The Day of the Lord is at hand. Joel warns that a “Fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns. The land is like the garden of Eden before them, but behind them a desolate wilderness, and nothing escapes them.” (Joel 2:3)

The Israelites had abandoned God. They looked to themselves and to the false gods of their neighbors for their help. They had forgotten all that the Lord had done. They became slanderers, adulterers, and murderers. They did not seek God and abandoned his laws, decrees, and covenant. The Day of the Lord was at hand. God’s just anger, His punishment and condemnation was at hand.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent. It is the time of the Church Year in which we focus on the impending suffering and death of our Lord. It is the time of the Church Year where we reflect on our own need for a Savior; a time in which we again focus on repentance for our own sin. Today, we again blow the shofar. We, like the Israelites of old, often act like we have forgotten God. We again blow the shofar as our own nation grows further in sinful decadence even as many Christians and denominations distance themselves from God and His Word. Blow the shofar. For we too sin often and act as enemies of Christ.

Blow the shofar. Gather together. Speak up, proclaim, share the warning to those around you. Listen to Joel as he shares God’s Word: “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.” (Joel 2:12-13)

Dear Christians: Return to the Lord your God. Repent. I don’t care if you fast or give something up for Lent. I don’t care if you don’t eat meat on Friday. I don’t care if you do or do not come up for ashes after the service. These are all fine and good. These can be good ways of contrition. If you are doing this by faith they are good and beneficial. But if it is all for show they are worthless. What God really wants is your heart. He wants you to actually repent…not just look like you’re repenting. He wants you to pray to Him…not just look like you’re praying. He wants you to have faith…not just go through the motions.

And to those who believe; those who truly repent; those who have true faith and call upon the name of the Lord..? For the faithful in Israel and the faithful of every age: “Then the Lord became jealous for his land and had pity on his people. The Lord answered and said to his people, “Behold, I am sending to you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations.” (Joel 2:18-19)

To those who repent and believe…God offers restoration; God offers forgiveness. God promises “that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Joel 2:32) Blow the shofar. Repent of your sins and receive God’s forgiveness. Call upon the name of the Lord. Call upon Christ Jesus who won for you forgiveness and life on the cross and you will be saved. Blow the shofar. At a time we mourn the loss of children and adults to a high school shooting in Florida we ought realize the necessity to share God’s Word to a dying and desperate word. Blow the shofar. Look at what the world around us is turning into. Blow the shofar. Share the wonderful news. Salvation has been won…for each of you…and all who call upon the name of the Lord. Amen.

Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. Amen.