Ash Wednesday | February 18th, 2026 | The Rev. McKenzi Roberson

Have y’all spent much time with the book of Joel? It’s a short book, just three chapters long. It might take you seven minutes to read it if you’re doing just a little more than skimming. The prophet tells of war and economic and ecological ruin – and ecological ruin means famine. These are dark and urgent times. Something must change, and it must change soon.

An interesting detail in the study of Joel is that it cannot be conclusively dated. There are no references to kings or a clear lineage of the prophet, so there are centuries in which it could be dated. Part of what that means is that there is a certain timelessness to this text. Warfare and violence, economic uncertainty, and food insecurity are near constant presences in this world across the ages, even into today.

One way the ancient Israelites had of making meaning of these challenging situations is to see them as God’s punishment for their idolatry. The people of God are called to love God with everything they have, and when they turn away to other gods then they inevitably come to face hard times.

Now, like much in Lent, this is a theological claim that requires some nuance. It is too easy to take this position and use it to victim blame. People will say, “If you lived more righteously, then the tornado wouldn’t have destroyed your home,” or “If you loved God more, then you wouldn’t be poor.” Don’t be those people, speaking to others or to yourself. We live in a fallen world. Sometimes bad things happen and it’s entirely out of our control. In those moments we are met by Jesus, who knows what it is to grieve the death of a friend and to die himself a painful and humiliating death. God draws near to us with compassion and love in these times.

And, sometimes, we have messed up. We do from time to time fall into sin, and we need to face that. “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. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.”

Lent is a time to consider our lives and our actions, to be honest about where we have missed the mark in living into the people God has called us to be. It is six weeks we set aside for prayer and reflection, so that when Easter comes we are ready to step anew with Christ towards resurrected life.

It can be uncomfortable to face the places where we have let selfishness, fear, anger, or pride get in the way of loving others the way God calls us to love. Lent is by no means a “fun” season in the life of the church.

Now, once again, nuance. We are not, like Martin Luther once claimed (in far more crass language) piles of sinful poop covered in the cleansing, pure snow of baptism. You are not sinful and rotten at your core. I don’t care what the mean voices in your head or in your life say to you. You are a beloved child of God, and nothing can take that away.

And, even the most beloved of children can sin. We can get caught up in our heads, misled by the myriad temptations in this world, or not notice a shift in our priorities. Often, the powers of evil are much more subtle than we give them credit for being. Small shifts over a long time can have serious consequences.

Lent gives us a chance to take stock of our lives, and intentionally make an effort to notice how we are living them. Are we growing closer to God? Are we bearing more fruits of God’s love in our lives? Are there things we need to acknowledge that are getting in the way of being kinder, more generous, more bold in living into the values of the Kingdom of God? Are there changes we need to make in our lives and practices so that we can continue to grow more fully into the people God is calling us to be?

These are important questions to be asking ourselves, and you’ll note that Joel isn’t speaking exclusively to individuals. “Gather the assembly,” he cries, “Sanctify the congregation.” To be the people of God is to be precisely that: a people. Everyone is called to show up, and it is a matter of urgency. The prophet doesn’t care that it’s your wedding day, this work cannot wait. Now is the time.

For St. Peters, particularly in this season of settling into the reality of clergy change and discerning the next steps for this parish, now is the time to be asking questions of the community. Are we as a congregation growing closer to God? Are we as the people of St. Peter’s bearing more fruits of God’s love? If not, what is standing in our way? Are there dynamics in the community that we need to acknowledge are preventing this parish from being kinder, more generous, more loving, more bold in our living into the values of the Kingdom of God?

These can be uncomfortable questions to ask of ourselves and perhaps even more so to ask of each other. Asking these questions of the community can quickly become fraught because sometimes we want to avoid making other people feel badly and because it can be much easier to lay the blame for wrong doing at somebody else’s feet rather than acknowledge our own part in missing the mark. Even in Jesus’ time people needed to be reminded of the temptation to focus on the speck in their neighbor’s eye rather than the plank in their own eye.

You must be kind with each other, even as you attempt to be honest about what you are seeing in the life of the parish that requires repentance and amendment of life.

As you engage this work over the coming weeks, there are two aspects of God it is crucial to keep in mind. First, God is with you. You do not do the work of introspection, discernment, and change alone. The Holy Spirit is always with you, offering insight and comfort along the way. God has not and will not abandon you. Even if you find yourself raising your voice with Jesus to cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” God is with you precisely because God knows what it is to feel forsaken in a moment of great pain.

Second, God is merciful. God does not take delight in your pain and sorrow. Discomfort and grief are often part of the process of acknowledging our mistakes and changing how we live our lives, but they are not the point. We’ve heard it twice, but here it is a third time tonight so that it might sink deeply into our bones this Lent: God “is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.” God isn’t petty or vindictive, holding our sins against us until we are drowning in our guilt and shame. No. God simply wants our love. God delights in our returning to God, in our being open and receiving God’s love, and in our choosing to live lives that demonstrate in turn how much we love God, too.

This work is the work of a lifetime. Our formation into the people of God is a slow process that will take the entirety of our lives. This Lent is one of countless opportunities to be intentional about our formation, specifically by reflecting upon how the journey of formation is going and providing space to make necessary changes.

So take heart, dear ones. There are likely some difficult days ahead, hard choices and harder work, but you will face it all together, surrounded on all sides by God’s love.