Ash Wednesday (February 14). Blow the trumpet

Prepare to Listen.  Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart.
 
Prayerfully Read Joel 2:1-2, 12-13
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--
2a 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.
12Yet even now, says the Lord,
    return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
   13rend 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.
 
Prayerfully Wonder and Reflect
What comforted and/or disturbed you in this Amos passage?  Think about it and then read the meditation.
 
“Blow the trumpet in Zion.”  Not as a signal to begin a joyous festival, like Easter, but as a warning of danger.  Not from an enemy, or pestilence, or defeat, but from the LORD, “for the day of the LORD is coming, it is near.”  It will be a day of judgment, not in some distant future, for a people yet unborn.  But, according to Joel, it was for the people of his day; and it’s also for us today.
 
Blow the trumpet in your church, your city, your country for the day of the LORD is coming, is indeed here.  In every generation some believe they are God’s trumpet-blowers warning of imminent judgment.  Many are false prophets, and should be ignored.  A few are true messengers of God.  But how do we tell the difference between the true and false?
 
The first clue is true prophets are always in the minority with few followers.  A second clue is that, like Joel, they ground their message of repentance in the Lord’s generous grace and mercy.  They provide proof of this in the ancient traditions found in Scripture.  Joel’s basis for repentance came in the classic Jewish creed: “Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing” (see Ex. 34:6.)
 
Lent is a time to deliberately repent, that is, learn where we’re wrong and change our minds.  Let Joel’s words of assurance of the Lord’s steadfast love encourage you to return to the Lord with all your heart.
 
Prayerfully Respond
Remind me today, O Lord that you are gracious and merciful, abounding in steadfast love so that I keep returning to you to live in truth and righteousness.
 
Live obediently.  Return to the Lord with all your heart.