Ash Wednesday

“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--

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.”

I know it’s not very theological but when I hear those words from the prophet Joel I flash back to 1969, I was thirteen and just beginning to buy vinyl LP records from Guy’s Discount Center and Creedence Clearwater Revival released a single called “Bad Moon Rising.” Maybe it’s just our current, divisive political environment. Do any of you remember?

I see a bad moon arisin'

I see trouble on the way

I see earthquakes and lightnin'

I see bad times today

Don't go around tonight

Well, it's bound to take your life There's a bad moon on the rise.

Those ominous words could certainly have come out of the mouth of an Old Testament prophet like Joel, but the ironic thing is initially I think it became so very popular because of the catchy, upbeat tune. We were just tapping our feet to the infectious rhythm of the song, smiling and bobbing our heads as we sang words describing apocryphal images of hurricanes and floods and earthquakes as if it was okay, or maybe we just weren’t listening to the words, which was evidenced by many folks thinking that the band was singing “There’s a bathroom on the right.” Years later when he was interviewed about the song, John Fogarty said that the ironic dichotomy of those ominous lyrics set to the happy upbeat tune just didn’t bother him at the time.

But I think the song became such a classic because beyond the catchy tune, at a much deeper level, those lyrics really rang true to what was in a lot of people’s hearts as we experienced those turbulent times of civil unrest and a war no one understood, and as we looked forward into a fearful future .

Of course, unlike the song that left us there tapping our feet while the storm of those times came at us like a train, about midway the passage from Joel shifts dramatically. Yes there’s a bad moon rising and it will be a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness!, but Joel, the prophet, speaking for God, says there is hope, there’s something we can do about that. We are not helpless fodder.

We can blow the trumpet and return to the Lord for God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. We can sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people and sanctify the congregation. We can blow the trumpet and call ourselves to true repentance. And the true repentance that God and the Church calls us to tonight is not so much about groveling and begging before some all-powerful monster of a divine being but rather recognizing that the living God loves us in such a way that it gives us the opportunity to start anew in a different direction in our lives, and it leads to a life of creative abundance and joy inextinguishable.

So I hope when we mark your forehead with these ashes tonight you'll know that yes storms will come, the earth will quake but God is ever present, ever gracious and that God’s love is the most powerful creative force, even more powerful than death itself. AMEN.

The Rev. Dennis Campbell