Ash Wednesday
February 14, 2018
“Hearts and Ashes” (Joel 2:12-19)
Today is Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s Day is a day for sending your love a box of candy and a Valentine’s card. Something like this:
Roses are red,
Violets are blue;
Sugar is sweet,
And so are you.
Yes, it’s a day for hearts and flowers.
But by coincidence of calendar, today is also Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is a day for recognizing our sinful heart, repenting of our sin, and remembering our mortality:
Roses are red,
Ashes are gray;
Remember you’re dust–
You’ll return there one day.
But Ash Wednesday is also a day for returning to the Lord and receiving his grace from his heart of love. So this is a day, as we’ll hear now, for “Hearts and Ashes.”
St. Matthew Lutheran Church 