Ash Wednesday: Repentance in a Time of Crisis

Scripture Readings:
Joel 2:12-13 – “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.”

Luke 13:1-5 – “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Psalm 51:10 – “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

Ash Wednesday is a day of reckoning—a time to confront our sin, our mortality, and our desperate need for God’s mercy. It is an invitation to repentance, not only as individuals but as a community, as a nation. The ashes on our foreheads are more than a symbol of personal humility; they are a sign that something in us and among us must die so that something new, something righteous, may be born.

In our time, we face not only personal failings but also the erosion of justice and truth within our public life. As democracy is dismantled before our eyes—through disinformation, voter suppression, attacks on institutions, and the abandonment of the common good—we must ask:

How have we contributed to this?
Through silence?
Through complicity?
Through the worship of power over truth?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer warned in The Cost of Discipleship, “Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession.”

As a nation, we have too often sought cheap grace—a superficial reconciliation without truth-telling, a desire for unity without justice. True repentance requires the courage to name what is broken, to turn away from it, and to seek healing through costly grace.

Gary Dorrien reminds us that “democracy is never a given; it is always an unfinished project.” Our participation in its dismantling—through apathy, cynicism, or even outright support for injustice—demands repentance.

And Doug Ottati calls us to a vision of public responsibility that mirrors the deep ethics of the gospel, where faith is not only personal but also prophetic, challenging systems that oppress and deceive.

This Lent, our repentance must be twofold. We repent of the sins that dwell in our own hearts—pride, selfishness, fear, indifference. But we also repent of the sins that stain our collective life—racism, corruption, nationalism, and the idolatry of power. To “rend our hearts” means more than momentary sorrow; it means transformation. It means standing for truth when lies are easier. It means defending the vulnerable when silence is more convenient. It means praying with our feet as much as with our words.

Prayer:
Merciful God, We come before You in ashes and sorrow, confessing our sin. We have failed to love You with our whole hearts. We have failed to love our neighbors as ourselves. We have remained silent when we should have spoken. We have chosen comfort over justice, self-interest over truth. Forgive us, Lord. Renew our hearts and renew our land. Teach us the costly grace of true repentance, That we may turn back to You with all that we are.
Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Lenten Practice:
Commit to a discipline of truth-telling. Refuse to spread disinformation and challenge falsehoods when you encounter them. Engage in a Lenten practice of active citizenship: advocate for justice, write to leaders, or support organizations defending democracy. Pray daily for wisdom and courage to resist fear and follow Christ’s call to love, justice, and truth.

​ “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10)