The people of God were in trouble. A cloud of locusts had devoured the grain in their land. An invading army was on the horizon. But even worse…the prophet Joel was preaching the truth to them – and it looked like doomsday.
And into that world of hurt … God speaks. “Yet even now,” says the Lord, “return to me with all your heart.”
Despite everything that they had done or not done, despite not following God’s word or God’s way, the Lord speaks a word of hope and promise. For even though they did not keep the covenant – God did. God had not forgotten them. For God keeps God’s promises. Always.
Instead of castigating the people for their failures, God invites them: “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing.”
A traditional way for people in Joel’s day to mourn was to tear their clothing –to show how literally broken they were. But instead of this show of mourning, God invites them to open themselves up to all of the pain and sorrow that they feel. God invites them to come to him –with their whole selves – with broken hearts, honest sorrow and open-hearted mourning. God says, “Come and have a good cry.” Come… just as you are.
After suffering a serious illness that left her a semi-invalid at the age of 32, Charlotte Elliot fell into a deep depression and spiritual crisis. Her situation felt so hopeless that Charlotte confessed to an evangelist who was visiting her family that she felt so lost that she didn’t know how to come to Christ. He replied, “Come to him, just as you are.” 1
Come to Christ… just as you are.
So, how are you? We have been through a tough two years of the pandemic that isn’t done, a racial reckoning that isn’t done, and the saber rattling in the world has turned to war – and the world seems to have gotten worse. It can feel a bit overwhelming.
But just as the prophet Joel’s job was to speak the truth to his people in difficult times, so it is my job to speak the truth to you now. The first piece of truth that I want you to remember is this: You are God’s child. And regardless of what you or anyone else does or says, God loves you, cares for you and will keep God’s promise to be with you – always.
But that’s not all. Tonight, I will proclaim another unvarnished truth to you as I mark the sign of an ashen cross on your forehead. “Remember you are dust, and to dust you will return.” You – and I - are mortal.
While some may call this depressing, pastor and podcaster Nadia Boltz-Webber calls it “refreshing.” She writes, “It’s refreshing in a way that only the truth can be… because we know deep down that we live in a death-denying culture which tries to tell us that we can live forever with the right combination of exercise, yoga, vacations and elective surgery… Which all feels like a metaphor for all our pathetic attempts at immortality.
She says it is refreshing because instead of denying our mortality, Christians gather around the world on this day, each year, and “we tell each other the inescapable truth that we are dust and to dust we shall return. It’s downright audacious that amidst our societal anxiety about impermanence we just blurt out the truth as if it’s not offensive. But the thing about blurting out this kind of truth about ourselves…is that after you do it ..you can finally exhale. It’s like the moment when you stop having to spiritually hold your stomach in…”
And instead… we can lean into the promises of God. At your baptism, God promised YOU to be your God – and that you would be God’s child forever. For while the world around us may be overwhelming, Jesus gets the last word. And Jesus says, “Come. Just as you are. Because I love you.” For the love of Jesus, God’s love is more powerful than any of those other things that keep us up in the night, or that fills us with terror, shame or fear.
One night, when Charlotte Elliott couldn’t sleep because she was still struggling with those things that kept her up at night – namely, her faith – or rather, the lack of it and her anxiety and anger at being a near invalid at such a young age. But on this night, instead of focusing on her anguish, Charlotte decided to write down what she knew to be true, her own confession of what she did know to be true. Remembering the words of the Evangelist, she wrote: “Just as I am, without one plea.” And then… she wrote the whole song. It became her statement of faith.
Jesus had invited her to come to him. And Jesus Christ invites you to come to Him too, just as you are. For the Lord says, “return to me with all your heart.” Bring your weeping, your regrets, your mourning, everything you have done and everything you left undone – bring it all, because God wants your whole self…not just your “Sunday morning best” but all of you.
God wants all of you – AND will not leave you just as you were. Instead, God invites you into a deeper and more expansive and intentional living. God invites you into living a life that reflects an open heart and a fullness from living in right relationship with God, yourself and others.
God wants the best for you – God wants you to experience an expansive life that is full to the brim with life, with love, with joy, and with beauty and peace. And this is why God wants you to draw near – because this is what God’s kingdom life looks like – this is what it looks like to be in relationship with God. And God wants a relationship with you. Thanks be to God. Amen.