Moving Forward - 5 March 2025

WEDNESDAY, March 5, Ash Wednesday

Joel 2:1 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.

Growing up in the American South, I know something about trumpets or sirens. Severe weather being what it is in that part of the country, the intonation of a tornado siren or the tone of a weather radio becomes a part of your psyche. You know that it is time to stop and listen.

Ash Wednesday is the day we stop. Like a trumpet or alarm, this is a time to put aside our daily routine and focus on God’s call, which is always for us to return. This return is facilitated by seeing where we went astray in the first place. Just as our weather radios and tornado sirens prompt us to pay attention and seek shelter, the prophet Isaiah reminds us that our shelter is found in God: “In returning and rest you shall be saved.”

MOVING FORWARD: How will you heed the alarm to stop and listen to God?

PRAY for the Diocese of Makueni (Kenya)

Ps 103 or 103:8-14 | Joel 2:1-2,12-17 or Isaiah 58:1-12 | 2 Corinthians 5:20b—6:10 | Matthew 6:1-6,16-21

(Source: Forward Day By Day Movement)