Sermon for Ash Wednesday, 2024

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Beloved, your treasure is Christ. And your heart must be stayed always and only on Him. Your Lenten disciplines, whatever they are—whatever sort of fasting you endure, whatever sort of meditation or special devotions you take on during this Lenten season—they must always be dedicated toward a deeper knowledge and appreciation of Christ, never an end in themselves. For Christ is our righteousness; Christ is the One who avails before God for our good. It is because of Christ, and Him, alone, that we stand justified before the Father, and not—and never because of anything within us. So let us flee to Him in whose Name we’ve been baptized, and whom we receive again in the Holy Supper. And when we receive Him, we receive the One in whom we should find our confidence and hope. Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. Except for this: Christ, who gave His life into death, has risen from the dead. And in Him, we too shall gain everlasting life and salvation.

Readings:

• Old Testament: Joel 2:12-19

• Epistle: 2 Peter 1:2-11

• Holy Gospel: Matthew 6:-6, 16-21

Sermon:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH7GQ1JL4yE