We Need To Talk

Rebecca Sheridan
Wednesday, February 18, 2026
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

We need to talk.  There’s something I need to tell you.  I have a confession to make.  We say these phrases when we are serious.  Maybe it’s something we know we need to say, but we are finding it difficult to come right out and say it.  A common theme in books and movies is that a main character keeps something secret from another person, because they are afraid to tell the truth.  We all can see a mile away that if they were just straightforward and honest about whatever it is that they’re holding back, the relationship would be stronger/their lives would be easier, but of course, it wouldn’t be a very interesting story with much conflict and resolution if they just flat out had the difficult conversation from the start.  We, too, keep secrets. We avoid difficult conversations or put them off.  We put on a happy face in public and hold inside things that we know, deep down, should be told, confessed.
Our prophet Joel calls us to “return the Lord” at the beginning of Lent. Why? Because the Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love!  God encourages us to come out of hiding and get the truth out in the open – to confess our sins so that we might hear these gracious words from God that we are forgiven and loved in spite of ourselves. Our honesty with God helps restore the relationship.  The irony is, of course, that Jesus also encourages us to go into our room and shut the door and pray to God the Father in secret in our gospel reading.  Didn’t I just say God wants us to “fess up” and get things out in the open – to NOT keep secrets?  Jesus isn’t suggesting we keep secrets from God, though; he IS saying that it may be easier if we recognize who we need to talk to, and that some things can start at least as a private conversation between us and God.  It was a big deal, for example, for Luther and the reformers to tell people they didn’t need to confess their sins to a priest, but could pray directly to God themselves.  It’s God, after all, who most needs to hear our confession, God to whom our first relationship is broken and then restored, God who calls us back into a healthy, right relationship with God’s very self.  We can do that, not to impress other people for show, but in private, just you and God, being real with one another, asking for forgiveness and receiving God’s forgiveness.
This Ash Wednesday phrase, “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” is another difficult thing we need to talk about and get out in the open.  Basically, “you’re going to die” is something we need to hear, but not a pleasant reminder.  It is God’s reality check for us, nonetheless.  Holding on to this reality – that life is short and precious and we are finite human beings – helps us live life differently.  Because we know we are going to die, how, then, shall we live?  Our faith helps us live in the face of death with honesty:  yes, we’re going to die, but the love of God for us that we experience through Jesus helps us live each day to the fullest.  Yes, we’re going to die, but we know that we are held in the eternal love of God for us so that whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.  We know our eternal destiny.  We know the suffering and loss that we experience when we encounter death is temporary – hope is eternal. Life wins!  Love wins.
So let’s be honest with ourselves and with God as we enter this Lenten season.  Talking with God is a good place to start.  This is what prayer is, after all – a conversation with God.  Return to the Lord, your God, for God IS gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.  Amen.