Isaiah 58:1-12
Psalm 103:8
MATTHEW 6:1-6, 16-21

“Filling our God-Shaped Hole”

(Sermon at the “Kid-friendly” Ash Wednesday Service)

St. Augustine said that everyone has a “‘God-shaped hole’ in them that only God can fill.” Now, we can’t see this “hole” the way we can see our mouths; our “God-shaped holes” are invisible, but we still have them. This means that only God can meet our need for God – but sometimes people try to fill their deepest needs with something else instead of God.

Let’s see if this works.

Here is a “hole” which I have made the shape of a triangle (for the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit). Who would like to hold up the hole? (Volunteer.)

Next we have in this box some things which people try to make fill their need for God. Some of these things can be good – up to a point – if they aren’t the most important things in our lives. Some of the things in this box are not good.

Let’s look at the things which can be good first (food, toy, a mirror and money). Food can be good, toys can be good, taking care of how we look can be good, money can be helpful – but, can they take the place of God in our lives? Let’s see if any of them fill the God-shaped hole…Nope.

How about these other things in the box (the words “Greed,” “Bullying” and “Stealing” on three pieces of cardboard)? Some people try to put these at the center of their lives. Do any of them fill the God-shaped hole? Nope.

How about in this box? Does this (triangle cut from the same hole and marked “God” in the middle, with Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the corners) fill the God-shaped hole? Yes!

Only God can fill our need for God. No one and nothing else can. That’s what we need to do – remember to pray, to learn about God and how God wants us to behave, and to know that God loves us and wants to fill us with his live, which will fill our needs more than anything else!

(The Rev.) Francis A. Hubbard

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church
Monmouth Junction, NJ