Jimmy Swaggart, Sally Struthers, Bill Clinton, Oliver North, and Tammy Faye Bakker.

These are obviously not the starting five of the Washington Wizards.

But they are a team, of sorts. What you may not realize is that these five drastically different public figures have something very significant in common. It's not theology, nor is it politics or military experience or mascara preferences. No, they share a skill -- a persuasive and opinion-shaping skill.

They all have the ability to "get moist."

At just the right moment.

What we're talking about here is an ability to cry, in public. Think of Jimmy Swaggart weeping profusely in an attempt to keep his ministry afloat ... Sally Struthers getting moist on TV as she pleads for your support for Save the Children ... Bill Clinton tearing up during moving invocations of patriotism -- not unlike Oliver North, whose eyes welled up whenever he declared his patriotism to a congressional committee during Contragate. And, of course, there's the queen of public emotion, Tammy Faye Bakker, whose face just dripped with tears and mascara as she cried about her husband's arrest for fraud.

She says she cried 60 times -- which has got to be SOME kind of a record.

Tears are always a stimulus, observes author Tom Lutz in a book called Crying. The tears of public figures can spur people to pity or empathy, and then to action. Tears can also alter the attitude of the group to which the tears are addressed -- they can influence the potential contributors to Jimmy Swaggart or Sally Struthers, or strengthen the political supporters of Bill Clinton or Ollie North. Although tears were once seen as a sign of emotional instability in men, they are now considered to be proof that a particular man has feelings, and that he's strong enough to show deep emotion. (Tom Lutz, Crying: The Natural and Cultural History of Tears [New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1999], 225-249)

But are these tears sincere?

That's a much tougher question to answer.

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent -- the season of the church year that might appropriately be called "The Crying Time." To start things off, the prophet Joel issues a call for tears, for repentance. Divine judgment is on its way, and so God says through the prophet, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning" (2:12). Although the people of Judah are terribly threatened by the coming of the day of the Lord, God offers them the opportunity to repent with fasting and weeping, and to return to communion with him.

Joel is convinced that these tears must be genuine. His God isn't interested in crocodile tears, or in any weeping that is designed to manipulate others. The Lord is not looking for the kind of crying that is simply a biological event, a form of bodily elimination. No, our God is interested in the type of weeping that accompanies an authentic change of heart.

There are all kinds of tears, you see, and only a few can be linked to repentance. We experience tears of revenge, seduction, escape and empathy. There are tears of pleasure, tears of grace, and the tears long associated with weeping heroes. According to Tom Lutz, heroic epics from Greek times through the Middle Ages are soggy with weeping of all sorts, and in the biblical record we find that David cried at the death of Absalom, Abraham wept when Sarah died, Joseph bawled when meeting Benjamin, and Jesus shed tears at the death of Lazarus.

You know the very shortest verse in the Bible, don't you? "Jesus wept" (John 11:35, KJV).

In the middle of all this crying, the prophet Joel calls for a particular kind of weeping: That which is genuine, and which leads to repentance. To repent, you see, is to turn your life around and begin to walk in a new direction; it means to turn away from sin and idolatry, and turn toward God's will and God's way. "Return to the LORD, your God," implores the prophet, "for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love" (v. 13).

The key thing to remember is that our crying should result in changed behavior. The prophet Joel says, "rend your hearts and not your clothing" (v. 13); change your insides and not just your outsides; make sure your fasting and weeping and mourning are part of a new walk, not just a new talk.

What Joel really hates is hypocrisy: People who say they are repenting, but then fail to turn their lives around.

The good news of this Crying Time is that our tears can be a sign of new life. If we return to our God with all our heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning, then we will discover a fullness of life that we have never known before. If we receive our Ash Wednesday ashes in humility, and remember that God is our only source of life, then we will face each day with a new sense of gratitude. If we turn our lives around, and work hard for the restoration of our relationships and our community, we'll know a joy that we never thought possible.

Our tears will lead to resurrection life. And that's nothing to cry about. Amen.