All those days
you felt like dust,
like dirt,
as if you all had to do
was turn your face
toward the wind
and be scattered
to the four corners
or swept away
by the smallest breath
as insubstantial
did you not know
what the Holy One
can do with dust?
Jan
Richardson
__________________________________
we live in a world of ashes and dust
a world consumed
and reduced
by hate and fear and violence
by an earth in the throes of death
abused by those who should care for it
we live in a world where wildfires roar and reduce
beauty to blackened ruin
where missiles and mortar crash into homes
smashing them into concrete dust and ash
where earthquakes level buildings
crush and entombing
leaving people coated with dust and ash and grief
we cannot enter
these places
these places of ruin
and death
without being touched
by ashes
which cling
and mark
leaving us dirty
a sign
of our uncleanliness
and our participation
in what has happened here
our part in the creation
of a wasteland
that we call earth
and yet
this day
these ashes
mark us
not as those who do not see
not as those who do not feel the pain
of this destruction
not as those who do not repent
not as those who do not hope
but as those
who, while marked
look forward
toward
what will arise
Lent begins with ashes
With the burnt remnants of the divine image
Lent begins with regrets
And repentance
With the gross understanding that we are not what we
should be
Not what we could be
we look in the mirror and feel like dirt, sometimes
we feel ragged and torn
and empty
and tired
oh so tired
of lies
of hate,
of anger,
and fear
so tired of raucous debates
and pretentious rallies
so worn down
by viruses
and natural disasters
and twisted and warped people
who abuse political power
and ban books
and worship guns
and horde wealth
worn down by our own lack of efficacy
our own limitations
and flaws
and grief
and helplessness
we feel insubstantial
as if the next piece of bad news
the next crisis
will cause us to finally
become so fragmented
that we are as insubstantial as ashes
or dry dust
and yet
for all that
we hope
we hope against [all] hope
for we are filled with God
connected in the Spirit to Sacred
to Jesus
and “in him all things hold together” (Col. 1)
even us
we may be dust
we may have been shredded
by the vagaries of life
but we know what the Sacred can do with dust
this Power, this Love
that dwells inside us
it does marvelous things in us
and through us
as through Jesus, it multiplied loaves and fishes
as it cast out demons
and healed the sick
and gave sight to the blind
and raised the dead to new life
so this Power/Love
takes the most fragmented
the most common elements
the most fragmented
the most common people
and makes them new
transforming
water into wine transforming
multiplication of loaves and fish transforming
calming the waters transforming
life out of death transforming
this Power/Love even took a cross
and made it a symbol of life
it can certainly take us
and make us Sacred Children
Ah, yes
There are days when we feel like dust
But we know what God can do
With dust
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