Loading...Don’t know about y’all,
but it’s easy to feel quite overwhelmed:
•Corona virus worries: not just the spread of the illness, but economic impact as well.
•Locust swarms in east Africa
•Feeling like you’ve dropped the ball somehow, not getting everything done
•Civil war is still going on in Syria and children are now freezing to death as families attempt to escape violence
•Religious riots in India have turned violent. Again
•Thinking that you’re not doing “everything” you’re supposed to
•The number of people experiencing homelessness in Spokane
•Caring for someone in your family (or for yourself) who is chronically ill, not to mention
•The political shenanigans and jiggery-pokery going on.
“Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sound the alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near—
A day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness!
...
Yet even now, says the Lord,
return to me with all your heart,
With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
rend your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the Lord, your God,
for God is gracious and merciful
Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”
Joel, the prophet,
and the people to whom he is writing
KNOW this feeling of being overwhelmed.
They know the fear, the darkness, the gloom, the trembling.
~~~~~~~~~~~
David — King David, the composer, and psalmist — also knows this:
Have mercy on me, O God....
Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.”
But notice, both Joel and David
remember that we are not stuck in being overwhelmed or lost, or grief stricken or stuck or feeling shamed or worthless.
“Yet even now return to the Lord, your God,
for God is gracious and merciful.”
“Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
We are here this evening
on this first day of the Lenten season to remember that —
despite societal and cultural messages to the contrary —
we are neither worthless nor on our own.
First and foremost,
we have Jesus — rabbi, master, friend, brother, mentor, Savior
we have God — creator of all, steadfast, merciful, loving
we have the Spirit — encourager, sustainer, and maker of community.
Then we also have one another,
this community and others
which reflect the love of Jesus, the creativity of God,
and the sustenance of the Spirit.
On the threshold of Lent,
remember that you are not only
“dust and to dust you shall return”,
but you are the beloved of God, who is always present with you.
Poem by Jan Richardson: Blessing the Dust:
Blessing the Dust
For Ash Wednesday
All those days
you felt like dust,
like dirt,
as if all you 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?
This is the day
we freely say
we are scorched.
This is the hour
we are marked
by what has made it
through the burning.
This is the moment
we ask for the blessing
that lives within
the ancient ashes,
that makes its home
inside the soil of
this sacred earth.
So let us be marked
not for sorrow.
And let us be marked
not for shame.
Let us be marked
not for false humility
or for thinking
we are less
than we are
but for claiming
what God can do
within the dust,
within the dirt,
within the stuff
of which the world
is made
and the stars that blaze
in our bones
and the galaxies that spiral
inside the smudge
we bear.
-- © Jan Richardson, 2013
The accompanying image is viewable at http://paintedprayerbook.com/2013/02/08/ash-wednesday-blessing-the-dust/
