On Ash Wednesday we are reminded that “we are dust and to dust we shall return.” This phrase is spoken in Christian churches throughout the world. In many of them, a cross of ashes is traced on one’s forehead as a tactile reminder of our mortality. I looked around the church at our noon Ash Wednesday service and realized that so many of our people do not need to be reminded that our lives are finite. Friends missing friends who have died. New widows sitting alone. Folks with canes and walkers feeling the full effects of aging. And then all the hidden health concerns people carry that we may never know.
Yeah. We know we are dust.
Dust to dust. And yet…we are showered in mercy. And that makes all the difference.
I counted 23 times the word mercy was said at our noon service. It makes sense to have an abundance of mercy on a day we are minded that we are dust. God‘s mercy – loving kindness, compassion, pity, blessing – are given to us with no restraint. This day of ashes begins our journey towards the despair of Holy Week and the joy of Easter. God breaks through and gives us life. God does not wait to bequeath mercy at the end of our lives. God gives us abundant loving kindness every day.
Today we remember we are dust…but we are not mere dust. We are blessed children of God.
~ Pam
Yeah. We know we are dust.
Dust to dust. And yet…we are showered in mercy. And that makes all the difference.
I counted 23 times the word mercy was said at our noon service. It makes sense to have an abundance of mercy on a day we are minded that we are dust. God‘s mercy – loving kindness, compassion, pity, blessing – are given to us with no restraint. This day of ashes begins our journey towards the despair of Holy Week and the joy of Easter. God breaks through and gives us life. God does not wait to bequeath mercy at the end of our lives. God gives us abundant loving kindness every day.
Today we remember we are dust…but we are not mere dust. We are blessed children of God.
~ Pam
