Lent begins with ashes, old palm branches burnt and blessed,
and with the unsettling words: “Remember
that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Do we really need to be
reminded? How could we possibly forget? But we do. And all around us the frozen
Michigan earth awaits the return of spring blossoms and our dust. We are dust…living dust…dust swirled about
with Spirit…dust bright in Paschal Light. We are Holy Dust…beloved dust, dust burnt
and blessed.
In the face of
such realities can we believe Lent’s promise? Can we believe that this bitter
winter is drenched in God’s life, this scarcity pregnant with God’s abundance?
Can we believe that God’s love is like a mighty urn for all the ashes of the
past? Can we believe that we are welcomed into the future by the outstretched
arms of the Risen Christ?
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