Remember You are Dust
For much of my adult life, I have had one question in mind; one question I’d like to ask God when I finally see God face to face – Why did you create dust?
You know how it is – you dust all the furniture in your house when company is coming; and within days the dust is back, settling in a thin – or not so thin – layer over everything you recently cleaned. And you need to dust again. (Or not).
For better or worse, dust seems to be part of everyday life.
What’s the point? That’s my question.
Dust appears early in our ancient scriptures. The second creation story in the second chapter of Genesis tells us that God formed the human being (adam) from the dust of the ground and breathed into their nostrils the breath of life.
Think about that. God created all humans in the same way – out of the earth – the humus (Latin – earth) – in a state of humility (Latin – low; close to the ground or the earth). God formed all of us from dust – and breathed into our nostrils the breath of life; the breath of God.
To God, we are all the same – each one of us is God’s beloved creature; equally loved and cherished and embraced by God as we strive to become the full and authentic and loving person God created us to be.
God formed us from the dust of the ground…we are part of the earth…part of God’s beloved creation…and soon we will all return to the ground as dust.
Ash Wednesday is the day when we, as Christians, face the inevitable truth of life. Life is fleeting; our days are limited; our time on this earth is short. Someday we will all die.
Tonight we are called together by the Holy Spirit, and we gather here in the name of Jesus, before God and in the presence of one another to remember…that we are dust….and to dust we shall return.
In a few minutes, I will invite you forward to the altar to receive ashes on your forehead. Ashes are the ancient sign of sin and repentance, of turning back to God, of reordering our lives and changing our focus and restoring our relationship with God and with one another.
I will mark your forehead with the ashes in the sign of the cross – recalling the cross of Jesus Christ, the cross with which we are marked in our baptism – reminding us that God’s name is written on our forehead and that we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit forever.
And as I mark your forehead with ashes in the sign of the cross, I will say to you — Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.
Tonight we begin the 40 day season of Lent, a season that challenges us to consider, once again, how shall we live now, in these days we have been given, with the cross of Christ marked on our forehead, even as we know we are dust and we know some day we will die.
These 40 days are a time for us to stand before God and to be honest with God and with ourselves; a time for each one of us to examine ourselves – our thoughts and words and deeds; to confess our own brokenness – to confess our own sinfulness – and to confess how difficult it is for us to keep our daily focus on what is most important – our relationship with God and our connection with our neighbors and the world and all of creation.
There is so much dust swirling around us; so much evil surrounding us; so much chaos and noise in the world; trying to distract us from God and divide us from one another.
These 40 days challenge us to turn back to God; to clean out the dust of whatever distracts us and divides us; to reorder our lives and restore or relationship with God; to commit to the ancient faith practices that help focus our attention on how we live in this world as beloved people of God.
Now is the time to give to others – generously, with your money and your time and your presence and your advocacy; standing in solidarity with people who face mistreatment and harm because of how they look or who they love or what they believe or how God created them to be or where they come from – now is the time to give of ourselves, in love, for the sake of our neighbors, so that God’s kin-dom may come on earth.
Now is the time to pray – to sit alone or stand alone or walk alone, coming into God’s presence, waiting and listening for the Holy Spirit to speak to you; to lead you along the right path; to restore your hope and give you courage for living each day with love – now is the time to pray so that God’s will may be done.
Now is the time to fast – to give up judging other people; to give up hating those who look different from you or think different than you or believe different than you; to give up resisting change and wanting to have your own way – now is the time to fast so that your sins may be forgiven.
These 40 days of Lent give us time to turn back to God with our whole heart and mind and soul and strength. These days give us time to rend our hearts, as the prophet Joel says – to tear our hearts wide open with honesty and grief and despair for our sins and the sins of our country and the sins of the world – and these days give us time to let our hearts be healed and made whole again by the grace, mercy and forgiveness God promises us through Jesus Christ.
As we turn back to God through our practices of faith – our practices of giving and praying and fasting – we can experience the wonder of our greatest treasure – God’s love for us and for all people – a love made known to us through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.
May you practice well during these 40 days of Lent.
May you know God’s love for you, God’s beloved child.
May you share God’s love with all God’s beloved people.
For we are all created by God from dust…and the breath of God has been breathed into our nostrils.
We are all dust….and to dust we shall return. And from that dust we will rise again…on the last day…into the new life that God has promised to us through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.