Ashes and dust

Ash Wednesday

For the Lord knows whereof we are made;

and remembers that we are but dust.
Psalm 103:14

Today, there will be no ashes made from last year’s palms marking foreheads in my community. Nevertheless, we are all marked by ashes. Ashes of the past year, of usurped dreams and opportunities. Ashes left by grief and disbelief. Ashes of the celebrations and rituals that were unfathomably lost. Ashes which are the remnant of brokenness. Broken systems, broken promises, broken hopes.

We have been marked by fear and anguish, and when I say we it is all of us. It is not hyperbole to say that no one in the entire world is left unscathed. It is beyond imagining.

And we have been marked by holiness. We have been marked by courage and creativity and sheer determination. By prayer and poetry and acts of kindness. We have exercised our faith and been astounded by the faith of others.

The dust we are asked to remember this day, the dust that is our beginning and our end, is the dust of stars and deserts. It is the dust that God molded with powerful hands and into which the Holy One breathed life. The same hands that hold us still. The same breath that inspires us yet. The same love that marks us as God’s own. It is beyond imagining. And is it our truth.

Photo credit: Anne E. Kitch