Remember that you are dust - Ash Wednesday Thoughts

Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.

I said these words this morning and imposed ashes on the heads of the members of the congregation who came out to the early morning service. The words are not said in isolation, but are part of a deep liturgy of Scripture readings, a sermon, Psalms, and a longer Confessional piece than we usually say. The practice of a season of penitence is old and this rite has grown out of that over the centuries.

In social media over the past week or so, I’ve been reading about what my friends will be doing for Ash Wednesday and Lent. Some have lamented that they cannot do everything that they would like because of the context of their ministry. Others have been considering what to do without for the season. Of course others have questioned if all of this is really necessary; it is not, after all, in the Bible.

These histories and controversies ran through my mind as I prepared for this service. I wondered which to mention and which to leave out. Which of today’s concerns should be part of the beginning of Lent?

After everyone left, I sat down at my computer to begin the day’s correspondence. On Facebook, I looked at who was having a birthday so that I could send out my greetings. Then I was brought up short. There is only one name on my list for today and it is a classmate who died. This anniversary of her heralded birth is now falling on the day when we are called to remember that we are but dust….

… and to dust we shall return.

It is true that I wish I could chant Psalms with a choir. It is true that I wish the ceilings at this church were higher and that we could use incense without choking on the ever descending cloud of smoke. It is true that ministry in any context is not what we imagined while we were in school and discerning our call.

It is also true that some of those that God called did not live to be ordained. Today I remember the humility Hal and Elsie. Called by God in ways we did not imagine.

Remember…