Through Stained Glass: Lent Day 3

 The refrain of Ash Wednesday comes from Genesis 3.19. 

"...you are dust, and to dust you shall return." 

I -- you -- all of us -- will die. 

Dust. The thing of Stars. Here's what I mean. And I can't say it any better than this photo: 

We are made of stardust. 

We are cosmic. Everything is. I love what this pastor says:

We are ALL dust. And, in fact, we are all stardust! When God caused the Big Bang (in my opinion), a little dot of matter (scientists say it was no bigger than the period at the end of this sentence) exploded into a beautifully complex and diverse universe. All of the original “dust” of the universe is the result of stars that have “died;” they have come to the end of their cycles, and their matter is scattered. This matter helps create something new. This star dust was then knit together by gravity (and Divine intervention) to form Earth. And this stardust makes up you and me as well.

We are dust, and to dust, we will return. And in the meantime? We live. 

And as a people of faith, we commit ourselves to the way of love taught by Jesus. Lent is the season we are intentional about becoming the Beloved Community. We live and love as God in Jesus from Nazareth loved -- the Spirit enabling us to embody it. 

Though dust means other things, too. 

When I was going from one stage of faith to the next, the writings of Rob Bell were influential. I remember when I first saw the video I'm posting below. I remember thinking, "But who am I to co-labor with God in bringing about the reign of Love? I'm so ... mortal." After watching the video, I felt -- as if God could work with my dustiness. I separate [which is the definition of sin] myself from God way too much. Still, God calls me God's beloved and says, "You are my beloved. You belong to me -- I created you in my image and likeness." 

I am made of dust, and I will return to dust. Until then, I've got a baptismal identity/vocation to embrace. I hope this video 'blesses' you as much as it did me some twenty years ago. 

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust -- still at our grave, we proclaim 'ALL...'