“Ashes”
SCRIPTURE
“By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” —Genesis 3:19
DEVOTIONAL
Several years ago, a friend of mine died. Following her wishes, she was cremated so that her remains could be spread along the South Carolina beach where she spent some of her best days. For those of us closest to her, it seemed a faithful way to honor this beautiful soul and to say goodbye to a person we loved.
We made a weekend of it, squeezing into a rental house to remember old stories, to laugh at her humor, to wonder about things that will forever be her secrets to keep. On Sunday afternoon, we carried the box of her ashes down to the water and as the sun was setting we shared a few final words of gratitude and love, before we opened the box and each took a handful. As we spread out along the water’s edge, the wind picked up. We took our own last moment to honor a life well lived. Then each in our own time, we cast her toward the water she loved. However, with the wind now swirling, the simple task of dropping ashes turned out to be no simple task.
As each of us let her go, all that was left of her shot up to twirl in the wind. What didn’t cling to our clothes and skin or went straight for our eyes, shot behind us toward the dunes. The ashes flew uncontrollably everywhere, gritty and sticky. Not exactly the romantic ending to the movie we would have directed. But her ashes didn’t seem to care. Ashes are anything but romantic. They are dirty, inconsistent, messy, and are captive to the winds that rise and fall. There is no better symbol for Lent.
“You are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Gen 3:19). When God scolded Adam and Eve for eating fruit, this was not their punishment. It was a reminder of something they tried to forget in their quest to “be like gods” (3:5). Then and now, while we clean up nice, repeat the stories that portray ourselves as the victim or the hero, and photoshop ourselves in our own image for a flawless Christmas card, ashes remind us of what we would rather forget; that we are human, messy, scattered, and vulnerable to the winds of life that rise and fall with little to no warning. When ashes can remind us of this, then we can approach this forty day walk with the freedom from the confines of our own ego to experience what it means to live by God’s grace alone.
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- Considering our humanity, imperfections, and inclination to forget our dependence on God’s grace, what does it mean to “follow Jesus?”
- What gifts do you have to offer the world as a disciple of Jesus?
- What challenges are you expecting on this forty-day journey?
We begin this Lenten journey with a prayer by Trappist Monk, Thomas Merton,
PRAYER
“God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore, will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.” Amen.
The daily devotionals for the season of Lent are written by Rev. Dr. Kirk Hall, Associate Pastor of Formation at First Presbyterian from 2010-2013. Kirk is the former Chaplain and Chair of the Religion and Philosophy Department at Salisbury School in Salisbury, Connecticut. He is currently a founding partner at The Metis Project, LLC. and lives with his wife and two girls in Salisbury, Connecticut.