Prodigal Lent

John 13:5

Then Jesus poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.

The dust with which Lent began is

Prodigal

Lavish

Wasteful 

Extravagant

Everywhere

Dust of life and of death 

Dust of loss and uncertainty

Dust of fear and despair

Dust in the rubble 

of hopes and dreams

of cities laid to waste

Dust in the ashes

of indiscriminate missiles

and in the soil of mass graves

SO MUCH DUST

And in the dust

communities gather

united in their sorrow

defiant in their grief

refusing to give up on love

Out of dust

tear-streaked dust

they have gathered up dignity

and moved to mobilise hope

and sought to overcome evil 

And the God who fashioned humanity out of dust

kneels in the dust

with those who weep

with those who mourn

and with those who stand against might

breathing life and hope

as in the beginning

And the earth cries out

for another miracle

to be wrought out of dust.