Written in the dust

 For Ash Wednesday

We gather up the crosses from last year’s palms

and set them alight to create ash

so that we may remember

that we are dust and to dust we shall return

While in the rubble of communities destroyed by earthquake

no reminder is needed of the fragility of life

We mix the ashes with oil

and wear them on our foreheads

to symbolise our need to repent

While those who live in the grime

of war ravaged cities

wear their weariness

and their courage

in their determination to survive another day

Will our rituals go beyond ancient symbol

and connect us with the dust of the earth

that cries out for justice

and compassion

dust that spells out faith

in the goodness of creation

dust that holds out hope

that justice shall prevail

dust shot through with love

for the healing of the world

Liz Crumlish 2023

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.