Ash Wednesday - Dust

Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
Turn away from sin and be faithful to Christ.

From dust we came - you and I - from dust.
Dry, formless dust,
   at the mercy of every whisper of wind.

Not of our choice did we take form,
   not from desire
   or power
   or cleverness
   or invention,
but by the hands of the one
   who loves
   and shapes
   and forms
and holds the whole world in his hands.

His hands took the dust and moulded it
   with loving care,
   with creative excitement,
joyfully giving his breath to give us life.

But we are dust,
   so easily forgetful of the giver and the gift;
   restlessly seeking to fulfil ourselves every which way but in him;
   capable of such destructiveness,
   inflicting pain  on others and ourselves.

God-forgetting,
   we turn away - you and I -
   from the one who is the sources of love and life for us,
   and live our lives in dusty darkness.

But he does not forget the frailty of our dustiness,
   and his loving mercies never come to an end.
He goes on calling us out of dusty darkness,
   to live in the glorious light and hope of Christ.

So we,
   remembering that God is God and we are not,
   remembering what He can do with dust and we cannot,
remember today that we are dust,
   and choose to turn our faces to the light,
   with the hope of resurrection in our hearts.

Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
Turn away from sin and be faithful to Christ.

Rachel Wigram
for Ash Wednesday 2014