fragile…exposed…mortal
A prayer for Ash Wednesday that could be adapted to use throughout an Ash Wednesday service.
Fragile…exposed…mortal…temporary…finite…
…ashes and dust…we…you and me.
So we put on clothes and then armor…
…we put on degrees and wealth…
…we put on insurance policies…
…we put on achievements and addictions…
…and we put on anything that will make us feel…
…if only for a minute…
…that we are anything but ashes and dust.
So God calls to us…
…through prophets like Joel…
…through a savior like Jesus…
…and through this season of Lent…
…for us to return:
return to a way of vulnerability;
return to a way of trust;
return to a way of being in this world…
…that is like that of the one…
…who was born in a manger…
…a naked nobody from nowhere…
…and like that of the one who died on a cross…
…a naked nobody from nowhere.
Won’t you help us to return, God?
Won’t you expose us to a path of fragility?
Won’t you bring us face to face…
…with our ashes and dust…
…that we might embrace them…
…and wear them proudly on our foreheads…
…and become those who others see and call Christian.
Fragile…exposed…mortal…temporary…finite…
…ashes and dust…we…you and me.
© Rev. Kevin Goldenbogen, 2018
