Ash Wednesday

For the believer:

Death has been transformed;

from an enemy to a

friend who helps us

on the road to life

 

Christ has conquered and converted our longtime foe

So that alienation is no longer part of its deadly elixir

 

In baptism:

We are united with Christ

in the death that conquered Death

and made it a gateway to everlasting life

So that now

by the embrace of our mortality

we find new life

 

May this Lent for you

be the mortification of everything in you

that for too long has run free

drawing you from obedience

diminishing your humanity

alienating you from life

 

Undisciplined impulses that have

tossed you to and fro

now this way

now that way

Unholy,

Un-submitted

And ultimately:

Un-free

 

Put them in the ground with Jesus

Lop them off like “right hands” and “right eyes” that

while good have only ever led you to error

Trusting that in the self-inflicted wounds

of repentance

you will find resurrection life.

 

“Come, let us return to the Lord…”

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