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…”
