We're all made of stars - thanks Moby

Ash Wednesday was a surprising day this year, as we worked out how to be faithful and safe in level 2. In this year with reminders of our mortality constantly nagging away we were invited to wear the mark of the ash – a reminder that from dust we come, and to dust we shall return. I wonder what that evokes in you? For me it is a mix of responses including wonder and awe. This dust we are made of comes from stars. You and I, we are made of star dust.  And in a gesture of profound love God took this star dust, and breathed life into it to create us. Wow!  That ash cross holds a lot of meaning.

In the early church Lent was the time of preparation for those to be baptised at Easter. This was more than a time to learn about the being Christian. It was a time of preparation to take on new identities as followers of Christ. It was modeled on the story we hear every first Sunday in Lent of Jesus in the wilderness.

This year we hear Mark’s bare bones account of Jesus hearing God declare that he is the beloved son at his baptism, and then the Spirit casting him out into the wilderness to be tested. No fasting. No details of the testing. Just wild animals, angels serving, and the Great Tester – Satan.  This story echoes the story of God liberated the Hebrew people from slavery in an act of profound love and mercy. They spent the next 40 years in the wilderness learning and being tested in their new identity as the people of this liberating God. So too Jesus spends 40 days in the wilderness embracing his identity as the beloved son and being tested by the powers that seek to limit, oppress, impoverish and destroy humanity and all creation. But Jesus stands firm in his identity as the beloved son of God. This is not a title, it is who he is, founded on a deep relationship of love.

Lent then is more than giving up chocolate. It is a time to reflect on who we are in God. Do we see ourselves as star dust given life by God in a gesture of profound love?  What inhibits us building our identity on the love and mercy of God? How might we live in ways that joins God’s ongoing work creating a world where all can flourish and thrive?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Get those PSA Blood Tests Done Boys!

I had a strange conversation a few months ago. I was lying back in a chair, naked from the waste down, holding a nappy over my bits while I waited for the skin under my bits to go numb enough from liquid nitrogen or some such thing, so that they could inject the local anesthetic and then punch a couple of holes through to the prostate. All in all a fun experience. And while I waited the nurse made small talk and asked what I did. "I'm retired", I replied. "Oh, what are you planning to do now you are retired? any travel?" "Turns out not" I said, "It seems I'm just keeping my dairy open for dealing with health things." And I am still keeping my dairy open and still dealing with them. This journey began last year. I was already dealing with two other things, including a lump in my parotid gland which has been slowly growing there for about 3 years. When I got back from being overseas on sabbatical my doctor called me in to talk about that an...
Read more

What a Ride! - Thankyou and Goodbye!

Image
You can listen to this sermon here   Gate Pa - Ascension Sunday and Easter 7 Year B, 2024 Readings: Palm                            Psalm 1 First Reading:             Acts 1:1-11, 15-17,21-26                     Bible Page 884 Second Reading:        1 John 5:9-13                                       Bible Page 991 Gospel:                         John 17:6-19      ...
Read more

"Just Enjoy The Coffee"

I was just sent this on Anglicans All. Being a coffee enjoyer and a Franciscan I enjoyed it. I hope you do to: Even if you are not a coffee drinker...Have a good day!!!! A group of graduates, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain ,plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite, telling them to help themselves to the coffee. When all the students had a cup of coffee, the professor said: If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the simple and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases, it is just more ex...
Read more