FIRE, ASHES, DUST
Authorities in California have concluded that fire ravaged California in unprecedented ways in 2017. The Thomas Fire, California’s largest ever, consumed the month of December – claiming two lives, forcing thousands from their homes, and reducing 300,000 acres and more than 1,000 buildings to ash.
(Fire authorities believe the Thomas Fire started when a campfire in a squatter’s village of homeless souls blew out of control.)
Today, Christians embrace centuries-old disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. These acts of seeking God first (prayer), of depriving ourselves of immediate for-the-fun-of-it pleasures (fasting), and intentional sharing of resources (almsgiving) heighten our individual and communal sense of the Christian way. Signed in ashes – incinerated palm held high last April to celebrate “King” Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem – we undertake acts of self-denial in confidence that growth is promised. The ashes we are signed with, and the accompanying words, “...thou art dust,” are NOT offered to worthless lives needing deliverance from damnation, but to God-cherished beings alive and willing to change toward becoming greater creatures of love and life in the world. Freely and intentionally donning ashes is our annual act of accepting our radical baptismal call to die to self while living for others.
Reflection:
Might we consider our feelings and thoughts about the homeless, or about how Pope Francis has tied homelessness, climate change, and the California fires together? Or, consider how we are responding to the divisiveness in our faith and geo-political families. Or, consider that increasing number of scientists believe we are products of STARDUST .
Wayne Barry
Authorities in California have concluded that fire ravaged California in unprecedented ways in 2017. The Thomas Fire, California’s largest ever, consumed the month of December – claiming two lives, forcing thousands from their homes, and reducing 300,000 acres and more than 1,000 buildings to ash.
(Fire authorities believe the Thomas Fire started when a campfire in a squatter’s village of homeless souls blew out of control.)
Today, Christians embrace centuries-old disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. These acts of seeking God first (prayer), of depriving ourselves of immediate for-the-fun-of-it pleasures (fasting), and intentional sharing of resources (almsgiving) heighten our individual and communal sense of the Christian way. Signed in ashes – incinerated palm held high last April to celebrate “King” Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem – we undertake acts of self-denial in confidence that growth is promised. The ashes we are signed with, and the accompanying words, “...thou art dust,” are NOT offered to worthless lives needing deliverance from damnation, but to God-cherished beings alive and willing to change toward becoming greater creatures of love and life in the world. Freely and intentionally donning ashes is our annual act of accepting our radical baptismal call to die to self while living for others.
Reflection:
Might we consider our feelings and thoughts about the homeless, or about how Pope Francis has tied homelessness, climate change, and the California fires together? Or, consider how we are responding to the divisiveness in our faith and geo-political families. Or, consider that increasing number of scientists believe we are products of STARDUST .
Wayne Barry
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