This Lent I
invite you to come along as we explore some symbols of the season. The idea is
adapted from Lent in a Bag. I have expanded and adapted the idea for
this blog. You can use these meditations as a starting point for your own
contemplation during the week, or for discussion with family or prayer group. I
hope the ideas will spark some new insights along your Lenten journey.
For this first week in Lent, we’ll
consider sand, dust, dirt…the building blocks of the world. On Ash Wednesday
you may have heard a priest say “Dust you are and to dust you shall return” as
s/he made the sign of the cross on your forehead. We start Lent being reminded
“the Lord God formed man of dust from the
ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a
living being.” (Genesis 2:7-8)
The Rev. Jim Trainor recently blogged, “The famed astronomer Carl Sagan said, “The
nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the
carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are
made of starstuff.” (from the TV
program Cosmos). Maybe that
sounds amazing to you. But the psalmist said essentially the same thing
millennia ago: “For he himself knows whereof we are made; he remembers that we
are but dust” (Psalm 103:14)… So, yes we are made of starstuff. Pretty
cool. But even more astounding—and in fact life-giving and life-changing—is
that we are actually made in the image of and loved deeply by the One who
created the stars.”
What else does the Bible say about
dust? A surprising amount… A quick concordance search on a website like Blue Letter Bible produces 109 mentions of ‘dust’ in 100
verses throughout the Bible (that’s the NIV translation). From Genesis through
Revelation, dust is important. Men like Abraham and Job admit that they are
‘dust and ashes’.
God, on the other hand uses dust as a
metaphor for the success of the people of God. God promises Abraham “Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west
and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be
blessed through you and your offspring.” (Genesis 28:14) God further
promises, “The wolf and the lamb will
feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent's food. They will neither harm
nor destroy on all my holy mountain.” (Isaiah 65:25)
Sometimes
God’s people get a glimpse of the totality of these promises. In 1 Samuel 2:8,
Hannah exalts, “He raises the poor from
the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he
seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor. For the
foundations of the earth are the LORD's; on them he has
set the world.” The Psalmist states, “He
raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy
from the ash heap.” (Psalm 113:7) St. Paul reminds the people of Corinth “The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven.” (1
Corinthians 15:47)
In ancient
times, the soil of a place was thought to contain the essence of the god of the
land. After Naaman the Syrian is healed by the Jewish prophet Elisha he
requests, “Please let
me, your servant, be given as much earth as a pair of mules can carry, for your
servant will never again make burnt offerings and sacrifices to any other god
but the Lord”.
(2 Kings 5: 17) He desired the actual earth of Israel so he could have a
piece of the sacred soil with him. Some scholars believe that the Jews in exile
in Babylon took soil from Israel with them for the same purpose. Tourists still
bring back bottles of sand from Israel to remind them of their trip.
Jesus uses
dust to warn of the rejection of those who do not believe the Good News. In the
Gospels of Matthew, Mark & Luke, he tells the disciples, “If people do not welcome you, leave their
town and shake the dust off your feet as a
testimony against them.” This was much more meaningful to the Jews of the
first century than for us. Jews returning from “Gentile” areas would shake off
their sandals when entering Israel to get rid of any taint of the non-Jewish
land and people. For the disciples to shake the dust of a town off their feet
when leaving a town that wouldn’t receive the message was an insult and a
rejection of those people for their unbelief.
This week
- Meditate on some of the ‘dust’ citations here (or elsewhere in the Bible) OR
- Fill a plastic bag with a handful or 2 of sand or soil from wherever you live. Depending on where you are, the dirt may be brown or red or even black. It may be hard or grainy or sticky. Perhaps it is covered in snow and you have to dig down to find any sort of dirt at all. Consider the question ‘What kind of dust are you?’ OR
- Think about how we figuratively or actually keep dusty things around to remind us of past experiences-good and bad. Are there some that need to be cleaned out of your life?
Next
week we’ll look at the role of ‘rock’ in Lent.
