Dusty Prayers

Lectionary for Feb. 8, 2008: Psalm 51, Jonah 4:1-11, Romans 1:8-17.

Romans 1: 9 God knows how often I pray for you.

Take some time today to pray through Psalm 51, follow the link above or find it in your own bible. It is the Psalm appointed for Ash Wednesday, so if you went to worship that day, it might sound familiar. It is a confession of our weakness, and our desire to be strong.

Today's lessons remind us to confess, to pray, and to accept God's salvation.

Ash Wednesday I have the precious privilage of marking the sign of the cross on the forheads of people I love and praying for them in their humanity.

"Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall
return"

Each time I make the cross, I pray for that person. That they shall not return to the dust too soon, that the dust of the world will not over come them, but that they will be strengthened for the jourey of Lent, and the journey of Life. It is a precious privilage, to reach out and touch so many in prayer.

Lent is time to remember that we are created from dust, the same dust that every person is created from, every animal, every plant. We are created from the same dust that the earth, the moon, the sun and the stars are created of, for it is God who created all of it, and all of us.

So remember that you are Stardust!

You are precious in the Sight of the Creator of the Stars. You are welcomed into God's Grace eac and every time you pray, "I'm Sorry". You are forgiven in the blood of the One who Died for you.

Jonah got very angry with God's forgiveness of the people of Nineva. People who "didn't know their right hand from their left." Even though Jonah was the one who preached repentance, he didn't expect it of the people, and his human desire for revenge overwhelmed him. He was more willing to give up his life for a plant than to see the people of Nineva given life.
Can we accept that God love not only us, but everyone? Remembering that we are dust ties us to everyone who is and was and will be.

Rejoice that God loves you, and your neighbor, and your enemy. For it is God's love that turns enemies into neighbors and war into peace, and this world needs peace.

In Faith,
Kris