Psalm 103: 8-18 8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 9 He will not always accuse, nor will he keep his anger forever. 10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far he removes our transgressions from us. 13 As a father has compassion for his children, so the LORD has compassion for those who fear him. 14 For he knows how we were made; he remembers that we are dust. 15 As for mortals, their days are like grass; they flourish like a flower of the field; 16 for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. 17 But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children, 18 to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments.
Romans 6:3-11 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For whoever has died is freed from sin. 8 But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Baptized Dust
Today we are going to talk about dust. Dust is, well, dust. It’s only purpose seems to be to annoy housewives who have to clear it off of every surface in the house. It is so light it blows around in the slightest breeze. It isn’t good for anything by itself. Definitely a rather useless kind of thing. Dust is impossible to get rid of completely. Beyond being useless, it can, in fact, be quite harmful as anyone whose asthma is triggered by dust can tell you.
And yet…and yet. It is from dust that humanity was formed. Genesis tells us, “then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.” God gave us shape and definition. God breathed life into us. It is God who defines us and gives us meaning and purpose. After the Fall in Genesis God reminded us, “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” This is why when people were anointed with ashes today I said, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.” Our days are few and then we are gone, “like grass of the field here today and gone tomorrow. What value or worth is there in us? I read some interesting statistics. Each of our bodies contains about: Enough iron to make a small nail. Enough salt to fill an ordinary shaker. Enough sugar to fill a small bowl. Enough lime to whitewash a small chicken coop. Enough phosphorus to make a dozen matches. Enough fat to fill a twelve-pound pail. Not very much of value, is there? Who would care about people made from dust?
Our creator God cares about us. At the same time God cursed humanity at the Fall God also took the time and care to clothe us. Genesis 3:21 tells us, “And the LORD God made garments of skins for the man and for his wife, and clothed them.” Despite the sin that separates us from God, God has continued to call us back to relationship with him. Hear what the prophet Joel says, “even now, says the LORD, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 13 rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the LORD, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.”
As we heard from the psalmist, “As a father has compassion for his children, so the LORD has compassion for those who fear him. 14 For he knows how we were made; he remembers that we are dust. 15 As for mortals, their days are like grass; they flourish like a flower of the field; 16 for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. 17 But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children, 18 to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments.” So, we could say that we are loved dust.
Not very excited about being dust, even if we are loved dust? Today I want to tell you that we are more than dust. We are more than loved dust. We are baptized dust. We are baptized into Christ as Paul told us in Romans. We are adopted by God the Father. Our salvation entails participating in Christ and being transformed into his image. Yes we are formed from the dust but in Christ we are transformed. As we participate in his death through baptism, we are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus, we walk in newness of life. Thanks be to Jesus Christ who was willing to die for our sins. We need to remember that we were bought at a price. Therefore we need to repent in sackcloth and ashes. Throughout the Old Testament we hear of people repenting in sackcloth and ashes. We are anointed with ashes today because this has long been a sign of repentance. We use this season of Lent to reflect on our own sin and as we realize the depth of our sin, we become aware of exactly how great is the love of the Father for us, his adopted sons and daughters. This first day of Lent reminds us that unless we are willing to die to our old selves, we cannot be raised to new life with Christ. The first step of this journey calls us to acknowledge and confront our mortality, individually and corporately.
Lent is a season of preparation and repentance during which we anticipate Good Friday and Easter. Just as we carefully prepare for big events in our personal lives, such as weddings or the birth of babies, Lent invites us to make our hearts ready for remembering Jesus’ passion and celebrating Jesus’ resurrection. The forty day period reflects Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. . Lent is a time of self-examination, a time to consider our mortality. But it is not just a time to focus on Christ’s suffering and death in the crucifixion rather it is a time to explore and deepen a “baptismal spirituality” that centers on our union with Christ.
Let me end with a closing illustration. Let us consider snow. The bible speaks of it, using it as an example of what is pure and clean. The crystal formations of snowflakes are beautiful. There are many different shapes and sizes of snowflakes, and amazingly, each and every one is unique. But despite their uniqueness, snowflakes have one common thing: they all start as tiny dust particles, which serve as the center of the snowflake.
Like snowflakes, we have been beautifully created by God. We are the greatest of all God’s creation. We are his pride, and his joy; and like snowflakes we are all created uniquely. Like snowflakes, we are created from dust. And just as the snowflake becomes a thing of beauty as the ice crystals form around it so as we live out our new life in Christ we are transformed from one degree of glory to the next. Thanks be to God.