A
Reflection for Ash Wednesday All Saints Church, Southern Shores,
NC February 2016 Thomas
E Wilson, Rector
Ash Wednesday Reflected
(poem)
The ashes smudged saying the
old cure.
Begins Lent, asking what and
how to do?
The question is it really
“Why?” Long ago
chocolate or meat were
sacrifices de jour,
hoping for slight heaven
hosannas choral.
Applause never came; respond by
mating
resentment for feeling like
fool for waiting
a church's permission go back
to normal.
Yearly winter charades would
again speed,
yearly grumbly agree to do the
right deed
as Eliot's wrong reason a
greatest treason
to make better person for a
better season.
Yearly acting like a lion-less
martyr failed.
sing, "Oh how I love
Jesus" to that nailed
one; thinking no wonder they
gave flack,
maybe this Lent will get him
off my back.
Lent’s a time to look at a
culture mentored
consuming while others pay more
the price,
poverty their lives while we
gobble the spice.
Can we make a fast for a just
price centered
so cacao farmers can stop child
slave labor?
What is wrong with bringing
some more awe
in how we treat the beloved creatures
of God.
Are they not all Christ’s,
mine, your neighbor?
Suppose I stop being stuck as
scorekeeper
pleasing an imagined celestial
doorkeeper,
rather living a life where
heaven’s on earth
as God’s love the only
determiner of worth.
Let us stop business as usual
starting Lent.
Now quest for a restoring
justice now bent
as “Please God don’t let me be
normal”
being a hymn we sing of a Lent
eternal.
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