Genesis 3:19

By the sweat of your brow

   you will eat your food

until you return to the ground,

   since from it you were taken;

for dust you are

   and to dust you will return.”

You are dust.   On December 13, 1944 God took some dust, formed it into a small baby and breathed life into my mother, Edith Ann Dodd.  By the time of her birth her father, 2^nd Lt. Charles Dodd, had already returned to the dust, killed in the WWII fighting in southern France.   And to dust you shall return.

You are dust.   On April 2, 1971 God took some dust, formed it into a small baby, and breathed life into me.  Twenty two years ago, on March 15, 1979, my mom returned to the dust, succumbing to lupus.  And to dust you shall return.

You are dust.   On June 11, 1998, God took some dust, formed it into a small baby, and breathed life into my son Ben.  The day will come when I join my grandfather and mother and return to the dust.  And to dust you shall return.

Ash Wednesday provides a striking reminder of the realities of this world.  We receive the ashes on our foreheads with the words, “You are dust, and to dust you shall return.”  These words can seem a bit scary to many people because they remind us of our mortality.  They keep us from thinking too highly of ourselves.  We came from dust.  We will return to dust.  There’s not a lot of glory in that.

You are dust, and to dust you shall return.  My earliest memories of faith come from that horrible day in 1979 as I sat with my family at my mother’s grave.  As a 2^nd grader I didn’t understand much of what was happening, yet in the midst of the darkness of that hour I heard words of hope.  Death might come and bring pain to this world (and it does) but Jesus has already conquered death.  I knew that day that mother would live, not on this earth, but in God’s Kingdom.  That experience shaped my life.

You are dust, and to dust you shall return.  I’ve experienced a lot of death in my nearly 40 years.  I’ve sat at the graves of three grandfathers and one grandmother.  As a pastor I have presided over funerals of the elderly and the very young (including one seven year old boy killed in a grain bin accident).  I don’t ever pretend that death doesn’t bring pain.  It surely does.  I’ve known many tears.  In the midst of that pain we proclaim that death is not the end.  Through Jesus’ death and resurrection death is just another part of the journey of faith.   Those who have died in Christ know a reality that we can only dream of.

You are dust, and to dust you shall return.  I’m OK with that!  While I definitely enjoy the life that God has given me, I can look forward to life with God forever.    God promises something much better that this daily experience.  We will live in the presence of God.  Nothing can compare to that!