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Messiness in this Pandemic ~ David Patterson

“Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.” ~ Daniel 9:3

On Ash Wednesday, when we receive the ashen cross on our forehead, it serves as a sign of our fragile humanity, our grief in that our sinfulness caused Jesus to take upon himself our punishment, guilt and shame, and it also helps us recall our baptism when we were marked with the sign of the cross. As we begin our Lenten series on “Messiness”, we are mindful of how this pandemic has jumbled things up, and challenged us to muddle through the disarray of an uncertain time. I recall another “messy” and frightening time - the 911 attack on the Twin Towers. This was a time when debris was strewn about, rubble of bent iron, broken lives and brick was everywhere, and we asked how can we ever dig out, repair and recover. But as the survivors, on-lookers and heroes at ground zero, all covered in a gray covering of ash, worked together, digging through the debris; as patriots who loved our country enlisted; as we prayed together as one nation, out of the mess and charred remains came a new beginning. As a nation, we were wiser, stronger, more appreciative, kinder and more united than ever. Like 911, from the ashes and debris of this terrible lingering pandemic, the world is beginning to recover because heroes have arisen, because we are praying and working together, because we are growing in wisdom, patience and kindness.

God, Creator and Redeemer, while from dust we were born, and to dust we shall return, we give thanks that you have overcome sin and death. Amen.

 

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