Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust

Dear UU Shenandoah,

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, a day when Christians remember life’s impermanence - “memento mori,” some say ... “ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”

As Christians (including UU Christians) enter the season of Lent, it’s an opportunity for us all to pause and reflect on what we might let go of, in order to clear space for what we might invite in.

My cousin-in-love, Amy Peterson, a writer and Episcopal Priest in Asheville, NC, writes: “Clearing space in Lent – letting go of those things that we use to distract ourselves so that we may see more clearly – will not only make space for us to see the beauty of God’s love and care, the crescent moon in the sunset sky – it may also make space for us to see painful things we have been avoiding.”

This act of creating a clearing in our lives to make space for what is - be those things beautiful or painful - reminds me of the Buddhist teachings of the monks who walked for peace. Over the course of their long walk, the Venerable Bikkhu Pannakara often encouraged us to stop multitasking, and especially to spend time away from our tiny, palm-sized “lovers,” aka our cell phones. When we pause long enough to be present, we can appreciate more of what’s around us - the beauty and the pain. This is what helps crack open the lotus seeds of our hearts so that our love can grow.

Poet Martha Postlethwaite, in her poem, "Clearing," offers this perspective on the theme:

Do not try to save
the whole world
or do anything grandiose.
Instead, create
a clearing
in the dense forest
of your life
and wait there
patiently,
until the song
that is your life
falls into your own cupped hands
and you recognize and greet it.
Only then will you know
how to give yourself to this world
so worthy of rescue.

Whether you’re a UU Christian, an atheist, a Buddhist, a religious naturalist, or none of the above, I wish you a little more spaciousness in the coming week… May we all have enough space to breathe more freely, to pay attention to both the pain and the beauty, and to live our lives as mindfully as possible so that we can fully experience what is.

With kindness,

Rev. Lauren