From Ashes to the Cross

A Lenten Poem by Jane Feliz Rush 2.22.23

You are dust

To dust you shall return

A cross

Grit, dirt, ashes

Smudged on our bodies

From the praise entering Jerusalem

That quickly turned to death

On a cross

The Messiah

The Anointed One

So many questions

From the earth

The ground

Ha-adamah

Out of the ground

The ground of the earth

We were created

And formed

Breath of God

We will return

Now we stand with ashes

Marked

A cross reserved for enemies of Rome

And those who deny truth and mystery

Unimaginable pain

Abandonment

Despair

Why?

Could it be

We take for granted

The reality

Of the cross

Jesus

Messiah

The Anointed One

Love’s mission

Of mercy

Rejected

Plotted against by the powerful

Who cannot abide

Such heretical teaching

Who is the Sabbath for?

Wanting control

Order

Hearts that refuse to expand

Hearts of stone

My heart?

From the desert

Repent and return to God

Like John the Baptist

Then Jesus’ heart expanded

Healing

Mercy 

Restoration 

Wholeness

For me

For you

For all

The mercy of God

Infinite

Indescribable

Liberating

This mercy

Jesus’ core message

Not power, domination, sovereignty

Not perfection

But Mercy

So, the cross

Suffering Messiah

Mercy’s power

Tenderness

Closeness

Stunning humility

Expanded heart

Return to me

Not part of you

All of you

Back to the dust

The earth

Creation

The birth of God in the soul

I am dust

But I am loved

Infinitely

Mercifully

Not because I am good

Because the ‘I AM’

Loves me

Weak. Frail. Mortal.

Help me to gaze

The cross

Awestruck

Shocked

Surrendered

To the suffering

Of my Rabbouni

My Lord

Standing on the ground

Falling to the ground

The ground of my soul

Where I belong

For now