Davison's Doodle

Ash Wednesday Lyrics

Ashes and diamonds
Foe and Friend
We were all equal in the end(1)

All kinds of Christians will hear words similar to those above with the more orthodox tone, “you are dust and to dust you shall return” or something similar. Smudge marks of a cross on foreheads or hands identify those among us convinced, convicted, or clinging to the old, old story unsure what it does to us, or for us, anymore. But, we want to belong. We want to believe. Jesus. Jesus, what’s it all about?

I’ve been smudged with ashes. I’ve smudged the old and the young alike. The world is full of mortality reminders. Coronavirus, the newest one. In a Nation consumed by “identity politics” we Christians play our part, particularly today. Of late many siblings in faith have embraced transactional relationships because the covenantal ones of old don’t seem to be working anymore or meeting needs. As if the Golden Rule or Greatest Commandment, like the hymn, “In The Very Room”(2) is spaciously specific theology. You don’t have to be cynical to observe that spaciously specific economics, ethnicity, gender, and religion are the norm now. Maybe the Rolling Stones are right. “You can’t always get what you want. But, if you try sometimes well you might just find, you’ll get what you need.”(3)

In the spring of my senior year of high school, Pink Floyd released “The Final Cut” (1983). I was already a fan, but this album captured the history classes and social studies of junior high and high school. It captured the stories I had heard from relatives, and the general fear of the late decades of the Cold War as people were just going about their lives. It challenged the Christianity that had been passed on to me. The album’s final song, “Two Suns in the Sunset,” is a daily ash reminder seared into my memory that makes ordinary time, everyday, a journey through lent. Shall we overcome?

In my rear view mirror
The sun is going down
Sinking behind bridges in the road
I think of all the good things
That we have left undone
And I suffer premonitions
Confirm suspicions
Of the holocaust to come

The rusty wire that holds the cork
that keeps the anger in
Gives way and suddenly
It’s day again
The sun is in the east
even though the day is done
Two suns in the sunset
Could be the human race is run

Like the moment when the brakes lock
And you slide towards the big truck
(Oh no!)
You stretch the frozen moments with your fear
And you’ll never hear their voices
(Daddy, Daddy!)
And you’ll never see their faces
You have no recourse to the law anymore

And as the windshield melts and my tears evaporate
Leaving only charcoal to defend
Finally I understand the feelings of the few
Ashes and diamonds
Foe and friend
We were all equal in the end.

---

Notes
1. Pink Floyd, “The Final Cut”. Harvest Columbia, 1983.
2. Ron and Carol Harris, “In This Very Room”. Ron Harris Music, 1979.
3. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, “Let It Bleed”. Decca Records (UK), 1968.

Pastoral Prayer

Many of our congregations have a time of communal prayer that is led by the minister or an elder. Often this is called the “pastoral prayer.” A time when words are shared on behalf of the entire community. It is one of those times when the minister represents the people to God. Sometimes when I fill the pulpit (guest preacher) I’m invited to serve in all the roles that the settled minister does during worship. Last Sunday, that included preaching, presiding at the communion table, and offering a pastoral prayer. Here are my words that borrowed from some of Psalm 27.

We pause, O God, to be embraced by our prayers.  Personal prayers, communal prayers, and intercessory prayers trusting that you hear and that we hear the abundance of our sorrows, suffering, and blessed-ness.  It is hard to wait, O Lord, when there are many to pray for and so much that we can do.  

Teach us your way, O Lord.  Give us the courage to seek your face, to see you in the eyes that call us enemy and neighbor alike.  Give us the wisdom of one who could conclude that after conflict it is our responsibility to look after the defeated with dignity and respect, and to tend to their needs as if they were our own needs.

In this time of strife in our Nation, and around the world, we cry out “be gracious and answer us.”  Give political leaders and religious leaders the tools necessary to recalibrate their moral compasses as the arc of history bends down a path, but a just course is not yet fully known.  

A course away from greed toward goodness.
A course away from hate toward acceptance.
A course away from fear toward love of God, toward the light and the salvation of the Lord.

Forgive us the injustices we participate in that are within our control. Do not turn away from us in anger, O Lord, as we humans often do.  Cleanse us of the grievances that devour us, our neighbors, and our enemies.

We want to believe like Jesus, that we shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.  So, open your heart to us, O Lord, as we open our heart to you.  Hear our prayer and embrace us as we follow the example of Jesus in our living and in our prayer.

Amen.