We truly are Stardust

In seminary we all had to try making ashes from last year's Palm Sunday palms  - once.  What a mess!  The purists in our group found new and better ways to burn the palms, while the rest of us thought they were a deal at any price from the local Christian bookstore.  I remembered this experience as I took the little packet of ashes out of the envelope and put them in a proper container for this evening's service (compliments of the local Christian bookstore).

Ash Wednesday is about many things - the beginning of Lent (and hence a new beginning), a time to reflect and repent (which means change direction), and a time to remember who we are and where we come from.  It is this remembering function that led me to invite those gathered for worship tonight to consider the story of creation

But not one of the stories from Genesis - those are particular creation stories that arise from our Judeo-Christian heritage.  Instead, we went back further - around 15 billion years further - to the creation of the universe.  Using the narrative from The Universe Story by Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme,  we began at the very beginning, that initial unity, and watched the amazing evolution of diversity and interdependence that eventually led to each of us being here - beings who are made of stardust.  Following in the footsteps of Berry, Swimme, McFague and others, we thought of how life might be different if we saw ourselves as interdependent and wondrously diverse - how this might facilitate a true repentance.  Our religion-specific creation stories from Genesis have been used to justify the exploitation of creation (using the earth to meet our own needs without considering our interdependent relationship with all creation) and the exploitation of people (women in particular).  Choosing to respect our historically specific creation stories while opening our awareness to a larger common creation story might go a long way to shift some entrenched thought patterns in our world.

I new way of thinking - a difficult shift!  But perhaps a key that will unlock and free up the "stuckness" we experience as individuals and as a nation/world.

Stardust - interdependence - new possibilities ever emerging as we continue to evolve as part of creation...all of us (dwarf stars, algae, butterflies and people) in it together.  What an amazing thought!

Happy Lent!
Kim