Ash Wednesday, 2004

"Sometimes if you smudge things, they get kind of messy." So said one of the school aged linguists I consulted before beginning these lines.

Repent and believe the good news. I think of this as I look down at my hands after reading the morning newspaper. My fingers are covered in ink and leave smears on who and whatever they touch. Smears of violence, smears of dishonesty, greed, deception, injustice, and misappropriated righteousness. The bruises of society are not only taken into my mind and heart but, in a way, actually borne on my being. The good news is there too--the stories of peace, mercy, and justice--but it is often buried several pages back. This is the news I am called to believe in a media driven world where violence and greed smudge the edges of neighborhoods, families, and institutions and threaten to reign.

Repent and believe the good news. Such are the words that accompany a smeary, grainy, marking of my forehead on Ash Wednesday. There are no promises that all will stay within the lines, no guarantee that all will be tidy, simple, or uniform. By the crossing of someone?s thumb covered in the ashes of burnt palms, I am numbered among those whose are called to acknowlege the reality and impact of a messy world created by the choices of those born in the image and likeness of God. I am called to repent, to offer reparation--make better choices, work for change--, and above all, to believe that hope will be the lantern guiding us, to believe that no matter what we encounter, love will prevail.

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." ---Gandhi

What change do I want to see and what am I doing about it?

--The U.S Province Justice and Peace Committee--