Ashes

Two short, determined strokes
Across and down my forehead;
Clear directives for action;
Renewed protection for
Spirit and Body.

"Repent"--make a change!
Do not delay!
Do not deny!
No time for disconnection!
Do not avoid, but see, at last, see!

"Believe the Gospel"--make the story yours!
Embrace the good news!
Open your heart!
Open now your life to this community!
See, at last see, those who wait for you!

Change--bold change directed for me,
Radical and to the root;
New directions demanded by a community's
Fierce pain and confusion;
Repent! All of us!

Ashes smeared on confused lives
Longing for the hope.
Delivered by even a thought
Of Good News--
Desperately needed, Good News!

Kneeling to receive
the mark of Cain,
Transformed by the clarity
Of hope and change--
A knowing welling up inside.

Ashes, smudging life
With the mark of a call to matter
In the pain and struggle,
To rise up renewed, to do Justice,
Challenged to be about Jubilee.

In the quiet,
Ashes and soft, certain words
Compel my heart,
The time is now, not later;
Rise up and act--Resurrection comes!