God of the Dust,
We praise you for being a Maker who is capable of dreaming up glory from dirt. As we journey through this Lenten season, help us to remember our origin story and find ourselves deeply grounded in bodies made from the lowest part of creation, yet alive with gloried breath from the divine. We confess that we do not always apprehend the humility of our own beginnings. Let the memory of it not serve to demean our dignity but affirm it, as we come to see ourselves as bearing your image and breath.
And as we remember our genesis, let us hold in tenderness the reality of our own mortality, that we would be people prepared to contend with the tragedy of death and decay. Let this be a season where we become uniquely attuned to the agonies of sin, trauma, and alienation— allowing our interior burdens to be held in a holy lament. Grant us the courage to tell the truth of all that haunts us so that we might be purged of every lie that leads us into bondage. And as we face the truths of who we are, let our own frailties guide us deeper still into the hope of You, that we would believe that You who bore life from dust, can do so once again.
Glory to the One who harnesses beauty from ash. We look to you. Amen