<html><body>Here's a draft of tomorrow's homily.<div><br></div><div>Bob</div><div><br></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY ASH WEDNESDAY<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">JOEL 2:1-2, 12-17 10<sup>th</sup> FEBRUARY, 2016<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">2 CORINTHIANS 5:20b – 6:10 PSALM 103:8-14<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">MATTHEW 6:1-6, 16-21<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Dust – dirt – earth – call it what you will, it’s not something we keep around the house, usually. In fact, we try to get rid of it or, at the very least, keep it in its place – which is often wherever we pot plants, or replenish their nutrients.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> So maybe there’s a clue to life here. If we keep soil, dirt, dust, in order to repot plants or to encourage them to grow, to blossom, to brighten and fragrance rooms, then maybe we ought to start thinking about dust, about dirt, about the earth, as the starting and continuing point of life. Perhaps we ourselves need to get more in touch with it, to pay attention to how we’re revitalized by it, to remember where our roots lie.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> There are times, though, when we feel we’ve risen above that; that we’re much better than that; that that is – well – cheap as dirt, common as dirt, useless as dirt. You can think of some other descriptions, probably.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> You and I remember well what our parents said to us when we came in from outside, whether we grew up in the centre of a city or surrounded by fields. “Go and wash up.” “Wipe your feet.” “Don’t trail the outdoors all over the house.” In other words, wash all the signs and connections with the world off your body. It doesn’t belong. Get rid of it!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Go into a hospital, either as a patient or as a visitor, and you and I will find the same thing. Don’t walk past the lobby without applying some scrubbing and sanitising agent liberally. The outside doesn’t belong here.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Today, of all days, however, the Church calls everyone – everyone – to acknowledge two things. First, the outside very much <b><u>DOES</u></b> belong here. Everyone and every6thing is welcome. Nobody and no thing is excluded. God’s love takes in the whole of creation – literally. All of creation is recognized as belonging to God and as being desired by God. There isn’t anything which is beyond loving.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Everything we do, then, from getting up out of bed to going to bed at the end of our day; everything we do is to witness to the welcoming redemption of God. God wants us to be agents of this welcome, no matter where we are, or how we feel, or what we’re doing.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> But, secondly, the Church, from the very earliest days of Christianity, calls everyone who follows Jesus to acknowledge that our very selves are rooted in the element of dirt. Dirt – carbon – in however complex a form makes up what we are. Carbon holds us together. We are not alien to dirt, or it to us, then. What we do on this day, therefore, is to declare who we are, to openly about who we are, and what our relationships are about.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> There is, therefore, great health about what we do. It’s not merely catharsis – cleansing – although it <b><u>IS</u></b> that. We <b><u>DO</u></b> all need that, very definitely! But it’s the leaving behind of all pretensions. It’s an act of leveling ourselves before God and our sister and brothers, and the earth itself, acknowledging what we believe about ourselves recognizing both God’s superiority, yet also God’s willingness to walk with us here on earth – even God’s willingness to become dust.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> And perhaps here we have it. We’re made in the image of God – theat’s the Divine in us. Then God takes on the very dust that’s been created, becoming at one with us.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Of course, it can be difficult, often, to see the Divine in us. When we’re struggling, when we’re preoccupied, when our vision is dimmed by so much around us, it can be a real stretch even to imagine that image. When we find things piling up, we may feel that it’ Ash Wednesday and Lent every day. But when we remind ourselves that Jesus assumed dust to stand beside us, then that can transform how we think about Ash Wednesday and Lent. We can find relief, reassurance, healing, above all, acceptance despite our faults. We can find these in the dust.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> It may seem an oxymoron to us – but probably not to those a bit younger – but dirt can actually make us happy. <b><u>BEING</u></b> dirt can renew us. In an article about physical and emotional wellness, I read that “Prozac may not be the only way to get rid of your serious blues. Soil microbes have been found to have similar effects on the brain and are without side effects and chemical dependency potential….<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> “Antidepressant microbes in soil cause cytokine levels to rise, which results in the production of higher levels of serotonin. The bacterium was tested both by injection and ingestion on rats and the results were increased cognitive ability, lower stress and better concentration to tasks than a control group.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Gardeners inhale the bacteria, have topical contact with it and get it into their bloodstreams when there is a cut or other pathway for infection. The natural effects of the soil bacteria antidepressant can be felt for up to 3 weeks if the experiments with rats are any indication. So,” wrote the article’s author, “get out and play in the dirt and improve your mood and your life.” <sup>1</sup><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> As we come before God and God’s people; as we acknowledge our relatedness as well as those things and times when we have failed, the words we hear, which seem like folly and failure to others, actually become to us, the remedy for our souls and bodies.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Jan Richardson has written a marvellous poem for and about Ash Wednesday, and about all of life. She says to us:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(20, 24, 35);">All those days<br><span class="textexposedshow">you felt like dust,</span><br><span class="textexposedshow">like dirt,</span><br><span class="textexposedshow">as if all you had to do</span><br><span class="textexposedshow">was turn your face</span><br><span class="textexposedshow">toward the wind</span><br><span class="textexposedshow">and be scattered</span><br><span class="textexposedshow">to the four corners<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(20, 24, 35);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(20, 24, 35);">or swept away<br>by the smallest breath<br>as insubstantial—<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(20, 24, 35);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(20, 24, 35);">Did you not know<br>what the Holy One<br>can do with dust?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(20, 24, 35);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(20, 24, 35);">This is the day<br>we freely say<br>we are scorched.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(20, 24, 35);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(20, 24, 35);">This is the hour<br>we are marked<br>by what has made it<br>through the burning.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(20, 24, 35);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(20, 24, 35);">This is the moment<br>we ask for the blessing<br>that lives within<br>the ancient ashes,<br>that makes its home<br>inside the soil of<br>this sacred earth.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(20, 24, 35);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(20, 24, 35);">So let us be marked<br>not for sorrow.<br>And let us be marked<br>not for shame.<br>Let us be marked<br>not for false humility<br>or for thinking<br>we are less<br>than we are<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(20, 24, 35);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(20, 24, 35);">but for claiming<br>what God can do<br>within the dust,<br>within the dirt,<br>within the stuff<br>of which the world<br>is made,<br>and the stars that blaze<br>in our bones,<br>and the galaxies that spiral<br>inside the smudge<br>we bear <sup>2</sup></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">NOTES:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b>[1]</b></span></span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> “<i>Antidepressant Microbes In Soil: How Dirt Makes You Happy”</i> by Bonnie L. Grant 5<sup>th</sup> March, 2015 <a href="http://gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/antidepressant-microbes-soil.htm">http://gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/antidepressant-microbes-soil.htm</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br></p><h3 style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">2</span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"> <i>“Blessing the Dust: A Blessing for Ash Wednesday”</i> <span style="color: rgb(20, 24, 35);">Jan Richardson. The Painted Prayerbook </span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiov_GNyuvKAhVW12MKHZOzCkAQFggcMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpaintedprayerbook.com%2F2013%2F02%2F08%2Fash-wednesday-blessing-the-dust%2F&usg=AFQjCNF5Oa1onKkSdjGLLSHpD0XsQdReQA&bvm=bv.113943665,d.cGc"><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 153);">Ash Wednesday: Blessing the Dust « The Painted Prayerbook</span></a> </span><cite><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 102, 33); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">painted</span></cite><cite><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 102, 33); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">prayer</span></cite><cite><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 102, 33); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">book.com/2013/02/08/</span></cite><cite><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 102, 33); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">ash</span></cite><cite><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 102, 33); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">-</span></cite><cite><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 102, 33); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">wednesday</span></cite><cite><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 102, 33); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">-</span></cite><cite><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 102, 33); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">blessing-the-dust</span></cite><cite><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 102, 33); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;">/</span></cite></h3></div></body></html>