DAY 35

Image by Panaramka

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A GREETING
“Come,” my heart says, “seek his face!”
Your face, O God, do I seek.
(Psalm 27:8)

A READING
Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’s feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
(John 12:1-5;7-8)

MUSIC


A MEDITATIVE VERSE
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
(Psalm 23:5)

A REFLECTION
And this is ultimately the very heart of the gospel. It is a love story. I think we can make the Christian faith and even worship such a dogmatic thing, such a sensible thing even. But when we look at the gospels and we look at the effect that Jesus had on people's lives when he met them, it's so much about passion, about love, about meeting Jesus and instantly feeling such a desperate desire to to give it all to him. We see this time and time again as Jesus meets people along the road. I wonder whether some of us have lost sight of the love story and become sensible or automatic in our worship of Jesus?...What if we are so busy toweling his feet with a cloth that we miss out on the intimacy of drying his feet with our hair...As we look to Mary's example, are we content to wash with water? or are we bold enough to drench with perfume?
- - from a transcription of Episode 16 by Hannah McVeigh of "Anagnorisis",
the 24-7 Prayer video podcast series for Lent, 2014.

VERSE OF THE DAY
Love one another deeply from the heart.
(1 Peter 1:22b)

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"Tenderness for my wounded God, Good Friday, 2022,"
by Laura Makabresku, found on Instagram.
Makabresku's art was also featured on Days 11, 12 and 13. Although it is not Good Friday yet,
how does Mary's gesture with the nard prefigure the anointing of Christ after his death?

The anointing of Jesus' feet, as told in John's gospel, takes place in the home of Mary and Martha and Lazarus. Mary, who once sat at his feet (Luke 10) to listen to him and wept with him on the road about Lazarus, now lavishly anoints him.

How did Jesus experience this expression of profound love? The washing of feet was the job of a servant, not of a friend or relative, and not of a woman. Each of the siblings of this family has a moment of mystical encounter with Jesus, an intimate experience of the divine that seems to transcend their own lived experience. Martha experiences the knowing that Jesus is the messiah. Lazarus is returned to life. And Mary's conscious presence to what is coming allows her to embody the "already, not yet" of the Holy Saturday anointing. Jesus understands the enormity of her gesture and affirms what she is doing.

During this week, we will be exploring all of the ways that Jesus incrementally feels his power going out from him. Back in the wilderness, he told the Satan that he was not interested in the kind of power that can magically reverse the course of events or provide dramatic rescue. At a time when people are touching him all the time, crowding him so much that he keeps taking himself into the mountains to get away, Mary is someone who wants instead to nurture him. She doesn't take from him, instead she seeks to soothe and restore.

She is also acting radically against convention and expectation in every aspect of her behaviour, but perhaps especially in the use of her hair. Extravagant love is requiring the whole of Mary's body to show her devotion, just as the whole of Jesus' body will be involved in the Crucifixion -- his own extravagant gesture of love for us.

When we love others, simply because we recognize Christ in them; when we welcome the stranger, and feed and assist them; when we witness against injustice; when we work to free captives and provide homes and shelter for others; when we challenge ourselves to learn more about lives we don't understand -- we are lavishing our devotion on Jesus.

How will your extravagant love be felt by Jesus today? What is your nard?

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Image by Panaramka

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Scripture passages are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition.

For those who may wish to pursue an imagined narrative of the events of Holy Week as told through the eyes of Mary Magdalene, this blog was created in 2009 by Deacon Sherry and then republished in 2020 during the pandemic. The first few days can be found here:
Palm Sunday.
Holy Monday.
Holy Tuesday.
(A new day will be made visible here each day.)

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LC† From Dust, Still Holy is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work. 
Thank you and peace be with you!

DAY 34

Image by Jay Huang

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A GREETING
Teach me to do your will, for you are my God.
Let your nurturing Spirit guide me
on a safe and level path.
(Psalm 143:10)

A READING
“Where have you laid him?” Jesus asked. “Come and see,” they said. And Jesus wept. The people in the crowd began to remark, “See how much he loved him!” Others said, “He made the blind person see; why couldn’t he have done something to prevent Lazarus’ death?” Jesus was again deeply moved. They approached the tomb, which was a cave with a stone in front of it. “Take away the stone,” Jesus directed. Martha said, “Rabbi, it has been four days now. By this time there will be a stench.” Jesus replied, “Didn’t I assure you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they took the stone away. Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said, “Abba, thank you for having heard me. I know that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd, that they might believe that you sent me!” Then Jesus called out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” And Lazarus came out of the tomb, still bound hand and foot with linen strips, his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus told the crowd, “Untie him and let him go free.”
(John 11:34-44)

MUSIC


A MEDITATIVE VERSE
The works of your hands are truth and justice.
(Psalm 111:7a)

THE ST. PATRICK'S BREASTPLATE PRAYER
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every one who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye of every one who sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness
Of the Creator of Creation.
- from a literal translation by Kuno Meyer

VERSE OF THE DAY
Indeed, the whole crowd was trying to touch Jesus,
because power was coming out of him and healing them all.
(Luke 6:19)

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"The resurrection of Lazarus," by Henry Ossawa Tanner.
Tanner was an African-American painter who lived and worked in France in the late 19th-century.  Deeply faithful, Tanner's paintings often immerse us in the human elements of the Jesus story. How does this scene as the artist has envisioned it prefigure the laying out of Jesus after he has been taken from the cross? 

This week we return to the body of Jesus to experience the events leading up to Good Friday from the point of view of the incarnated Christ. These events are a slow progression toward the surrender of his divine power, and the loss of his human power as well. Jesus will be hunted, beaten and killed in the body. What began as an encounter between an angel and his mother Mary will reach its earthly end when Jesus is hung on the cross.

Today we return to the final part of the story of the raising of Lazarus, to imagine how the restoration of the life of his friend impacts the body and divine energy of Jesus. In the story of the woman who touched the cloak of Jesus in order to have healing from a perpetual issue of blood (see Day 12 devotion), we hear that Jesus felt the power going out of him. In the Luke 6 verse above involving the healing of others, we also hear that Jesus felt power leave him. Did Jesus feel such power leaving him in the raising of Lazarus?

The Deer's Cry hymn is an adpatation of the St. Patrick's Breastplate prayer. In fifth-century Ireland, Patrick and his followers used this prayer to avoid detection by enemies. The prayer momentarily transformed them into deer, so that they were unseen by their assailants. The prayer expresses the belief that the power of Jesus working in us can be transformative: we can be forever changed. In today's music, dancers offer an illustration of how the knowledge that Christ is within and around us can be animating to our spirits and bodies.

The slow release of his earthly divine and human power in his final days is one of the ways in which Jesus gives his life for his friends. His sacrifices have been incremental from the start of his ministry -- and will culminate on the cross. Each miracle, each healing, each transformation, takes something from him. Ultimately, the divine power of Jesus never diminishes -- as the last part of the story will reveal later in the week.

As we go forward in these days, how might the animating power of Jesus in our bodies -- transform us into action? What is awaiting your support in your community today?

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Image by Jay Huang

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Scripture passages are taken from The Inclusive Bible.

For those who may wish to pursue an imagined narrative of the events of Holy Week as told through the eyes of Mary Magdalene, this blog was created in 2009 by Deacon Sherry and then republished in 2020 during the pandemic. The first two days: Palm Sunday and Holy Monday, can be found here:
Palm Sunday.
Holy Monday.
(A new day will be made visible here each day.)

†

LC† From Dust, Still Holy is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work. 
Thank you and peace be with you!

DAY 33

Image by Mike Plucker

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bodies in social protest

A GREETING
In the morning bring me word of your constant love,
for I lift up my heart to you.
Show me the path I should tread.
(Psalm 143:8)

A READING
Great crowds of people spread their cloaks on the road, while some began to cut branches from the trees and lay them along the path. The crowds—those who went in front of Jesus and those who followed—were all shouting, “Hosanna to the Heir to the House of David!
Blessed is the One who comes
in the name of the Most High!
Hosanna in the highest!”
As Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred to its depths, demanding, “Who is this?” And the crowd kept answering, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee!”
(Matthew 21:8-11)

MUSIC


A MEDITATIVE VERSE
Do not nurse hatred for a neighbor. If you are angry with your neighbor, speak frankly about it, to avoid storing up ill feelings. Never seek revenge or hold a grudge toward your relatives. You must love your neighbor as you love yourself. I am God.
(Leviticus 19:17-18)

A POEM
“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -
- from "Hope is the thing with feathers,"
by Emily Dickinson

VERSE OF THE DAY
For you do justice for your people;
and you have compassion for your faithful.
(Psalm 135:14)
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"Ode to Renee Good and Alex Pretti," by Julie Shelton Smith.

Today marks the end of the Lenten portion of this devotional: on Monday, we will move into Holy Week. In the story of Jesus that we tell, the shift from Lent to Holy Week is marked by Palm Sunday. In most churches this Sunday, congregations will observe the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem; some will also hear the Passion read that day as well.

In a guest sermon for the Martin Luther University College worshipping community earlier this week, Eastern Synod Bishop Carla Blakley described Palm Sunday as "a protest, not a parade." Drawing on recent experiences in Israel and Palestine, Bishop Carla invited those gathered to hear the entry into Jerusalem as a call to enter into the much needed protests of our own time -- to push back against injustice. (She also captured this in a Facebook post.)

Sometimes, our sense of overwhelm at the crises and catastrophes taking place in our world lead to a deep feeling of disconnectedness. Our spirit is out of alignment with what we see going on around us. Bringing our bodies into social protest helps to recalibrate our sense of wellbeing. There is a kind of euphoria that sometimes comes from marching for justice, as we feel the surge of gratitude within, to be able to use the whole of ourselves to try to change the world. But it always also requires elements of courage.

Recently, we have seen extraordinary acts of solidarity, protest and resistance from the people of Minneapolis, as they have cried out against the unjust escalation of abduction and detention of immigrants. Their resistance takes many forms, including singing: songs that had grown up in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, or which had other histories and origins, are being sung alongside brand new songs written for the times we are in. Singing resistance movements have spread to other cities including some here in Canada.

In one remarkable moment, the singing community in Minneapolis sang in front of the hotel where border patrol and immigration officers were known to be staying. The call was to invite them to lay down their arms and join them in the singing resistance. The idea came from a turn of the century Serbian movement called Otpor! in which protesters invited police authorities to lay down their arms and join them. Eventually, they were so many in number that the Serbian government fell.

When we engage Palm Sunday in the spirit of protest, we are forced to change our orientation: instead of waving at Jesus as he passes by us on the donkey, a spectator in the crowd, we instead become a member of Jesus's own party -- the flow of disciples walking behind him and entering the city. We become a part of the movement of justice. How might we then feel some of the fear and trepidation that group of friends must have known?

Who are you in the Jesus entourage? How can you keep that perspective with you as you enter into the city and prepare yourself for the events to come?

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Source: Singingresistancetc on Instagram.

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Scripture passages are taken from The Inclusive Bible.
The devotions will now take a two day break and return on Holy Monday, March 30th.

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LC† From Dust, Still Holy is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work. 
Thank you and peace be with you!

DAY 32

Image by Jay Huang

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A GREETING
Now I am the one calling to you—
and you, O God, will answer me. Turn your ear to me and
hear my prayer.
(Psalm 17:6)

A READING
Then ...you will be able to stand tall fearlessly.
Your suffering will be a thing of the past;
you’ll view it as water under the bridge.
And your life will be brighter than the noonday sun;
its gloom will turn into a bright dawn.
You’ll possess renewed security,
for now hope will reign;
you’ll be able to take your rest in safety—
you’ll lie down, and no one will make you afraid.
(Job 11:15-18)

MUSIC


A MEDITATIVE VERSE
Guard me as the apple of your eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wings.
(Psalm 17:8)

A PRAYER
Love with us, Love above us, Love beneath us,
Love within us, Love beside us, Love who surrounds us,
You who are both/and, who created every facet in the kaleidoscope
he, him, she, her, they, them, ze, zir, zey, zem,
and delights in the expansiveness of gender.
Disturb us when we grow complicit in our privilege,
Stir in us your Spirit of compassion to listen alongside and show up when we’re invited
In the name of the One who calls us by our name and our bodies good
Jesus the Christ who loves us as we are, Amen.
- by Rev. Victoria A. Featherston for Lutherans Connect

VERSE OF THE DAY
In God’s hand is the soul of every living thing;
in God’s hand is the breath of all humankind.
(Job 12:10)

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"Two nudes in a forest," by Frida Kahlo (1939).
Mexican painter Kahlo is well-known for her self-portraits. She is less well-known for her bisexuality and paintings that express same. This work was inspired by her relationship with the actress Dolores Del Rio.

How can we appreciate the nuances and contexts that underline how some scriptural texts have been interpreted? Why has the church so long been challenged by sexuality -- of any kind?

Jesus has little or nothing to say about human gender and sexuality. Instead, he seems more concerned with the way in which human beings form their relationships, with or without sexual contexts. Jesus disliked hypocrisy and exploitation: he refuses to participate in a public shaming of a woman whose sexuality has been judged (John 8), he has a long conversation with another woman whose sexual history he seems to know (John 4), and he offers a surprising (for its time) affirmation of the experience of those who were eunuchs (Matthew 19). He is more interested in intention, and in the forming of lasting bonds (Matthew 19). It is Paul who establishes more rigid structures and who develops theologies which separate and distinguish. Even so, he was responding in his time to the ways in which power had led to a distortion of human sexuality. He was trying to reach those who had been sexually enslaved by the leaders of the Roman Empire and offer them freedom. In our own time, we might imagine it as trying to reach out to the vitims named in the Epstein files. Nonetheless, the prohibitions and exclusions made by Paul have had long-lasting impacts on many in our church.

Jesus is never interested in exclusion. Instead, everything in his ministry points toward the inclusion of all peoples. He does not judge the human body, but time after time expresses a yearning for bodies and people to have wholeness and healing. How can we in our own time and in our own lives do the same?

One way is to tell more stories of diverse loving relationships. And to take time to watch and listen to them when they come our way. And even more, we can seek them out.

The song “Somewhere,” from the Broadway musical West Side Story, has caught the attention of many people who dream of a time and a space when they might be fully able to just be themselves in love. Love has an infinite capacity to form itself in human connections in millions of myriad ways. Why do we limit that by trying to put love into specific categories? What are the stories, the dances, the songs, the art that express those possibilities? In today's video, we see the work of Queer the Ballet, a New York-based dance company who commission dance works that express a diverse experience of orientation and gender. Today’s ballet captures a relationship between two women in a non-traditional pas de deux. Setting and filming it in an urban location allows us to see more closely the intimate connection that is not always visible in ballets on a stage, and which capture how people show love in simply being together.

Somewhere... there is a place that is imagined in the Job reading, where the kindom of God is revealed to be for all people. What can each of us do to show that such a place is now, in this time and in our own communities?

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Image by David Grimes.

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Scripture passages are taken from The Inclusive Bible.

This short documentary offers a deeper dive into the work of Queer the Ballet.

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LC† From Dust, Still Holy is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work. 
Thank you and peace be with you!

DAY 31

Image by Felicito Rustique Jr.

queer bodies

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A GREETING
My heart is ready, O God,
my heart is ready;
I will sing and play for you.
(Psalm 57:7)

A READING
Not all flesh is the same. Human beings have one kind, animals have another, birds another, and fish another. Then there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. Heavenly bodies have a beauty of their own, and earthly bodies have a beauty of their own. The sun has one kind of brightness, the moon another, and the stars another. And star differs from star in brightness.
(1 Corinthians 15:39-41)

MUSIC


A MEDITATIVE VERSE 
For all these mysteries I thank you—
for the wonder of myself,
for the wonder of your works—
my soul knows it well.
(Psalm 139:14)

A SHORT REFLECTION
Your name
is a gift
You can return it
if it doesn’t fit.
- found in Lord of the Butterflies,  by Andrea Gibson. 

VERSE OF THE DAY
When I am anxious and worried,
you comfort me and bring me joy.
(Psalm 94:19)

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"Resurgence of the People," by Kent Monkman (2019)
In this work, Two-Spirt and Queer artist Monkman reframes traditional historical paintings that often have figured triumphal settler figures. Using his alter-ego figure "Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, Monkman figures people of all kinds in the boat that is heading toward a place of freedom and renewal, including migrants and refugees and other marginalized folks who are being pulled from the water. 

In today's short reading, we hear Paul talk about the beauty of all created bodies. He is writing in the context of understanding resurrection. In our world, there are people who dream of and pursue renewed bodies to express who they are, seeking a rebirth of identity. Today we reflect on what it is to have a gender identity that does not conform to the one assigned at birth, or which does not feel conformed to any binary gender. At the invitation of Lutherans Connect, Pastor Victoria A. Featherston (they/them) offers this for us from their lived experience:

Andrea Gibson’s words [see above] when reflecting on queerness, more specifically genderqueer bodies as sacred, feel to me like an oasis of both/and in the wilderness journeying toward the cross. How does the language we sometimes use limit the expansiveness of the body of Christ?

I serve on a committee that recommends spiritual care for those who are incarcerated. Two months ago, I visited a women’s correctional institution in British Columbia and was part of a team conducting a site review who interviewed persons on the inside and how to improve chaplaincy services in Canada’s prisons. One of those persons identified as transgender and, when sharing her concerns, talked of the importance of decentering herself and using her voice to advocate for her interfaith neighbours.

In a world where living outside the gender binary is dangerous, there is an encouragement to retreat into the closet of fear and silence dressed up as safety. A closet where one feels as though they must mask who they are for the comfort of the privileged, a closet where all may not always be welcome and their body may be policed. As a genderqueer pastor who presents mostly as “passing” or able to present as the gender I was assigned at birth, I have privilege and I feel called to use my voice alongside those in my community who do not “pass.”

How do these words challenge us within the comfort we may have always known in our own bodies? In the opening lines of today's video, the songwriter names the reasons that are sometimes given for not being open. We in the church can add to these with perhaps similar conversations we may have heard in our own faith communities: "our parish is not ready for this." "We don't have a problem with the issue or the individual, but just worry that the parish may not treat them well and they won't be safe." How do these concerns, however honestly felt, prevent opportunities for real learning and growth? We might ask ourselves instead, "how does God feel about the non-binary or trans person we are afraid of calling into our parish?" "How is God challenging us in this moment?"

Victoria adds:
In what ways have we experienced the need to mask or filter our identities? How can we reframe those experiences and bodies as sacred?

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Image by Karen
Seahorses and sea dragons (figured here) are often embraced as emblems by the queer and trans community. Male seahorse bodies are among the very few species in all Creation that are the gender who give birth.

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Scripture passages are taken from The Inclusive Bible.
Andrea Gibson was an American non-binary poet, spoken word performer and activist. They documented their own journey living with cancer. "Maga hat in the chemo room," explores the politics of identity and clothing confronted while having chemotherapy. Listen to how their experience of illness broadened their experience of all human beings.

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LC† From Dust, Still Holy is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work. 
Thank you and peace be with you!

DAY 30

Image by Jay Huang

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A GREETING
Hear my prayer, O God, and my cry for help!
Listen to my weeping, and don’t ignore me.
(Psalm 39:12)

A READING
Thus says God:
“A voice is heard in Ramah,
mourning and bitter weeping.
Rachel, weeping for her children,
refuses to be comforted,
for her children are no more.”
(Jeremiah 31:15;17)

MUSIC


A MEDITATIVE VERSE
Never let love and faithfulness abandon you—
wear them like a necklace around your neck;
inscribe them on the tablet of your heart.
(Proverbs 3:3)

A POETIC REFLECTION
For you today, my friends, I raise sacred smoke. For you who are troubled, confused, doubtful, lonely, afraid, addicted, unwell, bothered or alone, I raise sacred smoke. For those of you in sorrow, grief or pain, I raise sacred smoke. For those who work for people, for change, for spiritual evolution, for the upward and outward growth of our common humanity and the well-being of our planet, I raise sacred smoke. For those of you in joy, in the glow of small or great triumphs, who live in love, faith, courage and respect, I raise sacred smoke. And, in the act of all of this, I raise it also for myself.
- from Embers: One Ojibway's Meditations by Richard Wagamese

VERSE OF THE DAY
This way you’ll walk the roads of good people
and stay on the paths of the just—
because it is the upright who will inhabit the earth,
and the upright will call it home.
(Proverbs 2:20-21)

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"Motherly Love," by Dee-Jay Monika Rumbolt
Rumbolt is an Inuk-Métis artist from the south coast of Labrador. The painting helps her to reconcile her own experience of motherhood with the hardships her own mother had to face. Follow the link to read more.

Today we reflect on what it is like when a human body -- is missing. Too many Indigenous people in our land live with this reality for any number of reasons. Some may be missing loved ones who are alive but lost through forced separations caused by displacement, as when communities are moved owing to loss of potable water. Others may have family members in the prison systems, where Indigenous people are disproportionately represented. Still others experience the pain of having loved ones who have disappeared without a trace.

The children of today's music video live near the Highway of Tears in British Columbia, a 450-mile stretch of Highway 16 linking two cities on either side of the province where a high number of people have disappeared over the past decades. For these children, the story of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit people is never far from their families and lived realities. The drama they imagine/re-enact is one that is familiar within the lived experience of their communities.

For many Indigenous families, finding the remains of loved ones offers the chance to bring closure to painful losses. This is why there are protests and calls to action to search waters and waste places. The struggle to explain and understand what has happened becomes tangible if the loved one is recovered.

Lent and Holy Week offer a chance for us to reflect and change this narrative. As we draw closer to Holy Week and anticipate those events, we can confront the murderous impulses in ourselves and our communities by confessing them and bringing them to Jesus. In following the story of his death and resurrection we can be born anew into a desire to see this trend of tragedy transformed.

How can we uphold those families who feel the gap of a lost loved one?
How can we lift up their voices calling for answers?

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Image by Giuseppe Milo

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Scripture passages are taken from The Inclusive Bible.

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LC† From Dust, Still Holy is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work. 
Thank you and peace be with you!

DAY 29

Image by Hari K. Patibanda

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skin

A GREETING
I sing of your love and justice—
O God, I sing to you!
(Psalm 101:1)

A READING
Listen here, mortal:
God has already made abundantly clear
what “good” is, and what Good needs from you:
simply do justice,
love kindness,
and humbly walk with your God.
(Micah 6:8)

MUSIC


A MEDITATIVE VERSE
My fidelity and love will be with you.
(Psalm 89:24)

A POEM
At the age of 18
I know my color is not a warning, but a welcome.
A girl of color is a lighthouse, an ultraviolet ray of power, potential, and promise
My color does not mean caution, it means courage
my dark does not mean danger, it means daring,
my brown does not mean broken, it means bold backbone from working
twice as hard to get half as far.
Being a girl of color means I am key, path, and wonder all in one body.
- from "At the Age of 18: Ode to Girls of Color,"
by Amanda Gorman

VERSE OF THE DAY
We have risen, and we stand firm.
(Psalm 20:8b)

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"Members of Pageant of Birds," by Eudora Welty (1930s).
Welty was a renowned white author and photographer whose novels and short stories offered a glimpse of depression-era life in the South. Her passion for photography led her to where people of her privilege were not usually interested to go. Her body of work has since provided a glimpse of histories of black communities that have been helpful to later generations. "Sinners," a film released during this past year, drew heavily on Welty's photographs for its production design and cinematography. Autumn Durald Arkapaw, the film's cinematographer who is Filipino and Black Creole, last week became the first woman ever to win an Academy Award for cinematography for her work on "Sinners."

Sweet Honey in the Rock's "I'm Gon' Stand," helps us into a new week, one in which we will be reflecting on the human body and its agency in working for justice. How do our bodies contain and hold sacred aspects of our identity, the wholeness of who we are?

The colour of skin, one of the most beautiful aspects of God's diverse creation, has a long history of causing profoundly damaging divisions. All over the world, including here in Canada, societies have imposed brokenness and separation out of their own desire for superiority. In the first parts of her long poem, U.S. National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman describes her years as a child before turning eighteen as one of disorientation and challenge. When she turned eighteen, she found and owned a different sense of her identity. "Being a girl of color means I am key, path, and wonder all in one body."

Sometimes we have a strong inward sense of who we are within our bodies --- which does not match how the world perceives us or treats us. When our spirit is not in synch with the world's craving for power, we might feel called to do something to bring the inner and outer parts of us into alliance. Nearly all of the stories this week will have this common factor. In order to reclaim our sense of identity and/or a just world, we have to "take a stand," using our voices, our bodies and our hearts to try to make things better.

Throughout scripture, this is described as building the kindom of God. We have a God who wants wholeness for every single one of us. We are called, heard in the simple instructions from Micah, to bring such a reality into existence however we can. But sometimes in order to do that, we have to sit with the brokenness and understand it. Finding peace of spirit involves listening boldly -- leaning out of our assumptions and fears and into the stories that need to be heard. Our bodies and our whole selves are vocationally called into helping to restore brokenness.

What in your day today will require that work from you? Who do you know who might appreciate your justice, kindness and humility?

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Image by Hari K. Patibanda

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Scripture passages are taken from The Inclusive Bible.

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LC† From Dust, Still Holy is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work. 
Thank you and peace be with you!

DAY 28

Image by David

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A GREETING
My mouth speaks wisdom;
my heart’s meditation is full of insight.
(Psalm 49:3)

A READING
Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth stayed with her. Naomi said, “Look, your sister-in-law is returning to her people and to her gods. Turn back after your sister-in-law.” But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to abandon you, to turn back from following after you. Wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord do this to me and more so if even death separates me from you.” When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her about it.
(Ruth 1:14b-18)

MUSIC


A MEDITATIVE VERSE
I would feed you with the finest wheat.
I would satisfy you with honey from the rock.
(Psalm 81:16)

A SONG LYRIC
Listen up, listen up young ones, listen up.
God has sent us you beautiful young ones,
in answer to our prayers.
We will guide you through life's journey,
you are the blessings we all share.

And/But no matter there is one thing you should know,
We are your elders, you know.
We believe in you.

Life will hand you a series of challenges,
some call them obstacles, we call them stepping stones.
Sometimes you'll know that you have succeeded
Sometimes you'll feel as if you have failed.

And/But no matter there is one thing you should know,
We are your elders, you know.
We believe in you.
- lyrics to "We Believe in You,"
sung in the video above by Sweet Honey in the Rock.

VERSE OF THE DAY
Keep company with the elders,
and stick closely to their wisdom.
(Sirach 6:34)

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"Endless Pursuit," by Louise Bourgeois (2000).
The sculpture, made when Bourgeois was 89, is roughly sewn together with patches of uneven shape and size. All of her fabric art uses this rapid and very visibly messy stitching. Perhaps it represents how much human beings try to make the best we can of life by stitching meanings together from our various decision makings -- somehow they add up to the whole of us. The title suggests on the other hand that in our desire to do more and more, we can easily lose track of ourselves. Still another interpretation might be that it's mother earth. Is the face of the figure older or just tired? What does the sculpture say to you?

In today's music, we hear the American spiritual ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock join with the choir Vocal Essence to sing a song of encouragement from older people to youth. The song assumes a position of wisdom being passed from an older generation to a younger one. Sometimes the wisdom of elders can offer a soothing and guiding hand to those who are still finding their way.

By contrast, today's reading finds Naomi, an elderly widow counseling her younger daughter-in-law to give up on trying to survive together after both women have lost their husbands, and return to the safety of her original community, where she might still have a chance to make a new life. Here, the younger woman has the wisdom she is passing upward. In an act of profound love and loyalty, Ruth commits herself to staying with Naomi no matter what. The book of Ruth eventually reveals a husband for her who will also provide for Naomi.

The relationship and wisdom offered between generations is lived experience dwelling in the body. Our bodies hold all that has happened to us like the rings of a tree. The lines of aging are marks of survival, each one tells a story. The bodies of Ruth and Naomi held the suffering of being widows without any agency or rights. And yet it is Ruth's body, bending to do the hard work of gleaning, that eventually allows her to find a more secure future.

The body is a location of resistance. Next week, as we make our way through the last week of Lent, we will turn to how the body can become a focal point of activism and resistance. What are the ways that our bodies remind us of our deepest desires?

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Image by David

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Scripture passages are taken from the Common English Bible.

The next devotional day is Monday, March 23rd.

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LC† From Dust, Still Holy is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work. 
Thank you and peace be with you!

DAY 27

Image by Ed Rosack.

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A GREETING
Protect me, God, because I take refuge in you.
(Psalm 16:1)

A READING
I’m grateful to God, whom I serve with a good conscience as my ancestors did. I constantly remember you in my prayers day and night. When I remember your tears, I long to see you so that I can be filled with happiness. I’m reminded of your authentic faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice. I’m sure that this faith is also inside you. Because of this, I’m reminding you to revive God’s gift that is in you through the laying on of my hands. God didn’t give us a spirit that is timid but one that is powerful, loving, and self-controlled.
(2 Timothy 1:3-7)

MUSIC


A MEDITATIVE VERSE
I was thrown on you from birth;
you’ve been my God
since I was in my mother’s womb.
(Psalm 22:10)

A POEM
Everyone should be born into this world happy
and loving everything.
But in truth it rarely works that way.
For myself, I have spent my life clamoring toward it.
Halleluiah, anyway I’m not where I started!

And have you too been trudging like that, sometimes
almost forgetting how wondrous the world is
and how miraculously kind some people can be?
And have you too decided that probably nothing important
is ever easy?

Not, say, for the first sixty years.

Halleluiah, I’m sixty now, and even a little more,
and some days I feel I have wings.
- "Hallelujah," by Mary Oliver
found in Little Alleluias: Collected Poetry and Prose by Mary Oliver

VERSE OF THE DAY
But I have calmed and quieted myself
like a weaned child on its mother;
I’m like the weaned child that is with me.
(Psalm 131:2)

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"Mother and child," by Louise Bourgeois (2002)
Bourgeois made a series of sculptures that focused on the relationship between the body of a child and the body of its mother. This work was created when she was 91.

Yesterday, we reflected on how God delights in what God dwells within, and God dwells within each of us. In today's reading, the writer of the letter to Timothy uses this kind of language to describe how faith dwells within Timothy, just as it previously did in his mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois. The reading says that faith first "lived" with Lois and Eunice and now "lives" with Timothy. The Greek word used here means "to dwell in."

Towards the end of the reading, the writer refers to the "spirit that is timid" in contrast to the spirit of power, love and self-discipline. These words are not about strength and weakness but about the boldness that can lead to a desire for transformation. The writer is telling us that it takes practice and patient self-discipline in prayer to learn to hear the Spirit within.

Timothy is being encouraged to find a deeper capacity for listening and for serving God in the world. With prayer, we too can feel the Holy Spirit encouraging us in our deepest self. With the help of the Spirit, we can experience the fruits of the Spirit that lead us in our life with others.

As we age, our bodies become differently abled. When once we might have helped to build a community housing project, now we can raise money for it and bring food to those doing the heavy lifting. The wisdom and lived experience of elders can help to change lives.

We all play a role in nurturing the faith of others, sometimes directly and sometimes without even knowing. When we live an open life of faith, in relationship with the larger community around us, we start to nourish the spiritual gifts of others. Whose gifts in your community are waiting to be recognized and encouraged? How can you reach out to them today?

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Image by Jake Guild

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Scripture passages are taken from The Common English Bible.

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LC† From Dust, Still Holy is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work. 
Thank you and peace be with you!

DAY 26

Image by Zbyněk Hruboš

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The aging body

A GREETING
Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord,
your salvation according to your promise.
(Psalm 119:41)

A READING
Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what was customary under the law, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, “Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,
according to your word,
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples.”
(Luke 2:25-31)

MUSIC


A MEDITATIVE VERSE
Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul, too.”
(Luke 2:35)

A REFLECTION
The ancient church believed that in the Incarnation Jesus healed, or made whole, everything he took upon himself. Jesus made and makes human experiences holy, including the experience of ageing. In Jesus, God ages and ageing is most intimately experienced in our bodies.
Of course, for many of us, this ageing involves disappointment and fear as memories wane and our bodies cannot do what they could years ago –eyes dim, strength slips away, and hearing fades. Thankfully, we have aides that ameliorate these effects, but still, our bodies are saying something holy to us.
Our sacred ageing bodies preach to us. They remind us that death approaches and they counsel us to ask for help, to slow down, to change our expectations, to breathe each breath with gratitude. They remind us that even in death there is hope because each heartbeat is a prayer: Kyrie eleison.
- written by Rev. Dr. Allen Jorgenson for Lutherans Connect.

VERSE OF THE DAY
I trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
(Psalm 13:5)

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"Couple," by Louise Bourgeois (2004).
Bourgeois is a renowned French-born sculptor who later made her home in America.
Her family of origin had a history of tapestry restoration, and a young Louise was often given the task of repairing the bottoms of wall tapestries -- at her own young eye level. Fabric became her metier: in her later years, she especially enjoyed taking existing fabric from her own life, cutting it up and reusing it in new ways. She worked right until her death. This sculpture was made when she was 93.

In today's reflection, Allen Jorgenson helps us understand how bodies that are aging still hold the mystery of the Incarnation, that moment when the Word became flesh. How much are we tempted to believe that if we are made in God's image, it must mean the earliest and most youthful version of ourselves? And yet, to grow older in the body is not to fall away from our own sacredness, but to deepen it.

Today's reading takes us to the moment in the temple when the infant Jesus is being brought forward for circumcision. Jesus' body is being intentionally changed in order to fulfill the obligations of God's covenant with the people. Simeon, who was an elderly and righteous man immediately recognizes the child as the messiah and begins to praise the baby -- grateful that he was given the chance to see him before he dies. He makes a song of praise to God in thanks for having had the chance to witness who Jesus is. As an older man, whose life has been filled with much purpose, simply holding the Christ child gives him life.

As we age, we may not be happy with our changing capacities. How can we remember that each wrinkle, each limitation, each new dependence is a place where Christ is quietly present, because he has lived inside the limits of the body?

To grow older in the body is to follow the same path that Jesus walked: from independence to surrender. The aging body teaches us that God delights in what God dwells within.
As Allen Jorgenson writes, "our sacred ageing bodies preach to us."
How will yours preach to you today?

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Image by Nelson L.

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Scripture passages are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition.

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LC† From Dust, Still Holy is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work. 
Thank you and peace be with you!