glitter ash

We are created out of the dust of the earth

and added stardust to every breath we take.

In the ashes, we are mortal beings who suffer.

In the glitter, we are immortal souls celebrating life.

May these ashes be to us a sign of our mortality and penitence

– our immortality and thirst for justice

as did Jesus who was willing to die for us.

We have been marked with ashes and glitter.

We say to the world, love is a queer thing,

it requires everything and gives everything.

We come from dust, we return to dust,

and in between, we glitter, shimmer, and dance in holy light.

Let us go forth, both marked and freed to serve our neighbor,

to loose the bonds of injustice,

and to shine as if our lives depended on it—because they do!

adapted from Rev. Ann Craig's "Glitter+Ash Wednesday Liturgy"