{"id":3261,"date":"2014-03-06T13:54:10","date_gmt":"2014-03-06T20:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/?p=3261"},"modified":"2014-03-06T14:06:08","modified_gmt":"2014-03-06T21:06:08","slug":"marked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/2014\/03\/marked\/","title":{"rendered":"Marked"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Yesterday, I found myself decidedly NOT at church, imposing ashes. Instead I was at home, trying to rest myself back from the flu I\u2019ve been battling, and\u00a0being clung-to by my littlest one, who woke up with it yesterday. Though I never left my house, I spent the holy day keeping a different kind of watch\u2026one that every parent knows too well, and one that\u00a0bears\u00a0its own kind of liturgy. So I wrote a thing.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 From dust\u00a0you were\u00a0born. To dust you will return. <\/em><\/p>\n

And we, the keepers of this story,<\/p>\n

We dip our fingers into the dark earth<\/p>\n

We make the sign, those two thin lines,<\/p>\n

That mark the space between\u00a0birth and death;<\/p>\n

Between body and spirit, between this world<\/p>\n

And all that moves on.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And we, the keepers of this story,<\/p>\n

We wonder\u2026 who am I to make this promise?<\/p>\n

To draw this line in the celestial sand?<\/p>\n

Every year, these marks, right here,<\/p>\n

Call up everybody\u2019s darkness.<\/p>\n

And everybody\u2019s deepest hope that someday<\/p>\n

We all move on.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cause the body is frail. Some years, in fact,<\/p>\n

Too frail to bear the mark. Too weak to stand and receive it,<\/p>\n

Or to carve it onto the frame of another.<\/p>\n

That story we tell\u2026 we know it too well,<\/p>\n

That our days are marked, and numbered.<\/p>\n

So we rest, and breathe, and cling to the life<\/p>\n

That is sacred, and ours for awhile yet longer.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

A home-shaped liturgy,\u00a0for a thin and holy day:<\/p>\n

You will <\/em>take this bitter medicine. You will<\/em> drink this living water.<\/p>\n

You will be made well, if I must nail your form to the earth.<\/p>\n

(That story we keep\u2026we know it in our sleep.)<\/p>\n

Soothe a fevered forehead, draw a thin line of blessing.<\/p>\n

From dust you were born, and to dust, you will return<\/em><\/p>\n

But not today, love. Not for yet awhile.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, I found myself decidedly NOT at church, imposing ashes. Instead I was at home, trying to rest myself back from the flu I\u2019ve been battling, and\u00a0being clung-to by my littlest one, who woke up with it yesterday. Though I never left my house, I spent the holy day keeping a different kind of watch\u2026one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1154,"featured_media":2544,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nMarked<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Yesterday, I found myself decidedly NOT at church, imposing ashes. 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