Into the Desert: Intro & Week 1

// Introduction

Lent is a sacred season of prayer, fasting, and contemplation. It is observed over the course of 40 days (not including Sundays) as a way of honoring and reflecting upon Jesus' time in the wilderness. It is a period where many Christians choose to give up something as a way of connecting to Jesus' own suffering and sacrifices as he faced trial and temptation in the desert.

The practice of fasting and self-moderation are valuable and meaningful ways of engaging this season. Yet, Lent calls us to much more. While Jesus was tempted in the desert, he also found in the wilderness quiet, stillness, space for deep reflection and an opportunity to prepare for all that was to come in his life and ministry.

Theologian Belden Lane reminds us, "The desert asks two questions: What do you learn to ignore? And what do you learn to love? In other words, how do you let go, and what do you hold onto?"

Into the Desert is a Lenten series encouraging you to engage those questions as we explore together the sacred lessons of the wild and the Divine call to mindfulness, curiosity, adventure, and compassionate care of creation.

We know that every individual learns and grows in unique, beautiful ways. As such, each week, we’ll offer a short reflection to accompany 4 curated resources: A long essay, a shorter essay, a poem, and a video - . You're invited to engage whichever of these resources you feel comfortable with and led to. On Thursdays, we’ll host a Zoom call to dig deeper together into the themes and lessons revealed in the week's resources. Email for details.

Week 1 | From the Beginning

“Remember that you are earth, and to earth you shall return...”
— Genesis 3:19

While we receive the smudge of ash on our forehead and feel the gentle itch of it settling in our skin, how often do we stop to consider the words uttered as the rite is observed? Dust to Dust? This line is drawn from Genesis and is tied deeply to our cosmology and creation narratives.

The term in this passage that has commonly been translated as "dust" is עָפָר or "aphar". This is the same term that is used in Genesis 2:7 as it describes God reaching down to the Earth, scraping up a handful of soil, breathing life into this "Adamah", and setting humanity on its feet. Quite literally, scripture tells us that God formed humankind from the dirt. In that same spirit, the blessing of Ash Wednesday reminds us that, from the very beginning, Earth has been part of our very being.

Dust to Dust.

Earth to Earth.

This Ash Wednesday, consider the significance of that message.

// Resources

"This is part of how we say, “I love you. I love the way you help me live in the world..."

"Go out and get your hands dirty. Serve the land in reciprocity...This is not some sort of neopagan idea. It’s a biblical calling."

  • Shorter Read: "Look to Indigenous peoples to revive true biblical ecology" by Damian Costello in US Catholic

"What a gift, to touch the past to our foreheads, to hear in the quiet a love song beyond all imagining, to find ourselves both compost and cosmos."

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do / with your one wild and precious life?"

// Questions for Going Deeper

  1. How does using the term "earth" in place of "dust" change our understanding of Ash Wednesday?

  2. The creation narrative emphasizes humanity's kinship to earth and all creatures. How does this calls us to act and move in the world? Are we living into that call?

  3. What does the particular language of the creation narrative reveal for you about God's nature?

Payton Hoegh