‘Dust to dust, ashes to ashes’ say the traditional words of a funeral service, starkly reminding us that on our death we return to the earth – or rather the atoms, electronics, matter, call it what you will – from which we were originally formed. Yet for the Christian that is not the whole story, for just as we believe God metaphorically fashioned us out of dust to first give us life, so we believe we shall be given life again – life that will never fade or perish. That’s the theme of this reflective prayer from my book Touching Down, which takes as its starting point a neglected house in need of a good dusting down.
The dust
It lay everywhere –
thick upon each surface,
and in each nook and cranny of the house –
a sombre reminder of the fate we share:
our striving and dreams,
our very self,
destined to turn to dust.
Yet from the dust of the earth, Lord,
you fashioned our bodies and gave us life.
And though to the ground we return –
dust to dust,
ashes to ashes –
you promise us new beginnings:
love that will neither fade nor perish,
a kingdom that never ends.
Let us speak, then, not of death and decay,
but of your new creation,
life for evermore.
Amen.