ASH WEDNESDAY WILL NEVER BE THE SAME

Ash Wednesday this year was delightful. I know: It's supposed to be solemn, reverent, penitential -- anything but a delight. But God's humor prevails even on fast days. Back at the end of January I wrote in my blog:
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SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 2006
STAR STUFF AND STARLIGHT

Scientist Carl Sagan said, “We are made of star stuff.” I love that. I’ve loved the idea since I first heard it, some years ago.

Well, it makes sense. What else would we be made of but the basic elements that make up the universe? . . .

Most of what I read about Sagan’s “star stuff” was way over my head, but I came upon a description of DNA as giving off light, and shedding more light when it was unwound. The author describes that swirl of light as functioning as a “tuning fork” for the body, striking a species-specific frequency to which all the body’s cells align.

Stars are made of the basic elements, and stars give off light. If we are indeed made of star stuff, I’d like to think that the light in our DNA is starlight, that the light of the universe is within us.

May starlight shine in all of us and give us hope.
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That was written over a month ago, so I wasn't thinking about Star Stuff as I went forward in the Ash Wednesday service for the imposition of ashes. Then Hal (our priest) looked me squarely in the eye and said, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." And I'm sure my expression suddenly glowed with delight. Not exactly what he might have been expecting, given the solemnity of his pronouncement. But you can imagine what I was thinking, "Yes! Star dust!" Ash Wednesday will never be the same for me.