Ashes to Ashes

We enter the season of Lent tomorrow through the door of Ash Wednesday. 

Memenot, homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris. “Remember, O human, that thou are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

This is not a gruesome reminder of the inevitability of our annihilation. It is an affirmation of our fleshly identity. We are children of this earth and creatures of soil. Our bodies came from this earth, and our bodies will return to this earth. And not only our bodies, but those of our enemies. Their power is limited. They, too, will end in dust. There is something comforting in this. 

While we are made from dust, we are also “Imago Dei”. Our very beings are interwoven with God, and each of us, while on this earth, are a small explosion of God’s glory. To God’s glory we will someday return, when our life on earth is over.

I would like to compare this acceptance of our fleshly finitude and hope for life after death against the goals of transhumanism. Transhuman- ism sees salvation for the human race, or for at least a remnant of the human race, in a symbiotic, human-AI partnership which interweaves our bodies and brains with AI capacities. Transhumanists, such as Elon Musk, are actively pushing against our human finitude and are working towards this symbiotic relationship between human beings and AI. Musk’s track record also reveals his disregard for the Imago Dei in all people. He is callously disregarding the needs of the poor, the stranger, and those on the margins of power. AI takes an incredible amount of material resources, particularly energy and water. I wonder who will be the recipients of this “salvation”? I wonder, what are his plans for the rest of us? 

It seems that one way we can care for and love this world is living with an acceptance of death and a hope for our new life in God after death. We don’t need to live forever on this earth. We don’t need to consume more and fulfill all our desires now. Abundance awaits us. We don’t need to eat from the tree of eternal life or consume even more knowledge from the tree of good and evil. We can be content with the dignity of being creatures of the dust, made in the image of God, living in biological kinship with other finite creatures. We don’t need to transcend our humanity. Humanity is beautiful as it is.

This year, the words we speak on Ash Wednesday, and the ashes on our forehead, feel like words of resistance to me. I celebrate that from ashes we came, and from ashes we will return. I celebrate the simple way of Jesus, who chose death and hoped for resurrected life beyond. I celebrate the image of God in you and in me.

Deep peace and blessing,
— Anne
Rev. Anne Baxter Smith
Pastor, Southpoint Church

P.S. During Lent, we’ll be drawing on Everything in Between: Meeting God in the Midst of Extremes; material from A Sanctified Art. 

Poem for Ash Wednesday,
Both, Please

It’s one thing to speak of love. It’s another
to hold a newborn in your arms,
to sing someone to sleep, 
to lean down and listen for their breathing.

It’s one thing to speak of faith. It’s another
to press your forehead to the floor,
to cry out in prayer,
to ask the hard questions and still thank God for the meal.

It’s one thing to speak of the Divine. It’s another
to walk under a tunnel of wisteria,
to stand barefoot at the edge of the sea, 
to hear the birds sing as the sun returns 
and whisper, Thank you, thank you, thank you.

It’s one thing and another, so I pray,
Give me both, please. Show me both, please.

—by Rev. Sarah Speed

New to Southpoint?

At Southpoint, it all begins with God’s love. Just as a plant grows, it receives sunshine, so we grow as we receive God’s love. At Southpoint, we are growing in our capacity to love God, ourselves, one another, and Creation.

We seek to be a community of grace that is intentional yet organic, spacious yet authentic, grace-filled yet accountable. * We are fully welcoming. *

We encourage relationships rather than run programs, yet we recognize the importance of intentionality and structure as we nurture life together.

As a community, we seek to put our love in action. We value helping out on Sunday mornings, sharing food, and showing up in hard times. We keep our church life simple so folk have time to build relationships with family, friends, and neighbours. We encourage folk to serve in tangible ways within the wider community. We rent space rather than own a building, allowing us to do more with less, supporting missions at home and abroad.

Curious to know more?

These six slides express what motivates our ministry (best viewed on a monitor). Here’s the bio of our Pastor, Rev. Anne Baxter Smith.

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