Doubly Marked

And so, they gather. 

With hastily washed foreheads, 

their disfigurement would not 

be a public spectacle. 

Yet, traces of ash remained. 

They were a people doubly marked. 

The first mark was a watermark, 

generously bestowed on many of them 

at an age when they don't remember. 

Time and again they hear the words, 

"Remember your baptism," 

assuring them that memory is more than 

what the mind retains. 

The second mark was the ash, 

one year oily; one year dry, 

each year a reminder 

in a solemn moment. 

"Remember you are dust, 

and to dust you shall return." 

And so, they gathered. 

A community of the doubly marked. 

Declared on one occasion 

"A beloved child of God." 

Declared on the other occasion,

"Mortal, finite, destined to die." 

Both are true and one is 

as inescapable as the other. 

And so, they gather. 

With varying degrees of 

doubt and certainty, 

pain and joy, 

confidence and fear, 

hope and despair, 

they gather. 

They gather under the spell 

of a biblical wisdom:  

It is only by embracing our 

sure and certain death 

that we begin to live.

And so, they gather.

A body, as it were, 

where each member is 

a microcosm of the cosmic truth:

In life and in death, we belong to God.