Coronavirus Response

  • Home
  • A-Z List
  • About
    • About the NCC
    • Connectional Table
    • Staff
  • Calendar
    • Events
    • Google Calendar
    • Past Events
  • Churches
  • Contact
    • Find Us
  • Districts
    • District Office
    • Beacon
    • Capital
    • Corridor
    • Fairway
    • Gateway
    • Harbor
    • Heritage
    • Sound
  • Employment
  • Search

NC Conference

Healthy Congregations and Effective Leaders in Every Place Making Disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World

  • Discipleship
    Developing Disciples
    • Christian Formation
      • Children
      • Church & Society
      • College
      • Differently Abled Persons
      • Educational Ministries
      • Older Adults
      • Status & Role of Women
      • Young Adults
      • Youth
    • Church Revitalization
      • Coaching
      • Disciple Making Way
      • Evangelism
      • Grants
      • MissionInsite
      • Real Discipleship Survey
      • Shift
      • Spiritual Life
    • From the Bishop
      • Bishop’s Bookshelf
      • Bishop’s Sermons
      • Church Transformation
      • Conflict Transformation
      • Connections
      • Discipleship & Learning Plan
    • Multicultural
      • Asian
      • Hispanic/Latino
      • Native American
      • Strengthening the Black Church
    • Stewardship
      • Apportionments
      • District Remittances
      • Financial Discipleship
      • Grants
      • Insurance
      • Mission & Service
      • Pension
      • Treasurer Training
  • Leadership
    Strengthening Leaders
    • Bishop’s Office
      • Appointment Book
      • Bishop’s Sermons
      • Church Transformation
      • Conflict Transformation
      • Connections
      • Discipleship & Learning Plan
    • Ministerial Relations
      • Board of Ordained Ministry
      • Called to Ministry?
      • Extension Ministries
    • Board of Laity
      • Certified Lay Minister
      • Lay Servant Ministries
      • Local Church Lay Leaders
      • United Methodist Men
      • United Methodist Women
      • United Methodist Youth
    • New Faith Comm.
      • Called to Plant?
      • New Room Society
      • Our Communities
    • Conference Offices
      • Center for Leadership Excellence
      • Christian Formation
      • Communications
      • Conference Secretary
      • Connectional Ministries
      • Information Technology
      • Multicultural Ministries
      • Outreach Ministry
      • Treasurer’s Office
  • Service
    Ministering To The World
    • Local Outreach
      • Church Construction
      • Church Loans
      • Restorative Justice and Mercy
      • Disciple Bible Outreach
      • NCC UMVIM
      • Seed Funds
      • Mission Projects
        • Health Ministry
    • Global Outreach
      • Imagine No Malaria
      • Love for Liberia
      • Missionaries
      • Project AGAPE
      • Sierra Leone: Mission of Hope
      • ZOE
    • Disaster Ministries
      • Donate to Storm Response
      • Hurricane Florence
      • MERCI
      • Response Plan
      • Response Team
      • UMCOR Kits
    • Giving
      • Advance/Rainbow Covenant
      • Apportionments
      • Give to Storm Response
      • Mission & Service
      • The Gary Wayne Locklear Mission Endowment
      • New Room Society
      • Special Sundays
    • Ministry Partners
      • Camps & Retreats
      • Partners In Ministry
      • Robeson Co. Church & CC
      • UMF
  • Resources
    Supporting Ministry
    • Conferences
      • Annual Conference 2019
      • Annual Conference 2020
      • Charge Conference 2020
      • General Conference
      • Pilgrimage
      • SEJ Conference 2016
    • Media Center
      • Catalog
      • Labyrinth
      • Ministry Tools
      • Online Resources
      • Weekly Newsletter
    • Online Resources
      • Archives & History
      • Church Lookup
      • Online Data Collection
      • Online Learning
      • Pastor Lookup
      • Podcasts (NCCUMC.FM)
      • Ramus: Web Hosting
      • Video (Vimeo)
    • Publications
      • Advent 2020
      • Appointment Book
      • Bible Study
      • Conference Directory
      • Conference Journal
      • Every Day Grace
      • Lenten Reflections
      • Mission & Service
    • From UMC.org
      • Agencies
      • Communications
      • Discipleship
      • Finance & Administration
      • Global Ministries
      • Graphics Library
      • Relief
      • Status & Role of Women
  • Creation Care
  • Redeeming Creation Conference
  • Become a Green Church
  • Upcoming Events
    • Video Archive
    • Introduction to Creation Care
    • Zero Waste and Becoming Good Soil
    • Hospitable Planet
    • Energy Usage
    • Creation Care: A Youth Perspective
    • Environmental Injustice: A History
    • Drawdown
  • Latest Posts
  • Resources

Ash Wednesday from the Compost Heap

February 15, 2021 Leave a Comment

Consider the almighty compost pile. Here is where we pitch things that we do not want, that we cannot use, that will rot and stink up our homes and attract critters that we would rather were not in our homes. Here is a banana peel, there an apple core, here some coffee grounds, there the trimmings of a bell pepper. We add to it dry, dead leaves and the scrapings of the chicken coop and our bagged up grass clippings. In short, the compost pile is all that dirty, filthy stuff we don’t want near us.

And there, in the midst of those filthy discards, the miracle happens. Unseen forces work on that rubbish. Rot and decay set in and tear it all apart, tear it down, destroy it until it is no longer recognizable, until you cannot pick out a single banana peel or leaf. And before too long, all that is left of that filth and decay and discarded refuse is the blackest, richest, healthiest fertilizer you could ask for. From all that death and discard and rot, there is life.

Dirt is a miracle.

When something dies, we return it to the ground, either whole or as ashes. That has been the custom of humanity since God created us, it seems. God informs Adam rather bluntly, “You are from the dust, and to the dust you will return.” There is no escaping the dirt.

But what if God did not intend us to see dirt as the end?

When Jesus was crucified, they laid his body in a tomb; they returned it to the dirt, the dust. But it wasn’t long after that when life sprang up out of that dirt, out of that decay, out of that death! Resurrection did not happen until after Jesus laid down his life.

Jesus seems to be very mindful of the truth of this. In John 12:24 and 25, Jesus says, “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

It is only what we lay down in the dirt, what we cast off, what we allow to die or even force to die, that will be resurrected.

On Ash Wednesday, we repent in sorrow and ashes not because there is redemption in our contrition, but because there is redemption through our contrition. We cast aside the dirty things in our lives, the things that will sicken us if we cling to them, the things that will poison us if we hold them tightly, the sin that will be our death if we refuse to let it go. We even cast ourselves aside. We place ourselves in the dirt, the place where dead things go, because only then can we experience resurrection.

This is an excerpt from a blog post originally published on February 14, 2018, titled “From the Dirt.” The original post can be found here.

Filed Under: General

Contact Us

Questions about Creation Care? Contact Rev. Jarrod Davis at jdavis@nccumc.org.

NC Conference of The United Methodist Church · 700 Waterfield Ridge Place · Garner, NC 27529
Phone: 919.779.6115 · Toll-free: 800.849.4433 · Fax: 919.773.2308

Copyright © 2021 · Privacy Policy · Powered by WordPress · Site Admin

  • Español
  • 한국어