Ash Wednesday Provocation (day 1 of Lent)
Word for DAY 1 (Ash Wednesday) of Lent: WASTED AWAY.
This phrase comes from Psalm 32: 1-5, from the Narrative Lectionary associated with the first day of Lent. Throughout Lent, we will post words from each week’s scripture and music videos that address the themes raised by those phrases (lifted from the context of the Biblical passage).
Below we share two videos that connect to the idea of WASTED AWAY. They both struggle with the value of human life, and measure it differently.
The words and images in this first country music video by military veteran Graham Trude are especially heavy and could be triggering, as they grapple with suicidality, so please **proceed with caution**. The lyrics and images also convey the truth of deep trauma and pain, and are searingly honest.
How would you respond to hearing someone in such pain?
Here is a second music video also called Wasted Away, featuring the work of rap artist Tinn Mann.
Lenten Reflection Day 11 (Mar 4): HEAVY UPON ME (from Psalm 32).
SONG: Heavy On Me by Whiskey Myers: https://youtu.be/82hlHPy4Oc8
POEM: William Shakespeare: Sonnet 50 (excerpt): How heavy do I journey on the way, When what I seek, my weary travel’s end …
QUOTE: W.B. Yeats: And heavy mortal hopes that toil and pass …
Lenten Reflection Day 10 (Mar 3): HIDING PLACE (from Psalm 32).
SONG: You Are My Hiding Place by Selah: https://youtu.be/uUx2WcC9JKo
POEM: Olga Orozco: My most beautiful hiding places, places that best fit my soul’s deepest colors, are made of all that others forgot.
QUOTE: Zora Neale Hurston: Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.
Lenten Reflection Day 9 (Mar 2): CONFESS (from Psalm 32).
SONG: Confession by Florida Georgia Line: https://youtu.be/vwkYxPpmEPE
POEM: Abraham Cowley: Writeen in Lemon Juice (excerpt): Go then, but reverently go, And, since thou needs must sin, confess it too: Confess 't, and with humility …
QUOTE: Ralph Waldo Emerson: People do not seem to realise that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character.
Lenten Reflection Day 8 (Mar 1): ACKNOWLEDGE (from Psalm 32).
SONG: Acknowledge Me by Prince: https://youtu.be/zrgP_4r54_I
POEM: Jen Tynes: After Tagging the Dust Your Body Is Made Of (excerpt): … Electricity changes, there is no body to acknowledge through touch, I fling forward past my desires …
QUOTE: Brene Brown: Shame, blame, disrespect, betrayal, and the withholding of affection damage the roots from which love grows. Love can only survive these injuries if they are acknowledged, healed …