Ash Wednesday


I’m over my head it’s made a mess of me


But it keeps you coming back to the 
Way of love

 never stops on easy street


You’ve gotta walk through the muddy water to come clean

Dirty Hands Dirty Feet by Peter Mayer, R. Scott Bryan, Marc Torlina and Mac McAnally

Welcome to h2odevos, an online “community” of people from all around the world. I am Ron Glusenkamp and it is my pleasure to write these messages to you based on the lyrics and tunes of my good friend Peter Mayer. Cynthia Tanner sends them out to you via Constant Contact. Brenda Greenwald keeps the blog update to date, H2Odevos.blogspot.com  This year we welcome friends who are connected to Bread For the World. If you aren’t already acquainted with Bread For the World check out www.bread.org.  Sarah Godfrey who is the blog editor for Bread, will be sharing these devotions on their site.

It sounds counterintuitive, doesn’t it? “You’ve gotta walk through muddy water to come clean.”  So in order to reflect on life and all of its awesome possibilities, on this day we take sin and death very seriously. We hear the words spoken to Adam and Eve, “you are dust and to dust you shall return,” (Gen. 3:19) Ashes are smeared on our forehead. This liturgical action is called “the imposition of ashes.” It truly is an imposition because we would rather be thinking about spring training, or spring break or even “The Journey to the Tourney” rather than receiving a terminal diagnosis that we “dust and to dust we shall return.”

Whenever I hear Peter sing those words “You’ve gotta walk through the muddy water to come clean” I think of Naaman and Elisha (2 Kings 5:1-19). Naaman was a General in the King’s army. He was used to giving orders and having those orders obeyed. But, he had a terrible disease called leprosy. The prophet Elisha instructs him to bathe seven times in the Jordan River. Naaman is deeply offended by this ridiculous prescription. However, his staff remind him that if the prophet had instructed him to do something quite difficult he would have been open to do it. Naaman does as he is instructed and is healed by the God of Israel. “You’ve gotta walk through muddy water to come clean.”

King David was caught up in the scandal of his day called “Bathsheba-gate.” He had stolen another man’s wife (2 Samuel 12). The secrets, intrigue and politics of his time seem like a precursor to “House of Cards.” Tradition has it that after King David was confronted by the prophet Nathan regarding his sinfulness that he wrote Psalm 51 as his prayer of forgiveness.  Here’s a sound byte from his song,

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.

“You’ve gotta walk through muddy water to come clean.”

So, what part of you needs to go through the muddy water to come clean?

What’s going on in your life that needs to die in order that new life might blossom and grow?  Spend some time today thinking about that. This season, we will  be praying for one another as we make our way from ashes to alleluias.

Our theme for these devotions this Lent is “Mighty This Love”.

Peter sings,

“From the first bird of the morning
‘Till I lay me down the day


I walk this road and pray for light to show me the way

The heavy load I carry
My treasure and my loss


I weary and I fall who will hold me

Longer than shadows


Closer than emptiness


Oh…. Mighty this love
 Oh…. Mighty this love”

Blessings on your steps today to come clean. Be confident that there is a MIGHTY LOVE for you!

Peace,

Ron