Title: Day 25 – Carbon Imago

Today’s Reading

“…you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19c)

Reflection piece

Carbon Imago

Remember that you are dust,

dust, born of a star at the origin of Earth,

born of light,

born of heaven,

born of the very breath of God.

Dust with so much potential,

beautiful and impenetrable as diamond,

sweetspun as sugar,

as wide and diverse as a strand of DNA.

Remember that you are space,

space, held together by blood — and by love,

held for grief,

held for joy,

held tight by the Holy Spirit.

Space that grows and grows and grows,

reaching, welcoming, not shrinking back,

warm and inimitable,

as ineffable and infinite as the night sky.

Remember that you are matter,

matter, tethered to the essence of Creation,

tethered to time,

tethered to humanity,

tethered to the broken bread and spilt wine.

Material in its hands and its feet,

working the clay of the most precious earth,

covered with stardust,

anointed by revival as the ashes of a phoenix.

Remember that you are dust.

Glorious, glorious dust.

Reader response

Take a few minutes to do a full body scan, noticing any points of tension or ease, any places of glory or shame. How might we more deeply experience the Divine in our physical bodies today? Is there any particular aspect of your body that you would like to more consciously appreciate?

Artwork | Steven Lee

Authors

  • Jason (he/him/his) is a Chinese American choral musician and composer currently living in Los Angeles. As a gay cisgender man and baby Episcopalian, he spends his spare time writing about the intersections between faith, sexuality, and race. When he’s not working on decolonizing his identity, he’s learning about languages and dreaming of becoming a polyglot.

  • Steven Lee (he/him/his) is an 20 year old, queer Taiwanese American. He has been doing fine art all his life, exploring digital art at Chapman University, and he also enjoys singing in choir and a cappella groups, playing violin and composing/arranging songs. Music, art, the love of Jesus, and sociology are the main focuses of his life, and he is dedicated to connecting the four of them in unifying and healing this world’s injustices along with others like-minded. A recent passion of his is photography, in which his goal is to redefine social norms through imagery that empowers, recontextualizes, and normalizes all people.