Once We Sang and Danced

Once we sang and danced with gladness;
once delight filled every breath;
now we sit among the ashes,
all our dreams destroyed by death.

All the willows bow in weeping,
all the rivers rage and moan,
as creation joins the pleading:
“God, do not leave us alone.”

God who came to dwell among us,
God, who suffered our disgrace,
from your own heart, grieved and wounded,
come the riches of your grace.

Come, O Christ, among the ashes,
come to wipe our tears away,
death destroy and sorrow banish;
now and always, come and stay.

This is the text from closing hymn at the Ash Wednesday service Aaron and I attended last night. I sobbed through the hymn as I thought about Jessica Marie Larson, Aaron’s 25 year old cousin who lost her battle with cancer at 5:05am that morning. The hymn has become my prayer.