{"id":4892,"date":"2025-03-04T11:18:42","date_gmt":"2025-03-04T17:18:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/?p=4892"},"modified":"2025-03-04T11:18:42","modified_gmt":"2025-03-04T17:18:42","slug":"mud-on-my-boots-on-ash-wednesday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/mud-on-my-boots-on-ash-wednesday\/","title":{"rendered":"Mud on my Boots on Ash Wednesday"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Cleaning the mud off my boots after a recent flood response, I noticed the grittiness of it.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">It reminded me of preparing the ashes for Ash Wednesday. Burning last year\u2019s celebratory palms, sieving them fine, mixing them with oil.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">I see the impermanence of things, of even life itself, in the mud and ashes.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ash Wednesday, a day when we acknowledge our mortality and our own return to dust.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mucking out after a flood, removing what was once treasure that has now become trash.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Too often we overlook the physicality of the Christian faith in our anticipation of Heaven. We focus on the promise of our spiritual future, and, yes, that will be a wonderful thing. No more tears and reunions of all sorts. Wholeness that we can only wonder and dream about.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">And yet, though we worship and celebrate God With Us, a peculiar God that took on the stuff of their own creation to be with their creation, we sometimes forget that there is more to the promise than \u201cpie in the sky, by and by\u201d.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Kingdom of God is now, in the wine and bread, in the water and ashes, in our call to serve and love our neighbor.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Kingdom of God is even found in flood mud.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">No, really.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">When we are more like Christ, do we become more human or less?<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">I believe we become more human, specifically, we become the humanity that God hoped we would be. Loving, caring, invested in one another\u2019s well-being. Trusting in the abundance of God.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Watch what happens after a flood. Neighbors take each other in and make sure everyone is accounted for. Strangers show up to clean out houses, to offer hugs and listening hearts. Food is shared. Help is accepted and reciprocated. Communities mourn their losses as communities.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">To quote a recent Welch, WV flood survivor: \u201cWe become human again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">When we take on the ashes of Ash Wednesday or the mud from another flood, we become human again. We recognize our place in the Kingdom; we accept the invitation to participate in it.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return. Now, go out there and get muddy.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\n<em>Reverend Deacon Mary Sanders and serves as a minister of word and service in West Virginia and western Maryland. Prior to seminary, she served as an environmental inspector for the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. Her sense of call is to serve the people and environment of Appalachia. She lives on her great grandma\u2019s farm with two dogs and two cats and is surreptitiously planting a food forest around her cabin.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cleaning the mud off my boots after a recent flood response, I noticed the grittiness of it. It reminded me of preparing the ashes for Ash Wednesday. Burning last year\u2019s celebratory palms, sieving them fine, mixing them with oil. I see the impermanence of things, of even life itself, in the mud and ashes. Ash [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":4894,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[28139,56,52,143,28140,28138,6807],"class_list":["post-4892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-post","tag-ash-wednesday","tag-elca","tag-elca-disaster-response","tag-flood","tag-ldr","tag-lent","tag-lutheran-disaster-response"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Mud on my Boots on Ash Wednesday - Lutheran Disaster Response<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On Ash Wednesday, Reverend Deacon Mary Sanders considers the mud on her boots collected during a recent flood response.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/mud-on-my-boots-on-ash-wednesday\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mud on my Boots on Ash Wednesday - Lutheran Disaster Response\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On Ash Wednesday, Reverend Deacon Mary Sanders considers the mud on her boots collected during a recent flood response.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/mud-on-my-boots-on-ash-wednesday\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lutheran Disaster Response\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-04T17:18:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/03\/Flood-Cleanup-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1793\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"seancoffman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"seancoffman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/disasterresponse\\\/mud-on-my-boots-on-ash-wednesday\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/disasterresponse\\\/mud-on-my-boots-on-ash-wednesday\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"seancoffman\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/disasterresponse\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0cb67eeb198ad0f461a86628a676735a\"},\"headline\":\"Mud on my Boots on Ash Wednesday\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-04T17:18:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/disasterresponse\\\/mud-on-my-boots-on-ash-wednesday\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":450,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/disasterresponse\\\/mud-on-my-boots-on-ash-wednesday\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/disasterresponse\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/37\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/Flood-Cleanup-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Ash Wednesday\",\"ELCA\",\"ELCA Disaster Response\",\"Flood\",\"LDR\",\"Lent\",\"Lutheran Disaster Response\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Post\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/disasterresponse\\\/mud-on-my-boots-on-ash-wednesday\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/disasterresponse\\\/mud-on-my-boots-on-ash-wednesday\\\/\",\"name\":\"Mud on my Boots on Ash Wednesday - Lutheran Disaster Response\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/disasterresponse\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/disasterresponse\\\/mud-on-my-boots-on-ash-wednesday\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/disasterresponse\\\/mud-on-my-boots-on-ash-wednesday\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/disasterresponse\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/37\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/Flood-Cleanup-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-04T17:18:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/disasterresponse\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0cb67eeb198ad0f461a86628a676735a\"},\"description\":\"On Ash Wednesday, Reverend Deacon Mary Sanders considers the mud on her boots collected during a recent flood response.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/disasterresponse\\\/mud-on-my-boots-on-ash-wednesday\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/disasterresponse\\\/mud-on-my-boots-on-ash-wednesday\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/disasterresponse\\\/mud-on-my-boots-on-ash-wednesday\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/disasterresponse\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/37\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/Flood-Cleanup-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/disasterresponse\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/37\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/Flood-Cleanup-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1793},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/disasterresponse\\\/mud-on-my-boots-on-ash-wednesday\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/disasterresponse\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mud on my Boots on Ash Wednesday\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/disasterresponse\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/disasterresponse\\\/\",\"name\":\"Lutheran Disaster Response\",\"description\":\"Lutheran Disaster Response shares hope, healing and renewal with people before, during and after disasters.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/disasterresponse\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/disasterresponse\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0cb67eeb198ad0f461a86628a676735a\",\"name\":\"seancoffman\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a74cd1c0fc816d39544dce06ad7bf0252b2106348e6bc45b95863c97d63136f7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a74cd1c0fc816d39544dce06ad7bf0252b2106348e6bc45b95863c97d63136f7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a74cd1c0fc816d39544dce06ad7bf0252b2106348e6bc45b95863c97d63136f7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"seancoffman\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/disasterresponse\\\/author\\\/seancoffman\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mud on my Boots on Ash Wednesday - Lutheran Disaster Response","description":"On Ash Wednesday, Reverend Deacon Mary Sanders considers the mud on her boots collected during a recent flood response.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/mud-on-my-boots-on-ash-wednesday\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mud on my Boots on Ash Wednesday - Lutheran Disaster Response","og_description":"On Ash Wednesday, Reverend Deacon Mary Sanders considers the mud on her boots collected during a recent flood response.","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/mud-on-my-boots-on-ash-wednesday\/","og_site_name":"Lutheran Disaster Response","article_published_time":"2025-03-04T17:18:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1793,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/03\/Flood-Cleanup-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"seancoffman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"seancoffman","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/mud-on-my-boots-on-ash-wednesday\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/mud-on-my-boots-on-ash-wednesday\/"},"author":{"name":"seancoffman","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/#\/schema\/person\/0cb67eeb198ad0f461a86628a676735a"},"headline":"Mud on my Boots on Ash Wednesday","datePublished":"2025-03-04T17:18:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/mud-on-my-boots-on-ash-wednesday\/"},"wordCount":450,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/mud-on-my-boots-on-ash-wednesday\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/03\/Flood-Cleanup-scaled.jpg","keywords":["Ash Wednesday","ELCA","ELCA Disaster Response","Flood","LDR","Lent","Lutheran Disaster Response"],"articleSection":["Post"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/mud-on-my-boots-on-ash-wednesday\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/mud-on-my-boots-on-ash-wednesday\/","name":"Mud on my Boots on Ash Wednesday - Lutheran Disaster Response","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/mud-on-my-boots-on-ash-wednesday\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/mud-on-my-boots-on-ash-wednesday\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/03\/Flood-Cleanup-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2025-03-04T17:18:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/#\/schema\/person\/0cb67eeb198ad0f461a86628a676735a"},"description":"On Ash Wednesday, Reverend Deacon Mary Sanders considers the mud on her boots collected during a recent flood response.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/mud-on-my-boots-on-ash-wednesday\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/mud-on-my-boots-on-ash-wednesday\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/mud-on-my-boots-on-ash-wednesday\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/03\/Flood-Cleanup-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/03\/Flood-Cleanup-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1793},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/mud-on-my-boots-on-ash-wednesday\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mud on my Boots on Ash Wednesday"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/","name":"Lutheran Disaster Response","description":"Lutheran Disaster Response shares hope, healing and renewal with people before, during and after disasters.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/#\/schema\/person\/0cb67eeb198ad0f461a86628a676735a","name":"seancoffman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a74cd1c0fc816d39544dce06ad7bf0252b2106348e6bc45b95863c97d63136f7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a74cd1c0fc816d39544dce06ad7bf0252b2106348e6bc45b95863c97d63136f7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a74cd1c0fc816d39544dce06ad7bf0252b2106348e6bc45b95863c97d63136f7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"seancoffman"},"url":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/author\/seancoffman\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4892"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4896,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4892\/revisions\/4896"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/disasterresponse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}