Beautiful Headdress Instead of Ashes
As a Chaplain at a children's hospital, there are numerous days when I come home from work with a renown sense of my own depravity. That God would use this ragamuffin, this hypocritical woman to bring hope and comfort to those in the depths of grief and anxiety despite my own self. But the one thing about truly knowing that we all fall desperately short in righteousness, is that the visceral understanding of grace and the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives is unmistakeable.
When praying in spirit, imploring God for discernment, and the Holy Spirit to comfort or give wisdom to the hurting people before me, it is in those moments when all my short-comings and sin have purpose.
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to grant those who mourn Zion--
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.
They shall build up the ancient ruins;
they shall raise up former devastation;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devestations of many generations. Isaiah 61:1-4
In my living room, I have an eight foot tall painting of an Aztec warrior. He exudes a sense of strength, yet he is kneeling on one knee in reverence for something. The headdress he wears symbolizes his rank, his purpose, and his place among the tribe. It is also an outward symbol to his enemies of his place in the world.
God has replaced the mourning and the ritual of ashes on our foreheads with a beautiful headdress. The darkness of the pit of depravity and shame has been replaced with joy and an assurance that we are loved beyond measure. The sin in the world that kept us blind to God's presence has fallen away like shales and we now have the vision of Light in the darkness.
We are anointed to bring hope, to bring joy, to comfort, to proclaim liberty, to bring justice, to repair the devastation of generations, to raise up, to call one another strong oaks, and to open the prison of those who are bound. In an area of the world where only the enslavers wore elegant headdresses, God has shown us time and time again that we are called to a holy priesthood, a royal family, a place of being where all are brought before the feet of the holy and called beautiful.
There may be times when our place in the world has been crowded with the thoughts of "I am not good enough" or "why me?" It is during those moments of mourning when grasping onto what is good in the world can take all our energy....these are the times to know that the joy will come in the morning. That our headdress is there and waiting. And we are called to place that beauty on those around us, to bring beauty to those who are suffering and to lift them up.
For we are a royal priesthood.
