By Ossie McKinney, Director of Research and Administration for Outreach and Growth, CBF Decatur, GA
“Then Esther spoke to Hathach and gave him a message for Mordecai, saying, ‘Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf … After that I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.’”
– Esther 4:13–16, NRSV
On Ash Wednesday, we hear the ancient words: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” It is a humbling truth. We are fragile. Finite. Made of the earth and destined to return to it. But there is another truth just as holy: dust can move.
Esther was dust. A young woman swept up in an empire that had no room for her voice, no regard for her people. When her cousin Mordecai sent word that the lives of the Jews were at stake, Esther did not rush into heroism. She paused. She fasted. She trembled. She resisted, at first, the terrifying call to confront power.
She knew what it meant to move before a king who could kill with a glance. She knew what it meant to speak when silence was safer. But Esther chose to move anyway.
Ash Wednesday does not call us to strength. It calls us to honest courage—the kind that knows its limits, feels its fear, and still shows up. Racial justice work requires that same courage. It asks us to speak hard truths, to risk reputation or comfort, to break generational silences, to confront systemic sin. It’s easier to stay still. It’s easier to say, “That’s not my fight,” or “Someone else will speak.” But God is always calling someone—maybe you—to move.
On this day of ashes, we remember: We are dust. But in God’s hands, dust has agency. Dust can fast. Dust can speak. Dust can rise.
Prayer: God who shaped us from the dust, Today we remember our mortality—but also your mercy. You moved through Esther’s trembling voice. You stirred your people to rise and speak across generations. Move through us. When the work of justice feels too heavy, When our voices shake, Remind us that we are dust— but dust that moves with you. Amen.
This passage is originally found in the 2026 Emmanuel McCall Lenten Devotional series, prepared by Cooperative Baptist Fellowship family and friends. Register to receive the daily devotional here.
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