Ash Wednesday is the first day of the season of Lent. During an Ash Wednesday service, ashes are put on the forehead of the Christian as a sign of repentance. In the Old Testament, ashes were often used as a sign of Israel’s need for repentance following their sin as a nation.
What is an ash? An ash is the residue of that which once was. It is the leftover after having been burned. What remains, the ash, is unable to make itself whole again. On Ash Wednesday, one comes forward to have ashes placed on their forehead as a reminder of their mortality, but also as a symbol of each person’s need to be made whole again. The person who comes forward realizes that without God we are an ash. We have simply become the residue of what sin has done to our lives. We need someone to help, someone to restore, someone to make us whole. The ash is placed on one’s forehead in the sign of a cross. When a person leaves the Ash Wednesday service, the ashes in the sign of a cross are on their forehead as a reminder of something. The ashes now have also become a reminder of God’s love, God’s restoring power, God’s goodness, God’s wholeness. That God has done something for the person that he/she could not do for themselves. Alone we are simply the residue of what sin has done to our lives. We are the “leftovers” of our hurtful actions, words, thoughts, and deeds. The cross on our forehead is a reminder of what God, our creator and redeemer, has done when we “confess our sin” and allow him to “make all things new”. We leave the Ash Wednesday service reminded that though we are but ashes and dust ourselves (Genesis 3:19), we serve and place our faith in a God who is in the business of restoring lives, giving hope, and putting us on the right path in our pilgrimage of faith.
God offers a restored life to each one of us today and at this very moment. Although we are “mere dust” (mere ash), the cross points us to God’s love and redemption. Allow the cross to transform your life, your head, and your heart. Experience the miracle of restoration and redemption (from the residue of sin), and being placed on a new path which leads to both abundant and eternal life.
Written by Pastor Joe Collins
Written by Pastor Joe Collins
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