GOD formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7)

If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. (Romans 14:8)

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent (March 1, 2017). Our church has a worship service (6:30 p.m.) to mark each person’s forehead with a sign of the cross made in ashes.  In the Bible, ashes are a sign of frailty, humility, repentance, sorrow, mourning, cleansing and renewal.  In ancient cultures, a mixture of ash and water was a cleanser.  As ashes we are marked with ashes, we hear, “remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.”  These words echo words from the service for the burial of the dead and final committal “earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” We are also marked with the cross & oil at our baptisms.  We are marked with the cross for all our beginnings and endings in life.

Share with your family (or someone else!) what the sign of the cross (in ashes) means to you.