Ash Wednesday

So here we are at the beginning of lent. Ash Wednesday. Why ashes. There is no specific inaugural event in the Bible for the use of ashes. However the people of that part of the world would sit in piles of ashes or pour them over their heads and wear "sackcloth" as a sign of their sorrow. Sorrow at their losses as Job did, or sorrow for their sins as the Ninevites did when Jonah told them of their sins. Therefore, at the beginning of this lenten season we accept the ashes upon our foreheads as a sign that we are truly sorry for the sins we have committed, the good deeds we have failed to commit, the thoughts we have that are less than holy. But we don't just smudge the ashes on our foreheads in a meaningless blob, rather they are placed there in the sign of the cross. The sign of Jesus's death - His death which wiped away all of our sins. The sign of our sorrow for our sins (the ashes) is reshaped into the sign of our forgiveness (the cross). Forgiveness that existed even before we sinned. Forgiveness that was just waiting for our confession to pour out upon us.