40 Days in the Wilderness, 40 Days mucking around in the dirt, in the sand, in the dust. Ash Wednesday and we are tossed into Lent, hitting the ground in a pile of smoke and dust. Lent is a journey, a journey through the wilderness, a journey towards to the waters of Baptism, a journey of discovering identity, a journey of reflection. In Lent, we move from place to place, from event to even as we prepare for the cross. And by the Ashes of this day, we are reminded that this journey is fleeting, this journey of Lent, this journey of life. And by the Ashes of this day we die again. We die as dust and ash. As followers of Christ we die often. We die in Baptism, and from then on we die daily to sin, and we are setting out on a wilderness journey toward death on a cross. Tonight, Ashes are placed on our forehead and we are reminded that we are dust, and we will return to dust.

Ashes are usually reminders of loss, reminders of finitude. Ashes are all the remain of our bodies long after we are dead. Ashes are often all that remain after a building burns down, or after a campfire. They make everything dirty, they carry with them a certain smell.

But today Ashes carry with them possibility. As we confess our sins, and as we are marked with Ashes, we also are reminded of our baptisms. We are told again of rebirth. Ashes are a symbol of death, but for us backwards Christians, death means New Life.

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