Ash Wednesday Worship Service

Ashes symbolize several aspects of our human existence:
– Ashes remind us of God’s condemnation of sin, as God said to Adam, “Dust you
are and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19).
– Ashes suggest cleansing and renewal. They were used anciently in the absence of soap. Even on Ash Wednesday, this most penitential day, we receive ashes in the form of the cross, the same symbol placed on our bodies with water in our
baptism. Even in this ashen mark of death, we anticipate the new life of Easter.
– Ashes remind us of the shortness of human life, for it is said as we are buried into the ground or as ashes are placed in a columbarium. “We commit this body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust” (Evangelical Lutheran Worship, p. 284).
– Ashes are a symbol of our need to repent, confess our sins, and return to God.