Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a season of reflection and penitence that precedes the celebration of Christ’s resurrection at Easter. We mark our foreheads with the sign of the cross as an outward and visible sign of our repentance.  We gather on Ash Wednesday to remind ourselves that we are both dust and spirit, which has been breathed into us by our Creating God. In the 6th century, the church began a ritual at the beginning of the Lenten season, imposing ashes made from the previous year’s Palm Sunday palm branches as a reminder that God created us from dust and to dust, we will return. In between the clay of creation and the dust of death is a life worth living and living fully. Ash Wednesday is an important reminder that God will create a faithful spirit deep within us. The ash upon our foreheads invites us to open our hearts and be reconciled to self, others, and to our God.