Ash Wednesday A Reminder of God’s Grace For Us

As we have celebrated Ash Wednesday this week at Chapel, our focus has been on God’s grace for us.  The ashes traditionally made from the palms used in the Palm Sunday service the week before, remind us of our mortality and our propensity to sin against God and other people. The ashes remind us of our earthiness and dependence on God for forgiveness. Most importantly they remind us of the great hope we have through God’s grace.

Ashes are placed on people in the shape of a cross. The cross points us to Easter and the strong hope we have through Jesus’s death and resurrection. The cross is a strong reminder of God’s unconditional love for us and His promise to forgive us. There is a freedom that comes from letting go of the striving that comes through our daily lives and to simply sit before God humbly as part of his creation. We are renewed as we turn to God and ask for forgiveness and begin each moment anew freed by His grace and strengthened by His love.