From Dust to Hope

Ash Wednesday, which begins the season of Lent, is one of the oldest observances in the Christian calendar. Its roots stretch deep into Scripture and even deeper into the human instinct to mark repentance and mortality with visible signs.

In the Old Testament, ashes symbolized grief, humility, and repentance before God. When disaster loomed, people clothed themselves in sackcloth and sat in ashes. In Daniel 9:3, Daniel turns toward the Lord “with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.” In Jonah 3:6, the king of Nineveh rises from his throne, removes his robe, and sits in ashes as a sign of repentance. Ashes signified honesty before God — a recognition of human limitation and dependence.

The Christian season of Lent emerged in the 4th century as the early church developed a 40-day period of preparation for Easter, echoing Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1–11). Originally, Lent was primarily a time of preparation for catechumens — new believers preparing for baptism at Easter. Gradually, the church embraced the season as one of communal reflection, repentance, prayer, and fasting.

The specific practice of imposing ashes on the first day of Lent became common in Western Christianity by the 10th century. In 1091, the Council of Benevento formally commended the use of ashes throughout the Roman Church. Traditionally, the ashes are created from the palm branches used the previous year on Palm Sunday — a reminder that cries of “Hosanna!” can turn into cries of “Crucify him!"

When ashes are placed on the forehead in the shape of a cross, worshipers typically hear one of two biblical sentences: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19), or, “Repent, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15).

One names our mortality; the other names our hope.

Ash Wednesday confronts something modern life often avoids: We are finite. We are dust. Yet Scripture tells us more than that. In Genesis 2:7, God forms humanity from the dust of the ground and breathes into it the breath of life. Dust becomes living soul when God breathes.

Ash Wednesday is not meant to be morbid. It is meant to be clarifying.

During the Reformation, some Protestant traditions stepped away from Ash Wednesday, wary of practices that might feel compulsory or transactional. In recent decades, however, many Presbyterian and other Protestant congregations have rediscovered the day as a meaningful invitation into the Lenten journey — not as obligation, but as grace.

While Cedar Creek is not hosting an Ash Wednesday service this year, many congregations in our area will gather for prayer and the imposition of ashes. If you feel led to attend one, consider it an opportunity not to prove anything, but simply to pause and remember.

Lent does not begin with self-improvement. It begins with honesty: You are dust. You are mortal. And you are held by a God who still breathes life into dust.