"Dust you are and to dust you shall return."

Normally these words are spoken at the graveside committal of a Christian reminding everyone present of our mortality. These words take us back to the garden and Adam's sin and fall from grace. There God promised if he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that he and Eve would die. Through Satan's tempting they ate and even though it was hundreds of years later, the bible records for us the death of Adam. And it has been the same with every human born since, because dust we are and to dust we shall return.

Yet, in our busy American lives how often do we pause and contemplate our own death's? How many of us have created wills, discussed end of life issues with our children, or even made arrangements for our funerals with a funeral director or pastor? The truth of the matter is that not many of us have done any of these things for a variety of reasons. I believe the biggest is that we don't want to admit to ourselves that one day we will die. Then the church thrusts into our lives a day that forces us to think about our own deaths. This day, Ash Wednesday, can be very depressing if it is not understood in its proper context.

On Ash Wednesday Christians gather in church and after a time of personal reflection, come to God's altar and humbly kneel and receive God's verdict upon our lives. "Dust you are and to dust you shall return"... a pronouncement of our own sins. A connection of our own lives to Adam's fall and our own deaths. Yet, the pastor does not place the ashes on in any old manner. Like the words, there is meaning in the ashes. They are taken from the Palm branches used on Palm/Passion Sunday the previous year, reminding us of Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem. The ashes are applied to the forehead in the shape of cross reminding us that even though we may die, we have life through Jesus death and resurrection. They are placed upon the forehead taking the baptized back to their own baptisms were, through water and the Word, they were marked as one redeemed by Christ the crucified.

On Ash Wednesday the season of Lent begins and for many it is a time of deep personal and spiritual reflection. I would encourage everyone to take these 40 days and think about you own mortality. Make arrangements with family, funeral directors, and pastors for your funeral. Think about the legacy of faith that you are leaving behind for your family. But most of all, remember the cross of Christ has the final word. For dust you are and to dust you shall return.... And through faith in Christ you shall live again.