Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent.  Services for Ash Wednesday tend to be small, intimate gatherings in the United Methodist tradition.  Many of us didn't grow up with the tradition of receiving ashes on Ash Wednesday.   Yet, there is power in reclaiming this spiritual practice. 

The ashes imposed on our foreheads (or the back of our hands) remind us of our frailty and dependence on God.  They remind us that we are mortal, that we are not God.  All of us will die.  All of us will return to the dust. 

While this is a rather stark reality, it is the truth.  But it is not the whole truth.  Our physical bodies will decay, but our spiritual selves will live on through God's forgiveness and grace.  God loves us, dust and all.  Because of this, the ashes represent the end of our physical lives and the continuation of our eternal lives. 

As pastor, I get to 'impose' the ashes on the foreheads of the people who come to the altar rail on Ash Wednesday.   Looking into their eyes and saying "Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return" is a powerful experience.  In the past I have had the experience of putting ashes on the forehead of a baby and on the forehead of an elderly friend whose funeral I officiated just weeks later.  These are moments that stick with me.  Yet the God Moment for me in Ash Wednesday is knowing that while our physical bodies may limit us and separate us, we will not be separated for long.  God's grace is more powerful than death.  Thanks be to God.