Lent is a time of self-examination, repentance, and fasting in preparation for the coming of Easter. It is a season of forty days, not counting Sundays, which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday (the day before Easter Sunday). The forty days represents the time Jesus spent in the wilderness, enduring the temptation of Satan and preparing to begin his ministry.

Through the service of ashes on the first day of Lent, we come before God repenting of our sin, and recognizing that sin and human mortality both have been triumphed through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

As the ashes are placed on the forehead, words such as these are spoken: "Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return," recalling God's words to Adam in Genesis 3:19, or “Repent, and believe the gospel” recalling the message of both John the Baptist and Jesus (Mark 1:15).

The imposition of ashes on the heads of Christians to mark the beginning of Lent can be traced at least to the 10th century. Marking the forehead with the sign of the cross is a more recent adaptation.   In many churches (including Oak Meadow UMC) the ashes are made by burning the palms from the previous year's Palm Sunday. 

Why ashes?
Ashes are an ancient symbol. In Genesis, we read that God formed human beings out of the dust of the earth (Genesis 2:7). After expulsion from the Garden of Eden, the first human beings are told by God, “you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19 NRSV). The Hebrew word translated dust, is occasionally translated ashes elsewhere. Throughout scripture, ashes are part of rituals when people seek forgiveness and mourn their sin (see Numbers 19:9, 17; Hebrews 9:13; Jonah 3:6; Matthew 11:21, and Luke 10:13, among others).

All are welcome to join us for this service
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The above was excerpted and edited from www.umc.org