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Dear people, before the time of Christ, the prophets who wrote the Old Testament of The Holy Bible wrote of the putting on of sackcloth and ashes as a sign of repentance for their sins.  During the early centuries of the church it was mainly public sinners who were made to wear ashes upon their heads.  Around the year 1000 AD, the popes and the rest of the church began to put ashes on their foreheads as an outward sign of their sorrow for their sins, acknowledging that they, too, had committed sins just as everyone had. Jesus Christ is the only person who never committed a sin The Holy Bible tells us.
 
Ash Wednesday is the day that signals the beginning of the Lenten season for much of the Christian church.  At Sunnyview Hospital, where I am a pastoral care volunteer, I have, for the past few years, helped the chaplain by distributing ashes to the patients and staff on Ash Wednesday.  When I do this I first remind people after I enter their room, that it is Ash Wednesday and then ask if anyone in the room would like to receive ashes.  If someone does, I dip my thumb into the small bowl of ashes I carry and make the sign of the cross on his or her forehead and say, “Turn from your sins and turn to the gospel.”
 
The ashes come from burning the blessed palms that were left over from Palm Sunday of the previous year.  Palm Sunday is a celebration of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem the week He was crucified and resurrected from the dead. Those who greeted Him had palm branches in their hands and shouted, “Hosanna: Blessed is the king of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.”
 
In the old testament, when the prophet Jonah proclaimed to the city of Nineveh that it would soon be overthrown, the king of Nineveh got word and he took off his robe and put on sackcloth and sat in ashes and decreed that his people do similar and repent.  When God saw that they were sorry for their sins, He decided not to do the “evil” to them that He had planned and Nineveh was spared.
 
Perhaps we all need to put on ashes now and then and turn from our wicked ways and, as the scriptures tell us, God will heal our land.  Maybe this Ash Wednesday would be a good time for all Christians to start.
 
May the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. (See Philippians 4:7 The Holy Bible)