Ash Wednesday (partial video) - Life in Ashes: Matthew 6:1–6, 16–21

We live as both saints and sinners. We cannot free ourselves from the effects of sin, and the ashes we receive today are only symbolic of our hopes and faith. We live among the ashes of past attempts to live better lives. But it does not depend on us! Salvation is assured for us as it was for Paul’s readers. And the blessings of our Father in heaven are as certain for us as for Jesus’ hearers. Our continued sinning shows not the ineffectiveness of ashes but the need for the continued grace of God. Today is a day to let that loving grace for Jesus’ sake get through our ears and into our hearts.