On Ash Wednesday, Episcopalians, along with many other Christians in different traditions, wear a smudgy cross of ash on our foreheads to remind us of our mortality. This ancient ritual links us to countless generations who have turned humbly to God for help in absorbing the knowledge of our inevitable death in a way that will shape our living.
As always, the Ash Wednesday liturgy will mark the beginning of Lent, forty days of sitting with the knowledge of our mortality, knowledge twinned with the astonishing news of our redemption.
