On Ash Wednesday, the traditional beginning of the season of Lent, we confront our own mortality and confess our sins before God within the community of faith. The form of the service focuses on the dual themes of sin and death in the light of God’s redeeming love in Jesus Christ.  Ashes are used as a sign of mortality and repentance and the Imposition of Ashes, placing ashes on our foreheads or hands, can be a powerful way of participating in the call to repentance and reconciliation.