Please read the note below from Pastor Woodhouse regarding his sermon:

The Gospel reading for Ash Wednesday may sometimes seem to present us with a challenge. Jesus’ words warn us against making a show of our faithfulness and good works when we do them. We are not to boast about our good works or make a flashy show of our identity as Christians as we live our daily lives. And yet part of the traditional Ash Wednesday service – the imposition of ashes in the shape of a cross on our foreheads – may seem like it contradicts Jesus’ instructions.

We answer this challenge, in part, by reminding ourselves that the cross of ashes on our foreheads is not meant to be a boast, even though the world around us might interpret it that way. The ashes are, as we remind ourselves at their imposition, a reminder of the fact that we are sinners, and that the penalty for our sin is that we shall die and return to the dust from which we were created.

But there is also something else in play as we receive a visible sign of the cross on our foreheads: It also reminds us that this visible sign is something that we always carry with us throughout our lives as Christians!