Remember That You Are Dust Joel 2:1-2,12-17 or Isaiah 58:1-12;
Psalm 103 or 103:8-14; 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10; Matthew
6:1-6,16-21 Ash Wednesday is traditionally a day of fasting and
repentance. In many liturgical churches ashes are placed on the
foreheads of each participant. Ashes were a sign of penitence in
the Ancient Near East, particularly in Judaism. Recall this
example from the Old Testament. Jonah preached to Nineveh that
God was going to destroy the city and the people listened: So
the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and
put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of
them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from
his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with
sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed
and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his
nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste
any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and
beast be covere