Next Wednesday, Feb. 22, you might see someone walking around with a cross-shaped smudge of ashes on their forehead. They either recently cleaned their wood stove or returned from an Ash Wednesday Service at church. Ash Wednesday begins the Christian season of Lent, a time of self-reflection, what AA groups might call Step Four, "Making a searching and fearless moral inventory." We save the Palm Sunday palm branches each year and burn them to make the ash. This practice symbolizes the annual renewal cycle as Christians prepare themselves for Easter. The ashes symbolize a willingness to be apologetic for mistakes and failures and a desire for renewal and purity of heart. Clergy smudges ashes on foreheads with the words, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust, you shall return."

In general, this is all very somber. If you repeat in your mind the lyrics of the song "Dust in the Wind" by Kansas, you get the mood. But I gained a new perspective several years ago. I was officiating at an Ash Wednesday service, and a woman brought her baby forward, and I cringed inside. A few weeks before, I had baptized this child in a joyful ceremony where I sprinkled water on her darling dome and pronounced words of grace and hope:

Give this child strength for life's journey,

Courage in the time of suffering,

The joy of faith,

The freedom of love,

And the hope of new life,

Through Jesus Christ, who makes us one.

She beamed a toothless smile as if she understood what I meant and was not troubled by a few drips on her forehead. But now it was Ash Wednesday, and the words spoken as ashes are placed on a person's forehead are, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust, you shall return." It's one thing to say these words to a senior person who is closer to the grave, but I felt a near dread repeating this line to a fresh newborn soul.

As I dipped my finger into the ashes, I ad-libbed, "Remember that you are stardust, and to stardust, you shall return." Consider this a 21st-century update to the classic liturgy. We are made of stardust, not only according to singer Joni Mitchell but also NASA. Most of the periodic table elements and our bodies were made when stars went supernova. These elements have sifted down on our little planet for billions of years and given us the matter to create life. "Remember that you are stardust" reminds us that our dust is a gift, not a curse. Life is a gift, and on Ash Wednesday, we reflect on what is the best use of that gift. How can we return our dust in ways that enhance the cycle of life? We may only be dust in the wind, but that is where life originates. Joni Mitchell put it well in the chorus of her song, "Woodstock":

We are stardust

We are golden

And we've got to get ourselves

Back to the garden

From the garden, we came, and to the garden, we return. If you would like to observe Ash Wednesday, you are welcome to our service at the Congregational Church of Boothbay Harbor at 5:30 PM.