Ashes in Scripture are a symbol of sin, grief, and mourning. People would sit in ashes as a sign of repentance, showing their brokenness before God. Ashes represent what sin leaves behind: destruction, heaviness, loss.
But God makes a promise in Isaiah 61:3 “to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.”
This is the gospel: where we bring ashes, God brings beauty. Where we bring sin, He brings forgiveness. Where we bring shame, He covers us with dignity and freedom.
Fire refines and purifies. Ashes are the end result of what is burned away. In Christ, sin doesn’t get the final word, He takes the ashes of our lives and creates something beautiful.
So when we gather around the fire this month, we come honestly with our sin, our heaviness, our brokenness. We bring it into the light. And as we confess, we trust that God is faithful (1 John 1:9) He takes what’s been reduced to ashes and transforms it into joy, praise, and new life.
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”