Ash Wednesday begins our Lenten journey as we are marked with ashes and reminded of our mortality. As one of our new hymns reminds us, God makes beautiful things out of dust. God makes beautiful things out of us. The season of Lent invites us, or calls us, to examine ourselves and draw near to God.  We do this examining and drawing near by engaging in Lenten disciplines: prayer and fasting, self-examination and repentance, and sacrificial giving and works of love.