Ash Wednesday
Imposition of Ashes and Eucharist at 7:00 PM
Ash Wednesday is the traditional beginning of the season of Lent. It is a day of humbling ourselves before God as we confess our mortality and our repentance. It begins a season of looking forward to God’s gracious renewal of our lives through the death and resurrection of Christ at Easter.
We gather for the traditional ritual that gives the day its name: imposing ashes on our foreheads as a sign of mortality and repentance. The meaning and importance of this day are not lessened by this, however. The spiritual power of Ash Wednesday is the inner work it calls us to through the external ritual.
A reading for Ash Wednesday comes from Joel, part of which says:
Yet even now, says the Lord,
return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
rend your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the Lord, your God,
for the Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. (Joel 2:12-13)
This text reminds us that external rituals, such as rending or tearing your clothing as an expression of grief or repentance, point us to the inner spiritual work of repentance: rending, tearing our hearts in grief over the state of our self-constructed lives and our world of injustice.
We have much to face together when we look at ourselves in honest, humble assessment of the state of our lives and our world. Ash Wednesday will be a time to gather for worship to begin our inner, heart-rending work of returning to God in humility and trust in God’s mercy alone.