Ash Wednesday Services
Posted February 17, 2021
Ash Wednesday is this Wednesday, February 17th.
Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. It takes its name from the ceremonial imposition of ashes on the foreheads of worshipers as a sign of human sin and mortality.
The ashes take on added significance as they are made of the burned Palm Branches from last Palm Sunday. They remind us that Lent is a solemn season that culminates in Holy Week, which began on Palm Sunday, when Jesus rode a borrowed donkey to his death in Jerusalem. On Palm Sunday, Jesus was greeted with loud shouts of Hosanna, meaning “save us now!” But a few days later, on Good Friday, the same crowds were chanting “crucify him!” The ashes, made of Palm Sunday’s remains, beg the questions: What has come of our own devotion to Christ? How quickly and easily do our commitments to him shift and change? How does the image of a lush, green frond being burned and reduced to ashes speak to our own spiritual experience? Ash Wednesday invites us to consider these things, purposefully and prayerfully.
We will be having our Ash Wednesday Service virtually at 7:00 PM via our Facebook and Website.
The Worship Commission has prepared vials with ashes in them for your family to use. The vials will be located outside on the stone bench under the Portico next to the double doors during Church Office Hours this week (Monday, February 15th through Friday, February 19th) for you to stop by and pick-up (one vial per family, please).
