Each newborn servant of the crucified
Bears on the brow the seal of him who died.
“Lift high the Cross”
On Wednesday evening, the 22nd of February at 7:00pm we will gather in the Sanctuary to begin the season of Lent with a Worship Experience in the imposition of ashes. The ashes which will be marked on each forehead are the ashen remains of last year’s palm branches from Palm Sunday.
The Protestant tradition of ritually beginning Lent on the Wednesday before the first Sunday of Lent dates back to at least the tenth century. The Ash Wednesday service is a solemn service of repentance and commitment with the marking of a cross with ashes on each ones forehead.
All of these rituals serve to remind us over and over again who we are and whose we are. In the reminder of our baptism: we receive by the water of our baptism Jesus’ seal on our heads, just as we are marked by the cross of ashes at the beginning of Lent. We remember that through our baptism, “we have been united with Christ in a death like his” and “will be united with him in a resurrection like his”, Romans 6:5. “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return” reminds us of our mortality. “Repent, and believe in the Gospel” calls us to acknowledge our sin. “Remember your baptism, and be thankful” gives us reason to rejoice that in Jesus’ death and resurrection, sin and death have been conquered.
Mighty God, give us a holy Lent and prepare us to observe with devotion the time of our Lords’ passion, death, and resurrection. Keep us faithful to your Word, wash us in the river of the water of life, and help us to walk in newness that we may join with all your saints in the song of everlasting joy, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
With thanks to B. Meeks from Season of Ash and Fire
In Christ,
Pastor JoNell
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