On Wednesday evening, the 13th of February, 2013 we gather as the body of Christ to begin the season of Lent with a Worship Experience in the imposition of ashes. The ashes 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 the forehead.
In the reminder of our baptism; we receive by the water of our baptism Jesus’ water 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.
In Christ, Pastor JoNell
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