Ash Wednesday, the first of the forty days of Lent, named for the custom of placing blessed ashes on the foreheads of worshipers at Ash Wednesday services. The Ashes are blessed as a sign of penitence and a reminder of mortality. The Old Testament frequently mentions the use of ashes as an expression of humiliation and sorrow. Ashes for use on Ash Wednesday are made from burned palms from previous Palm Sunday services.

 

The season of Lent (from an Old English word meaning "spring," the time of lengthening days) has a long history. Early Christians observed "a season of penitence and fasting" in preparation for the Paschal feast. Originally, in places where Pascha was celebrated on a Sunday, the Paschal feast followed a fast of up to two days. In the third century this fast was lengthened to six days. Eventually this fast became attached to, or overlapped, another fast of forty days, in imitation of Christ's fasting in the wilderness. The forty-day fast was especially important for converts to the faith who were preparing for baptism, and for those guilty of notorious sins who were being restored to the Christian assembly. In the western church the forty days of Lent extend from Ash Wednesday through Holy Saturday, omitting Sundays. The last three days of Lent are the sacred Triduum of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. Today Lent has reacquired its significance as the final preparation of adult candidates for baptism. Joining with them, all Christians are invited "to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word" (BCP, p. 265).

 

Members of Holy Communion take Lent very seriously. We will celebrate this season starting with an Ash Wednesday service on February 6^th, where we will do the traditional imposing of the ashes. (Please contact the church for specific times.) Then for the next five weeks of Lent, we will have a theme-based Sunday service, Lenten study and Stations of the Cross service on Wednesday nights and Bible Study on Fridays.

 

Holy Week will be ushered in by Palm Sunday at 10AM and will feature Tenebrae (The service of light and darkness) on Wednesday, Time TBA; the Washing of Feet on Maundy Thursday, Time TBA; and Good Friday service from 12noon to 3 pm.

 

We will then have a triumphant Easter service on Sunday, March 23^rd.

 

See our event calendar for more details.