Ash Wednesday
March 2022
Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent.
It may be a day that you faithfully observe every year, or maybe it’s a day you’re only familiar with because it comes pre-printed in your calendar.
Many churches hold Ash Wednesday worship services, which are often solemn and involve the imposition of ashes on participants’ foreheads.
Here’s a little bit about the meaning of Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent, the 40 days (excluding Sundays) that lead up to Easter. This first day of Lent and the following liturgical season are marked with a somberness as Christians reflect on their mortality, their sinfulness, and the dying of self that comes with new life in Christ.
While there is no mention of Ash Wednesday in the Bible, the Old Testament records acts of repentance or mourning accompanied by symbolic ash and sackcloth. Recall stories of David, Esther, Job, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel.
Ashes are a biblical reminder of our mortality: “You are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19). The spreading of ashes on foreheads is a visible reminder of this. The ashes also represent sorrow and repentance for sin.
Ash Wednesday reminds us that two things are involved in genuine repentance: “the dying of the old self and the coming to life of the new, The way to Easter is the way of the cross.
“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” (Romans 6:3).
New life with Christ involves a daily surrendering of the old life. Ash Wednesday, the first step of this Lenten journey, invites us to acknowledge our mortality and our sinfulness by the imposition of ashes.
Be blessed and I wait for you in this time visiting us
Rev Vicky Bastidas
It may be a day that you faithfully observe every year, or maybe it’s a day you’re only familiar with because it comes pre-printed in your calendar.
Many churches hold Ash Wednesday worship services, which are often solemn and involve the imposition of ashes on participants’ foreheads.
Here’s a little bit about the meaning of Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent, the 40 days (excluding Sundays) that lead up to Easter. This first day of Lent and the following liturgical season are marked with a somberness as Christians reflect on their mortality, their sinfulness, and the dying of self that comes with new life in Christ.
While there is no mention of Ash Wednesday in the Bible, the Old Testament records acts of repentance or mourning accompanied by symbolic ash and sackcloth. Recall stories of David, Esther, Job, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel.
Ashes are a biblical reminder of our mortality: “You are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19). The spreading of ashes on foreheads is a visible reminder of this. The ashes also represent sorrow and repentance for sin.
Ash Wednesday reminds us that two things are involved in genuine repentance: “the dying of the old self and the coming to life of the new, The way to Easter is the way of the cross.
“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” (Romans 6:3).
New life with Christ involves a daily surrendering of the old life. Ash Wednesday, the first step of this Lenten journey, invites us to acknowledge our mortality and our sinfulness by the imposition of ashes.
Be blessed and I wait for you in this time visiting us
Rev Vicky Bastidas
