Ash Wednesday and the Beginning of Lent

As the minister places ashes upon the foreheads of the faithful, the words “Remember, from dust you came, and to dust you shall return” are spoken as an invitation to travel light. We clutter our lives with baggage we are not meant to bear, we burden ourselves with our own addictions to excess and our entitlement to commodity. Lent is season to embrace the lighter yoke of one who is gentle and humble in heart. Freedom comes to us as we begin to identify with and take on the rhythms of the life of Christ. In Lent, we specifically live into his suffering and his death so that we can ultimately increase our capacity for the Easter-feast of his resurrection. I look forward to this journey with you. It begins on Ash Wednesday as we say with many believers around the world and throughout history, “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”Ready yourself for the journey by reading this witty and poignantly truthful article:

Living Lent- a reading by Barbara Cawthorne Crafton

Updated: Some have asked for the prayer that was given at the placement of Ashes on Wednesday:

Gracious and merciful God,
you see into the secret places of our hearts,
where we mourn our sins.
As we turn again to your grace, receive our prayers.
Repent, ___________, and believe in the Gospel again.

Amen.