Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Lent season – an important season of the church year where for an extended period of time we give ourselves again to prayer, self-discipline, and reflection as we prepare for the great Easter feast in 6 weeks time. At the beginning of the Ash Wednesday gathering we hear these words,
“Brothers and sisters in Christ, since early days Christians have observed with great devotion the time of our Lord’s passion and resurrection and prepared for this by a season of penitence and fasting. By carefully keeping these days, Christians take to heart the call to repentance and the assurance of forgiveness proclaimed in the gospel, and so grow in faith and in devotion to our Lord. I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, 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.”
So come along to this gathering on the evening of Ash Wednesday at 8pm at St Albans (the regular meeting place of the Home community) for a simple liturgy which will include the imposition of ashes (receiving the mark of the sign of the cross in Ash on your forehead) and communion. It’s a good way to intentionally ‘step into’ this important season.