Ash Wednesday (Feb 22)
Sunday, February 19, 2012 at 6:26AM 
Holy Communion and the Imposition of Ashes - 7:30 am and 7:00 pm (Wednesday, February 22).
A soup dinner will follow the evening service - all are invited.
Thoughts about Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the season of Lent, a forty day period especially set aside for careful personal reflection, confession and repentance. It is a season in which we remember the passion of Christ (His sufferings) and meditate upon the oft ignored reality of our own mortality. It is a time of self denial and of self examination, a time to seek to understand (and enter into) the sufferings of our Lord in a deeper manner. Lent is a time to slow down and consider with focused attention those things which we tend to conveniently ignore. It is a season in which we look to this life as a means of further preparing for the life to come. With Ash Wednesday we begin our Lenten observance.
What is the meaning of putting ashes on one’s forehead?
We use ashes because in the Bible ashes are often indicators of mourning and repentance (1 Sam 4:12; 2 Sam 1:20, 13:19, 15:32), making the imposition of ashes a deeply symbolic gesture. Listen to the words spoken when the ashes are imposed, they remind us both of the consequences of Adam’s fall (i.e. our mortality: Gen 3:19) and of the words spoken at a funeral (“Ashes to ashes; dust to dust”). A cross is made on our foreheads because in the Bible to be marked on the forehead is symbolic of ownership (Ez 9:4-6; Rev 7:3, 9:4, 14:1). Having been redeemed by God, we belong to God – He has marked us as His own.
