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. And, to make a right beginning of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us now kneel before the Lord, our maker and redeemer. Amen. The Book of Common Prayer, page 265
Ash Wednesday is today. How are you observing Lent?
Ash Wednesday: Mortality, Humanity and Humility
Those of us who use Ash Wednesday to begin Lent find the 40-day season helpful in reconnecting us to the foundations of faith. We believe that Jesus began his public ministry at the age of 30 by being baptized and was immediately sent into a 40-day period of fasting and temptation. And the first Christians developed various devotional ways of remembering the days of Jesus’ passion and resurrection. The Church created a variety of customs to prepare, many focused on the season of penitence and fasting. Ash Wednesday dates to at least the eighth century and appears in the Gregorian Sacramentary. Originally, Lent began on a Sunday, but to have the number of days of Lent correspond to the 40 days Jesus fasted in the wilderness, Lent was eventually transferred to begin on a Wednesday.
What evolved was a time when converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism at the Easter Vigil, which begins in darkness and ends in light. That is the genesis of sunrise services. Poignantly, the Church saw Lent as a special time to acknowledge that those who had committed “notorious sins” and become “separated from the body of the faithful” could be reconciled by penitence and forgiveness.
Restoration to the fellowship of the Church was seen as a miracle — a sign of God’s power to re-create, renew and rebirth. As the Book of Common Prayer in my Episcopal tradition puts it, “…the whole congregation was put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the Gospel of our Savior, and of the need which all Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith.”
Season of solemnity and hope begins with Ash Wednesday
They will come today seeking a mark — and get a reminder of how short life will be.
And many of them will leave intent on curbing their diets, curtailing their bad habits or making some new positive action a part of their routines.
Christians who take part in today’s observances of Ash Wednesday will begin the most solemn, reflective season on their religious calendar — Lent. But it also foretells the most hopeful — the celebration next month of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, at Easter.
This long journey over the 61/2 weeks of Lent is one that Christian leaders say is emblematic of the ups and downs, failures and joys of life itself.
Faithful begin Lenten promises today
For Elizabeth Shreckhise, the weeks before Easter represent a time for self-renewal through personal sacrifice and reflection.
“According to the story in the Bible, this is the time when Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness fasting and struggling with what he knows is going to happen,” she said. “It’s a time to not make excuses, to strip down to who we really are on the inside and wrestle with that the way Jesus wrested in the wilderness with his own mortality.”
Shreckhise joins millions of Christians throughout the world whose foreheads will bear ashes today as they observe the beginning of the season of Lent.
“This recalls how people in Biblical times wore sackcloth and poured ashes over themselves to express grief and pertinence,” said the Rev. Susan Goff of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia.
Lent: not just about giving up chocolate
Incorporating a new practice is becoming increasingly common, said the Rev. Edson Way of St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church. Some people choose to adopt disciplines like Bible study or volunteering — activities that are, Way said, “motivated toward self-improvement and improvement of the surrounding world.”
That is not to say that abstention is passe. Many churches, for example, will adopt a simpler service during the Lenten period. The Rev. James Haney V of St. Paul’s on the Plains Episcopal Church noted that his church will not say “Hallelujah” during Lent.
“It makes Easter even more special when we get to shout ‘Hallelujah’ again and pull the stops out and make things fancy again,” Haney said.
Some individuals are choosing to abstain from a vice to remind themselves of Jesus’ sacrifice.
“It’s a way of recognizing how tied we are to the things of this world,” Eliason said of giving up foods. One can “use that as a spiritual tool to help you tie yourself more completely to Christ.”
Ash Wednesday launches a time of ‘deepening faith’
Holland Sentinel (MI)
Christians recognize Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter, as the day Jesus paraded into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, Holy Thursday as the day of Jesus’ Last Supper and Good (or Holy) Friday as the day Jesus suffered and died on the cross. Christian belief is that three days later, Jesus rose from the dead — now celebrated as Easter.
“Even during Lent, Sunday was seen as a celebration of Easter,” Hall said. “Every Sunday was like a little Easter.”
The days leading up to Easter are solemn in many Christian denominations. Often clergy wear purple, seen as a penitential, somber color.
Ash Wednesday starts the commemoration of Lent.
“For some, that means fasting, it generally means some sort of spiritual discipline that invites you into an awareness in terms one’s relationship to God and neighbor,” Adams said. He called Lent a time for “deepening our faith.”
Ash Wednesday: 4th century roots
Quad Cities Dispatch Argus Leader
4th century people who committed serious sins would go to their bishop on Ash Wednesday and he would sprinkle ashes on their hair shirts.
They would wear the shirts for the rest of Lent as a public display of their sinfulness. Rubbing ash on foreheads became widespread in the 11th century, and by the 12th century, they began burning palms from the previous year’s Palm Sunday to make the ashes.
“Lent is a time when you realize that we don’t always do what we say we’re going to do,” the Rev. Peggy Lee of All Saints Episcopal Church in Moline, said. “It’s a time for trying to prepare for what’s coming, reflecting on the Easter message, what’s going on in your life, what’s good and bad.”
It’s also a time to think about what’s most important, she said. “Life is so busy and Lent is a time to stop and think about what’s going on. It’s a time to get over the busyness of life.”