Greetings Friends!
On February 14th, we begin our journey through the season of Lent. Ash Wednesday prepares us for the forty days of Lent and culminates it’s the three days of Holy Week. We hear, ‘Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return’ and we mark our foreheads with ashes as a symbol of our need for God’s grace and love in our lives.
Ashes symbolize multiple aspects of being human:
An ancient symbol of repentance, ashes mark our foreheads as a sign of our need for God’s forgiveness.
Ashes remind us of our own human fragility and the shortness of human life. One day we will all return to dust.
Ashes symbolize cleansing and renewal. On Ash Wednesday our foreheads are marked with the sign of the cross—the mark of our baptism! Even in our ‘dustiness’ we remember the hope and the promise of Easter!
Our ashes represent our need for repentance, confessions, and for God’s forgiveness.
Ash Wednesday is full of ritual and symbolism to remind us of our need for the cross, the center of God’s love, in our lives. Lent is a journey to the cross, centered on the cross. On February 14th, and throughout Lent we will hear Psalm 51.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and sustain in me a willing spirit.”
We pray for God’s transformative love in our own lives. “Create in me a clean heart, O God.” God’s love changes the world, and it changes us. Our own will and hearts become God’s medium for life-changing love and service. As we journey through Lent, we focus on the cross where God reveals this life-changing love. We center ourselves on the cross of Christ, trusting in the promise of Easter hope.
This Lent Bethany is full of opportunities to worship, to engage in faith formation, to share in fellowship, and to join in communal spiritual practices. Be sure to read announcements, The Echo, and The Monday Messenger for all these opportunities.
And if you’re thinking of asking someone to join you for worship on Ash Wednesday/Valentine’s Day this year you can invite them with this lovely poem.
Roses are red, violets are blue.
I want to remember my mortality with you.
Peace,
Pastor Lily