Even though our church does not formally observe Ash Wednesday (and Lent), I get questions about such things from time to time, so....
Here is a brief excerpt regarding Ash Wednesday from the weblog of a Presbyertian pastor and author, Mark D. Roberts:
Like Christmas, Ash Wednesday is a Christian holiday (holy day) that is not required in Scripture. So it’s nothing that all Christians must recognize. However, the day has been set apart by Christians for over a thousand years. It is the first day of Lent, a forty-day season of preparation for Holy Week and Easter.... For centuries Christians have had ashes placed on their foreheads in the shape of a cross. The ashes remind us of our mortality. As they are being “imposed” on our foreheads we hear the bad news from Ecclesiastes 3: “You’ve come from dust, and to dust you will return.” Yet, because the ashes are imposed in the shape of the cross, they also suggest the good news that is yet to come, that which will deliver us from eternal death.
Throughout my pastoral tenure...I’ve put ashes on hundreds of foreheads. It’s both a strange and a wonderful thing to do. It’s strange to tell people, in so many words, “You’re mortal and you’re going to die.” Yet it’s wonderful to remind people of why they need a Savior, and to invite them to begin getting ready for a deeper experience of God’s grace on Good Friday and Easter – even seven weeks before Holy Week begins.
I remember distinctly times when I have put ashes on the forehead of a dear member of my church who was nearing death.... The point is that, whether old or young, we are all mortal. We are all caught in the death grip of sin. And we all need a Savior.
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