Nancy Taylor: Greene Publishing, Inc.
Today is Ash Wednesday, and throughout the county, many churches are having special services in observance of the day.
Some of you, however, may be wondering exactly what Ash Wednesday is all about.
Ash Wednesday is a central part of the season of Lent among many Christian groups (Catholic and Protestant).
Lent is a religious time period of 40 days before Easter. The purpose of Lent is to draw people’s focus to prayer, repentance, and renewal of faith. The 40 days are representative of the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness being tempted.
The use of ashes on Ash Wednesday comes from Biblical history. Job 42 records a conversation between Job and the Lord God. In verses 4 – 6 (KJV) Job answers the Lord, “Hear, and I will speak: I will ask thee, and do thou tell me. With the hearing of ear, I have heard thee, but now my eye seeth thee. Therefore I reprehend myself, and do penance in dust and ashes.” Esther 4:3, Daniel 9:3 and Jeremiah 6:26 also make reference coming to the Lord during penance (repentance) or times of great need in “sackcloth and ashes.”
Ash Wednesday is an important part of the Lenten Season in the Catholic faith, as well as in the Lutheran, Episcopal and United Methodist churches.
During the Ash Wednesday service, the parishioners come forward to the front of the church, and the ashes are placed on each person’s forehead in the shape of a cross. The ashes are to remain on the forehead for the entire day as a visible reminder of the season and its purpose. Christians around the world are united in faith on Ash Wednesday as they focus, not on their differences, but on their commonality.
During the season, these believers turn their attention to repentance (and penance) and renewal of relationship with God. There are three pillars involved in this process: prayer, fasting and almsgiving (giving to the needs of others). Prayer is two-fold - meditating on personal lives and praying for others’ needs. It is a time to search each individual’s soul, to turn attention away from self, and to draw closer to the Lord God.
Madison First United Methodist Church will have an Ash Wednesday service at 6:30 p.m. in their sanctuary. This special time will be observed at 5:30 p.m. at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church.
Contact the church of your choice to learn if they are having an Ash Wednesday service.