With the words, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return,” and a smudge of ashes on the forehead in the shape of the cross, we begin the season of Lent. This is a powerful ritual that communicates our humble desire to grow closer to God. We are almost ready to return to worshipping together without restrictions, but only almost, so we decided to make it as easy to participate in Ash Wednesday as possible.
We will be mailing a pinch of ashes and a prayer to each of our members before Ash Wednesday, March 2nd. Attend our Ash Wednesday service in person or online at 7:00 PM. Even if you can’t be there for the service, you can say the prayer and make the sign of the cross on your forehead with the ashes we are mailing.
This is going to be a transformational Lent, like none other we have seen. We will be preparing our hearts, through penitence and fasting, for the great joy of Easter. We will be preparing our congregation, our worship space, and our campus for a great celebration (hopefully at Easter!) as we come back from the two years of pandemic restrictions.
To kick off this very special Lent, we will be taking Ashes-to-Go to Home Depot day-laborers at 7:00 AM on Ash Wednesday, and then we will offer Ashes-to-Go to commuters in the parking lot of St. Dunstan’s Church between 3:00 PM and 6:00 PM. At 7:00 PM we will offer the traditional Ash Wednesday service in person and online at St. Dunstan’s Church.
We have invited the community to our Burning of the Palms ceremony on Sunday, February 27th. We will gather outside at the Columbarium Chapel at 11:30 AM to burn the palms saved from last year’s Palm Sunday. We will then use these ashes for the Ash Wednesday services on March 2nd. You are welcome to attend worship at 10:00 AM, but that is not necessary to participate in the Palm Burning ceremony.
With love,