We will honour Ash Wednesday with two short (30 minutes) services - prayers, readings, poetry and signing ashes in the shape of a cross on our foreheads. We use the words: from dust we are formed, and to dust we shall return.
Services will be in the Saint Catherine's Anglican Church at noon and 5:30 pm.
What is Ash Wednesday?
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the forty days of Lent. Christians have been preparing for the celebration of Easter by walking through a “Holy Lent” since ancient times. This is patterned after Jesus temptation in the wilderness.
Lent is a season of self-restraint and self-reflection. Lent and Ash Wednesday are a time in which human beings, remind themselves of grace, and our need to be honest with God, with ourselves, and with each other. Ash Wednesday is the day in which Christians gather to receive the sign of ashes. Ashes on the head signify honesty about mortality. In biblical times they signified a turning toward light and in some cases mourning after a loss.
Ashes are the result of burning. They remind us that we are living in a fragile world, and that we are made from dust.