Ash Wednesday services help people mark the start of Lent churchwide
The Rev. Bryan Velez of the Diocese of Puerto Rico offers ashes to a woman on a street in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, on Ash Wednesday. Photo: Facebook
[Episcopal News Service] Churches across The Episcopal Church marked Ash Wednesday with services and the imposition of ashes in churches, parks, online, on city streets and other locations.
Some churches and clergy offered “Ashes to Go,” in which ashes are available for people on-the-go to receive in various locations beyond church buildings.
The practice of placing ashes – made from burning the prior year’s Palm Sunday fronds – on the foreheads of worshippers to remind them of their mortality and as a mark of penitence, gives the day its name. The Book of Common Prayer makes the imposition of ashes optional, although most Episcopal churches offer it.
The ashes are imposed with the words, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a 40-day period in which Christians engage in penitence and often acts of self-denial, including fasting, suggested by Christ’s 40 days in the desert. Among the earliest Christians, it was the time when people who wanted to join the church were prepared for Baptism, which would take place at Easter.
Here are some places across The Episcopal Church where Ash Wednesday was observed, as noted on social media.
St. Paul’s Within the Walls in Rome offered a service online.
Puerto Rico Bishop Rafael Morales and other clergy of the Diocese of Puerto Rico took ashes to drivers and pedestrians on the streets of Rio Piedras.
Clergy from St. John’s, Tallahassee, Florida, offered ashes at the State Capitol, also in Tallahassee.
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New York Bishop Matthew Hyde imposes ashes at New York City’s Grand Central Station.
A variety of other churches also offered Ashes to Go in their communities.
— Melodie Woerman is an Episcopal News Service freelance reporter based in Kansas.
