You are dust, and to dust you shall return. –Genesis 3:19
We had a good attendance in worship on Ash Wednesday, February 14, as we commemorated the beginning of the season of Lent.
There were three opportunities to worship and receive ashes.
- Ashes were given at our normal 7 a.m. Wednesday Communion Service. Doors open at 6:45 a.m. each Wednesday.
- There was a service at St. Paul’s at 12 noon with Pastor Dave. He prayed and placed ashes on foreheads as a sign of repentance, and then we celebrated Holy Communion.
- Finally there was a community worship service at 7 p.m., also at St. Paul’s. The West Deptford Area Methodist Churches joined together to receive ashes as a sign of repentance of our sins.
About Ash Wednesday
On Ash Wednesday worshipers’ foreheads are often marked with ashes in the sign of the cross. The ashes traditionally come from burning palm branches from the previous Palm Sunday.
In Old Testament days, ashes were a sign of mourning and repentance. Today, some worshipers wipe off the ashes before leaving church, to symbolize being cleansed from sin by Jesus’ death; others wear the ashes the rest of the day, carrying the cross of Christ into the world.