Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, the Christian Church’s journey towards Easter, a journey that lasts 46 days (40 days plus 6 Sundays).  It is a solemn day whose mood is penitential and reflective.  The liturgy of the day has traditionally included marking worshipper’s foreheads with a cross of ashes as a public sign of penitence.  The service also includes a longer than usual act of confession and repentance, after which the usual absolution or declaration of forgiveness is not spoken but reserved for the end of the Lenten season, thus making the entire season of Lent one of penitence and self-examination.

We gather this year at the Church of St Paul in Barriere on Ash Wednesday, February 18, at 11:00 am for a service of Holy Communion and the Imposition of Ashes.  Join us for this moving service, embracing these ancient symbols of the Church, and committing ourselves to the disciplines of a holy Lent.

at the Church of St Paul in Barriere