Ash Wednesday

[seeking.IAM]

I am a marriage and family therapist. I forgot Wednesday was Ash Wednesday (forgive me ), and scheduled clients on top of evening service when I would normally go.

Luckily my church offers a lunch-hour service for working persons, so I can catch that. I will remove the ashes before going back to work. Therapy is supposed to be about them, not about me. I would like the focus of my sessions not to be distracted by questions about me. That said, it is a handy excuse. I also do not like drawing attention to myself.

 

[MKJ]

I don't know that I'll get there either. My dh is away in Vancouver and I don't much see myself wrestling my four year old - I dislocated a rib a few days ago and I am not up to much manhandling her and the toddler as well.

I may try to make it to the noon service though - it will be shorter and she may sit through it a little better.

 

[PaladinValer]

I don't know that I'll get there either. My dh is away in Vancouver and I don't much see myself wrestling my four year old - I dislocated a rib a few days ago and I am not up to much manhandling her and the toddler as well.

I may try to make it to the noon service though - it will be shorter and she may sit through it a little better.

Ouch. I know something of what that is like...I hope you heal quick.

 

[mark46]

All day for me also. Church is community. Church is family. Church is not about individual preference.

For me, it is clear that we receive ashes so that we will stand out and stand together as Christians, at least for this one day. When I worked in Boston (20 years), sometimes we went to Anglican noontime services, sometime to RCC services. It was a day when questions were asked of us. It was a day when faith was discussed openly, perhaps more than on any other.

When working in NH, I had fellow wowrkers call me aside and point out the "dirt" on my head. This was NOT an awkward moment. It was a time to share.

To clean up before returning to work seems wrong. BTW, in the US, we have the examples of our legislators who wear their ashes all day.

Personally I feel strange if I go evening services (ehich I certainly have done) and then home, with no opportunity to make the statement to the world that is anticipated by the Ash Wednesday service.
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I will pray more about all of this "not standing out as a Christian". I must say that I do not understand this approach. Certainly, our rector regularly preaches against this view.

We are encouraged to ask that if Christianity were against the law, would we be arrested? Is there anything in our life than t distinguishes us?

All day.

 

[ebia]

Working in a catholic school I once had a student ask me in the afternoon why I had something on my forehead. He had been at the imposition liturgy that morning.

 

[Drax]

I didn't say anything about "judgmental" people or whether someone might not "like" it.

LOL

 

[ebia]

Should one wish people "happy lent" or "somber lent" or what?

 

[ThePilgrim]

Here in the US, there are enough Catholics, Lutherans, and Anglicans walking around that evening that I don't think most people think anything of it.

 

[Izdaari Eristikon]

I will be going to an evening Ash Wednesday service tomorrow, and then straight home, so it won't be an issue one way or the other.

But this is all new to me. For most of my life, I've been part of church traditions (Baptist, Pentecostal) that did not observe Ash Wednesday or the other Lent season holidays. I've only been to one Ash Wednesday service before, a couple years ago. I liked it, it was thoughtful and nice.

 

[mark46]

I don't think that any such public greeting is necessary, or appropriate.

For those here, our approach is somewhat different.

May each of us come closer to Jesus this Lenten season.
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Perhaps, I was bit flip in my response. Certainly, there are appropriate greetings. "Have a blessed lent" comes to mind. When I looked for lenten greetings, this came up. I thought some might enjoy.

http://www.123greetings.com/events/lent/you_raise_me_up.html

Should one wish people "happy lent" or "somber lent" or what?

 

[seeking_perfection]

Just got back from my Ash Wednesday Eucharist. It was a very good service, I do love services in the evenings once its dark!

 

[Catherineanne]

Should one wish people "happy lent" or "somber lent" or what?

I generally say have a good lent. Then they can decide what good means to them.

 

[Catherineanne]

Well, I went to the Ash Wednesday Mass at Canterbury Cathedral at 8am, and it was very moving, but even more moving was Evensong.

My d and I went just before I caught the train home again, and the singing by the combined boys' and men's choirs was simply superb. It ended with a candlelit procession of the chapter and choir, followed by the congregation, which went all around the church and then ended in the nave, which was completly empty of chairs. Just a vast empty space, with the altar covered in sackcloth, and a lot of people holding candles. After the litany the choir and chapter moved way, and the congregation was left alone in the Nave, which we were told represented moving into the wilderness of Lent, and being left there for 40 days. We then blew out the candles and left the Cathedral for the damp streets of a Canterbury evening, and the joys of the railway station.

It was all truly lovely. Well, the train journey wasn't particularly, but getting home safely again was wonderful.

And I left the ash where it was until the end of the morning service (which I have never done before), and then went down to the deserted crypt to pray, and wiped it away then.

 

[brevis]

Well, I went to the Ash Wednesday Mass at Canterbury Cathedral at 8am, and it was very moving, but even more moving was Evensong.

My d and I went just before I caught the train home again, and the singing by the combined boys' and men's choirs was simply superb. It ended with a candlelit procession of the chapter and choir, followed by the congregation, which went all around the church and then ended in the nave, which was completly empty of chairs. Just a vast empty space, with the altar covered in sackcloth, and a lot of people holding candles. After the litany the choir and chapter moved way, and the congregation was left alone in the Nave, which we were told represented moving into the wilderness of Lent, and being left there for 40 days. We then blew out the candles and left the Cathedral for the damp streets of a Canterbury evening, and the joys of the railway station.

It was all truly lovely. Well, the train journey wasn't particularly, but getting home safely again was wonderful.

And I left the ash where it was until the end of the morning service (which I have never done before), and then went down to the deserted crypt to pray, and wiped it away then.

I'm overflowed with envy

 

[Maid Marie]

Well, I went to the Ash Wednesday Mass at Canterbury Cathedral at 8am, and it was very moving, but even more moving was Evensong.

My d and I went just before I caught the train home again, and the singing by the combined boys' and men's choirs was simply superb. It ended with a candlelit procession of the chapter and choir, followed by the congregation, which went all around the church and then ended in the nave, which was completly empty of chairs. Just a vast empty space, with the altar covered in sackcloth, and a lot of people holding candles. After the litany the choir and chapter moved way, and the congregation was left alone in the Nave, which we were told represented moving into the wilderness of Lent, and being left there for 40 days. We then blew out the candles and left the Cathedral for the damp streets of a Canterbury evening, and the joys of the railway station.

It was all truly lovely. Well, the train journey wasn't particularly, but getting home safely again was wonderful.

And I left the ash where it was until the end of the morning service (which I have never done before), and then went down to the deserted crypt to pray, and wiped it away then.

I'm overflowed with envy

Me, too!

But the 11 am service I went to was still good and God was there

 

[HisHomeMaker]

When did the tradition of imposing ashes begin? Is it Biblical? My teenaged daughter, who I would say may be more devout than I am, refused ashes last night. She said it seemed cultish to her. She did participate in communion after. I wanted to discuss the imposition of ashes with her more, but I realized I didn't have enough knowledge.

 

[brevis]

When did the tradition of imposing ashes begin? Is it Biblical? My teenaged daughter, who I would say may be more devout than I am, refused ashes last night. She said it seemed cultish to her. She did participate in communion after. I wanted to discuss the imposition of ashes with her more, but I realized I didn't have enough knowledge.

Ashes as a symbol of penance and conversion are common throughout the Bible see Jonah for example

 

[Catherineanne]

I'm overflowed with envy

I'm sorry. Maybe next year you will be more fortunate, and there is always Good Friday and Easter ...

 

[Catherineanne]

When did the tradition of imposing ashes begin? Is it Biblical? My teenaged daughter, who I would say may be more devout than I am, refused ashes last night. She said it seemed cultish to her. She did participate in communion after. I wanted to discuss the imposition of ashes with her more, but I realized I didn't have enough knowledge.

Yes it is Biblical. If you google for ashes in the Bible, you will see that they are associated with a desire to repent before God. References to Christians using ash in the same way go back at least a thousand years.

There is nothing cultish about this.

 

[file13]

I wondered what other people do. Do you leave the ashes there, and if so, for how long?

I was always struck by the irony that before the imposition of the ashes, the BCP calls for this Gospel reading:

“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
(Matthew 6:16-18 ESV)
​

I'd personally say that there's something's fishy here if we're then supposed to go around with a visible sign telling the world we're fasting.

As a possibly interesting side note, the Eastern Orthodox don't use ashes, but instead are anointed with oil to start the fast. When it comes to regular institutionalized fasting, I think the East may have the Biblical edge here.