Ash Wednesday Service - 22 February 2012 at 7:00PM

Ash Wednesday developed as a day of penitence to mark the beginning of Lent, which is forty days prior to our celebration of Easter. Lent is a time for evangelism and true conversion. It is a time for growing through fellowship, prayer, fasting and concentration upon our covenant with the Lord.

Ash Wednesday is a Christian commemoration that focuses our attention to the coming of the Messiah. It prepares us for that season in which we ex-pose ourselves to the deepest, innermost being of ourselves in communion with God.

The word ashes are also used figuratively in the Bible. Ashes were a sign of mourning, as when Mordecai tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and cried out with a loud and bitter cry. In the Book of Job, ashes are symbolic of dejection as well as repentance. The prophet Isaiah uses the word positively of the coming Messiah, who would give “beauty for ashes.”

Ash Wednesday is a day of repentance and solemn attention to the Lord. Ashes are representative of our seeking forgiveness. This day marks the quest of every believer to act as Christ lived and taught. We are to love one another as Christ so loved us. It is a covenant to love, sacrifice and be obedient to the Lord and to others.

Ash Wednesday marks the quest of all believers to seek divine repentance, and pardoning. This includes making appeals to the Lord Christ to act mer-cifully. The divine action belongs to the Lord and therefore is a gift of grace. Let this day be a new beginning not only in our relationship with each other, but more importantly in our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.