Thought for the Week - 19th February 2023

 

Dear Friends,

This week sees the beginning of the season of Lent in the Christian calendar for another year. Lent is a time of fasting and prayer that lasts for the six weeks, 40 days (not including Sundays) leading up to the great celebration of Easter Sunday which this year falls on April 9th. Lent always begins with Ash Wednesday, sometimes called the ‘Day of Ashes’, which, coming from our Baptist tradition, we may know little about. It finds its roots in the Jewish tradition of penance and fasting, including the wearing of ashes on the forehead. You may have seen people with a dark smudge of ash coming out of a church on Ash Wednesday, and the ashes symbolise the dust from which God made humankind as detailed in the story of creation in Genesis 2. As a priest applies the ashes to the forehead of a person the words, ‘Remember that you are dust, and to dust you will return’ are spoken, which are found in Genesis 3 after the Fall (Genesis 3:19). Whilst this practice may be unfamiliar to us, it is a reminder as we begin this season once again to focus our hearts and minds on repentance and prayer for this journey ahead.                                                           

Grace and peace,

Neil

A Prayer for Ash Wednesday

Merciful God, you called us forth from the dust of the earth; you claimed us for Christ in the waters of baptism. Look upon us as we enter these Forty Days bearing the mark of ashes, and bless the journey through the desert of Lent to the font of rebirth. As we remember our mortality and seek penitence today, we know you to be a God who is rich in forgiveness and abounding in steadfast love, love that culminates in eternal life with you. Guide our steps this Lent, so that we might find greater fulfilment in your promises and better serve others with a heart that’s reflective of you. Amen.

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