I meant to post this a couple of days ago (actually on Ash Wednesday), but somehow I just didn't get around to it. So, I thought I'd just post it now in the spirit of "better late than never."
As Richard Bucher says on the Our Redeemer Lutheran Church website, "Ash Wednesday is the name given to the first name of the season of Lent, in which the pastor applies ashes to the foreheads of Christians to signify an inner repentance." Although it is actually not mentioned in the Bible, Ash Wednesday has been a tradition in the Christian Church since about the 8th Century. Essentially, the service consists of the pastor putting ashes in the shape of a cross on the participant's forehead before Holy Communion is served. The ashes are a symbolic manifestation of repentance of sin, and are a direct reference to the verse in Genesis which states, "for dust you are, and to dust you shall return." (This refers to the creation story). The idea of ashes representing repentance is also rooted in the Bible, as the following article mentions.
http://www.orlutheran.com/html/ash.html
No comments:
Post a Comment