Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday is one of two days of fasting observed by Anglicans. Ash Wednesday next occurs on 17 February 2010. One of the parts for the proper liturgy for Ash Wednesday [BCP page 264] is what is called the Invitation to a Holy Lent, the text of which appears below along with the the prayer that follows it.
After the Sermon, all stand, and the Celebrant or Minister appointed invites the people to the observance of a holy Lent, saying
Dear People of God: The first Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord's passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church to prepare for them by a season of penitence and fasting. This season of Lent provided a time in which converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism. It was also a time when those who, because of notorious sins, had been separated from the body of the faithful were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to the fellowship of the Church. Thereby, the whole congregation was put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the Gospel of our Savior, and of the need which all Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith. I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word. And, to make a right beginning of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us now kneel before the Lord, our maker and redeemer.
Silence is then kept for a time, all kneeling.
If ashes are to be imposed, the Celebrant says the following prayer
Almighty God, you have created us out of the dust of the earth: Grant that these ashes may be to us a sign of our mortality and penitence, that we may remember that it is only by your gracious gift that we are given everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
The ashes are imposed with the following words
Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
You can read the all of the proper liturgy for Ash Wednesday on pages 139-141 of the PDF version and pages 264-269 of the print version of The Book of Common Prayer 1979.
In closing I'd like to share a few paraphrased thoughts I gathered from a sermon by the Rt. Rev. Anthony J. Burton at Incarnation, Dallas on Ash Wednesday 2009. Ashes sybmolized two brutal truths. One that we are going to die - dust to dust and two that we come before God as sinners looking to change. The Greek word that is translated "repentance" means change of mind and that brings me to reflect on what is written in scripture about being changed by God's renewal of our minds. Lenten discipline is about mastery of self and walking away from the good that is not God. And the ashes are made from the palm crosses used on Palm Sunday the previous year and the imposition of ashes on our foreheads in this way symbolizes the cross of Christ pressed into our minds.
