Lent
The beginning of Lent is based on when Easter, a moveable feast, falls. Ash Wednesday is the beginning of the Lenten observance. It is a day where we are reminded of our mortality, the brevity and fragility of our lives, and our need to repent of sin and be reconciled to one another before God. Lent is 40 days long, excluding Sundays which are always a remembrance of the Resurrection. During the season of Lent, our church is outfitted in purple banners and vestments, flowers are not present, and the mood is somber. There is no blessing at the end of the Sunday worship - instead there is a prayer over the people said by the priest. Worship begins with the Penitential Order placing the confession of sin at the beginning of the service. Baptisms and weddings are not performed in Lent because of its penitential focus. It is a time of preparation for the Easter feast.
Ash Wednesday
11:30 am - Holy Eucharist with Imposition of Ashes (spoken)
7 pm - Holy Eucharist with Imposition of Ashes (sung with Choir)