Ash Wednesday Service
Get Your Ashes in Church!
Did you know....
Ash Wednesday is the first day of the penitential season of Lent.
On Ash Wednesday (Feb. 13th this year) Christians have a smudge of ashes placed on their foreheads as a sign of penitence. The ashes are obtained from palm branches that were distributed the previous Palm Sunday, they are burned and blessed.
Why we receive ashes?
Why do we put them in the sign of the cross on our foreheads? It’s a reminder of how we are sealed for Christ. When a baby is baptized the priest often uses oil to mark the child with the sign of the cross. This anointing, and the cross of ashes, are both reminders of the mark of the Lamb as described in the Revelation of John, which tells of an angel marking the faithful before the tribulation, and they would then be protected. 
The mark of the cross is a mark of ownership. These ashes remind us that we are Christ's - that he died so that we might live. It is significant that we use palm branches to make these ashes as they are a symbol of victory. By making the ashes from the palms of Palm Sunday we are reminded of how all our vic-tories are but ashes before the glory of God.
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