Riverside Covenant Church -- West Lafayette, IN

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February 19, 2010

Ash Wednesday

So I grew up in a church that didn’t recognize Ash Wednesday or Lent-they didn’t speak ill of either idea, but when other friends would talk about what they were sacrificing during Lent I never quite understood.  Why give up chocolate for 40 days if the Bible doesn’t specifically say to?  Well, this year I felt a funny calling to teach myself and the students about the tradition of Ash Wednesday and Lent-I really feel that the Lord has begun to open my eyes to some good traditions in the church that I have wanted to label "ritualistic" in the past.

He’s showing me that we can gain a deeper understanding of His love and sacrifice through tradition.  Anything can become a ritual with little spiritual meaning if we allow it to,  so I decided that this year Ash Wednesday could be an eye opening day of worship and self-examination. 

One of the text’s I can across put it really beautifully-that we begin to see God’s amazing love for us and His enormous sacrifice on the cross when we set aside ourselves and instead look into His beautiful face-then we can get a glimpse of His unfailing love for us.  I also came across little tidbits that I had no clue about-like the ashes used to make the cross on the foreheads of believers come from the palm fronds from the previous year’s Palm Sunday-who would’ve known?  I was also directed towards passage after passage that speak to God’s marking on the foreheads of believers-alot of them in Revelation.  Since I don’t spend a ton of time hanging out in that book I never knew how many references there were to God’s markings on us!  So Wednesday I shared all my new knowledge with the students, somewhat expecting them to be disinterested in what appears to be only a day for the catholic faith.  Boy was I wrong!  The students were intrigued by all the nuances that make up Ash Wednesday, and challenged to think about what in their lives they put before their faith. 

I gave them the option to give that up for Lent.  Just even being aware of those things is helpful, but to sacrifice for their faith takes it to a new level.  We worshiped God for all that He is, blessed our ashes, and then marked everyone’s forehead that wanted to be marked and prayed for our evening.  What a blessing to devote an evening to learning about a tradition that had confused many of us our entire lives, and most of all, to use that evening to glorify our God!!!!!

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Riverside Covenant Church
1850 Woodland Avenue
West Lafayette, Indiana 47906
765.463.4600
[email protected]
Sunday Worship 10:00 AM

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