The service that begins our Lenten journey, known as Ash Wednesday, is February 26, 2020. This is a service of penitence and humbleness, giving us time to reflect on our own mortality and sinfulness and allowing us time to turn from those things in our lives that we know are harmful and not Christ centered.

Ash Wednesday takes on a deeper meaning by being the entrance point to the Lenten season—a season in the church year where we remember the forty days before the crucifixion; where we make preparation for the celebration of the major event of the liturgical year and for the central  event of our lives: the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Ash Wednesday becomes a poignant remembrance of last year’s Palm Sunday and Easter celebrations, for we have saved the palm branches from that service and we burn them until they become ash which is then used to create a sign of penitence upon our foreheads this year. The use of ashes during the service  gives an outward sign of our inward connection to the hope of death and resurrection. It also reminds us that we were formed from the dust of the earth, and that we will return to the earth at our last day. Highland’s ministers will also impose ashes on all infants, toddlers, and preschoolers who will be in childcare, as well as Carol Choir, and their teachers.

Join us on Wednesday, February 26, 2020, at 6:15 p.m., in the Sanctuary, to experience a journey toward Easter filled with the wholeness and humanity that God dreams for us.