Ash Wednesday Service

A time of prayer, scripture, and reflection to begin Lent. Ashes will be offered on the forehead for those who wish to receive them.

The Good News is... all are invited

Luke 14:15-24 (Parable of the wedding banquet) 

We begin Ash Wednesday with an open invitation. Instead of inviting people to focus internally on fasting and self-deprivation during Lent, this parable invites us into a communal feast. The host of the party sends a servant to search the entire city to bring people in: “Go to the highways and back alleys and urge people to come in so that my house will be filled.”(CEB) Though the net is cast wide, too many guests deny the invitation, instead focusing on their individual concerns. Yet, the host’s invitation is persistent. They search high and low for the dispossessed and the vulnerable, perhaps those who are hungry to accept the invitation. As guests…