Dear Friends,

Lent always begins with Ash Wednesday. In the Bible ashes are used as a sign of repentance and sorrow. Ashes are also a reminder of human mortality – “ ashes to ashes, dust to dust. ” For forty days the world is a somber place as we make our Lenten journey to the foot of the cross and confront the realities of sin and death in our lives.

The good news in Jesus Christ, though, is that the season of ashes gives way to the tidings of Easter. In the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God secures salvation in a way no amount of penance on our part could ever do. In Easter God swirls the dust of mortality into the filaments of new being. Transformation and transcendence are ours in the present moment as we respond to the Gospel proclamation and receive the grace of Christ anew in our lives.

Ashes to Easter. We are on the pilgrimage. Let us see it through to the end which will become our beginning. Holy Week starts Palm Sunday April 1st. Our Maundy Thursday congregational supper starting at 5:30 will be a Seder supper followed by Communion and Tenebrae beginning starting around 7:00 p.m. April 5th. An hour long Good Friday service will be held at Westminster beginning at 1:00. We will greet Easter Sunday April 8th with the taste of ashes washed away by the new wine of the Gospel. Easter services include a community sunrise service at the bandstand at 6:00 A.M.; and an 8:30 and 10:00 service at Westminster. Our seven confirmands will be received into full membership of the Church at the ten o’clock service.

Blessings on your remaining Lenten journey.

Rev. Dr. Frank S. Deming, Jr.

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