Al Anderson [re~born]

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Ash Wednesday Questions

I am a United Methodist. My church held a Ash Wednesday service last night and I was curious about the symbolism of it all so I did a quick Google for it and found out some interesting information about it.

Just as a background, United Methodists believe that the essentials of faith we are unified, in everything else liberty. So, it is not a requirement that we have an Ash Wednesday ceremony but we are free to observe it.

First, what’s it all about.

Resurection and the Holy Spirit. Forty days after the resurection the spirit was imparted to the apostles. Hence Lent is forty days. It is arainged on the christian calendar so that it is forty days prior to Easter but historicly it occured after Easter.

But why ashes?

Repentance and mourning. In the Old Testament ashes are placed on the head to humble someone and physically show a broken spirit. Also, the symbol on the forehead is a mark of ownership. So, it means “I belong to Jesus”.

It helped me to understand why I had ashes on my head.

1. Only by IMing Allegrezza and telling him I was going to mark his forehead black. and cornhole him for abandoning me to be tied to a three-legged dog.
   
   (remember the crotherisms?)
   — webjones    Feb 12, 22:52    #
2. I came by to see if there was something engaging to read.
   
   ;-)
   — webjones    Feb 26, 23:10    #