Question: I saw a number of people putting ashes on their forehead and people also have shared they have to give up things for Lent. Can you briefly explain what is Lent and why so many people find it important to give up things for Lent? Curious

Answer: Think back to Shrove Tuesday, or Mardi Gras if you will. We have a lot of fun together. There is eating, drinking (for some) and just a time to be with one another. We do this to have fun because the next day is Ash Wednesday, and we begin a very penitential season. The season of Lent.

Ash Wednesday is a time we begin to reflect on our lives: what is working and what we need to work on. In Alcoholics Anonymous, this is called working the fourth and fifth steps. We take inventory of our lives over the past year, not out of shame but as a time to just see where we are and where we are “missing the mark.”   

One of the first rites is the imposition of ashes, usually done during a worship service. The ashes are placed on our forehead in the shape of a cross and usually the words said are, “You are dust and to dust you shall return.” Ashes have been for a long time in our tradition a sign of repentance. This is a time not of beating ourselves up but instead recognizing the limitations of our humanity.  

Another practice people engage in is “giving something up for Lent.” We do this to recognize how much we are trapped by material things and unhealthy practices. Sometimes people give up something like chocolate; other times it is a behavior, like shopping online.  

It reminds us of the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness dealing with many temptations, how he struggled with them and how he was able to resist them. It is something that most people keep to themselves or tell a spiritual guide. Another practice is to take something on; for instance, volunteering at a school or soup kitchen during Lent remembering our call to serve Christ in all persons.

There is no right way to do this. But if you have more questions you always have the opportunity to talk to a priest or deacon or a lay leader in the church.  

Blessings as we continue this season of Holy Lent.

The Rev Dina Fulgoni, Deacon 
St. Luke’s of the Mountains Episcopal Church 

Answer: Some Christian traditions follow a calendar of sacred seasons and holidays; Lent is one of those seasons. It’s the six weeks leading up to Easter and it starts on a day called Ash Wednesday – that’s when you saw people with ashes on their forehead.

In the earliest days of the church, right after Jesus, new converts to Christianity got baptized on the night before Easter so the six weeks of Lent were a time to prepare for that. It was a time to examine your conscience – sort of like people in AA do a “searching moral inventory” as one of their 12 steps – and to undertake whatever steps you could to eliminate sin and purify yourself before getting baptized.

Since Lent was a time to deal with your sins, Ash Wednesday, the first day of the season, was a time of particular penitence and remembering that life is short, so the time to repent is now – hence the mark of ashes, like the “ashes to ashes, dust to dust” said at funerals.

In our time, Lent is a little less strict about the focus on your sins but it’s still a time to try to eliminate something that might be getting in the way of your spiritual life. Let’s say most days you’re too busy to pray; in Lent, you might give up watching the news in the morning and take that time to pray instead.

Hope that helps. Try it; you may like it! 

The Rev Amy Pringle, Rector 
St. George’s Episcopal Church