Ritual moments series: Ash Wednesday

Published in The Post-Star (D1)
3/2/06

"Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

The Rev. Scott Harding repeated these words dozens of times Wednesday over the kneeling figures of congregants at Church of the Messiah, an Episcopal church in downtown Glens Falls.

Each time, he dipped his right thumb into a small brass bowl in the palm of his left hand. The bowl held the ashes of burnt palm branches -- the same branches used last year to celebrate Palm Sunday, the beginning of the Holy Week before Easter.

For Christians, Ash Wednesday marks the start of the season of Lent, the 40 days preceding Easter (Sundays aren't counted). It is a season of penitence, or remorse for one's sins, and ashes have been used since Biblical times as a sign of mourning.

"Grant that these ashes may be a sign to us of our mortality and penitence, that we may remember that it is only by your gracious gift that we are given everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Savior," the congregation prayed aloud before lining up to kneel at the altar rail.

Harding worked his way down the line, wearing a simple white vestment with a long purple-and-gold scarf called a stole. The large silver cross around his neck echoed the shape he brushed onto each waiting forehead.

His blackened thumb swept down and across in two swift strokes.

After receiving the "imposition of ashes," the worshippers stood up one by one, turned around, and filed back down the few red-carpeted steps between the altar and sanctuary.

A white-haired woman clutched a friend for support on one side of the staircase, while a wobbling toddler held her grandmother's hand on the other side. All of them had the same dark mark on their foreheads, but their faces were bright and smiling.

Back in their pews, they read Psalm 51 together:

"Had you desired it, I would have offered sacrifice, but you take no delight in burnt offerings," they read aloud. "The sacrifice of God is a troubled heart. A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise."

After the service, Harding explained that the ashes are a symbol of more than just penitence.

"It's a visible reminder that we are God's creation, and we belong to him," he said.
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