Ash Wednesday Service 

Wednesday, 5th March at 10am at St. John's

Ash Wednesday (5th March) marks the beginning of Lent. St. John’s Church, New Alresford will hold a Holy Communion service at 10am with ashing to mark the start of Lent.



What is Lent? 
What does Ash Wednesday represent?

Lent is a time of preparation – lasting 40 days - for the events of Holy Week & Easter. Easter was traditionally the time when baptisms were celebrated, and the time when those who had become separated from the communion of the Church because of their serious sins were restored to the Church’s fellowship. This means that Lent has a solemn character. It is the season of the year where the disciplines of penitence, self-examination, self-denial & study are practised. Almsgiving has also traditionally been associated with Lent.

Originally these Lenten disciplines were adopted by candidates for baptism and penitents preparing themselves to be readmitted to communion, but it became the custom for the whole Christian community to join in the process of study, preparation and repentance. The Lenten disciplines happened over forty days to remind Christians of the forty days that Jesus spent in the wilderness, being tested by Satan.

Ashes are an ancient sign of penitence, and from the Middle Ages it became the custom to begin Lent by being marked in ash with the sign of the cross. It is for that reason that the first day of Lent – Ash Wednesday – is so called. Liturgical dress is at its simplest during Lent. Churches are kept bare of flowers and decoration. The Gloria in excelsis is not said or sung. The joyful word alleluia is not used. However, the Fourth Sunday of Lent (known variously as Laetare or Refreshment Sunday) was provided as a day of relief from the rigours of fasting - it is the day on which in more recent times the Church has kept Mothering Sunday.

As Holy Week approaches, the atmosphere of the season darkens; the readings begin to anticipate the story of Christ’s suffering and death, The events of Maundy Thursday are dramatic. During Communion we commemorate how Christ on the first Maundy Thursday instituted the Holy Communion at his Last Supper, and how our Lord then went in obedience to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray and to await his betrayal. Which we commemorate with a vigil after our Maundy Thursday Service. On Good Friday we watch and witness Christ’s death, then we wait…