Tonight, we will gather for a simple Ash Wednesday service of prayer, reflection, and communion as we begin the season of Lent together. This service also comes at a tender moment for me personally, as it will be the last time I preside at the table before my sabbatical.
Ash Wednesday invites us to slow down and tell the truth about our lives—to remember our mortality, our belovedness, and our deep need for God’s grace. Our worship will be shaped by Psalm 51 from the Book of Psalms, a text often associated with guilt and shame, but one that also opens a richer way of understanding sin and repentance. Rather than focusing on self-loathing or moral scorekeeping, we will explore repentance as turning—turning toward truth, toward healing, toward the God who longs to create in us clean hearts and renewed spirits.