Community Ash Wednesday Service

• 6:30pm - 7:30pm February 22, 2012
• Spring Arbor Free Methodist Church - Worship Center

Spring Arbor Free Methodist Church and Spring Arbor University Worship Arts Students will join together for this special Ash Wednesday Service.
Come and encounter the Lord as we fully enter into the season of Lent. 

Children’s activities will continue as usual.

What is Ash Wednesday?
Ash Wednesday is the start of Lent. Lent is the most holy time of remembrance in our church calendar. Ash Wednesday is not always the same day every year but is always six and a half weeks before we celebrate Easter. Worshipers attending an Ash Wednesday service will traditionally receive the ashes, from last Easter’s palm branches, in the shape of the cross on their forehead. The pastor will then say over the worshiper “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.”

What does it mean?
Ashes have been used throughout Biblical history to symbolize great humility and sorrow over sin. Daniel 9:3 So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes. Ashes can still serve to remind us of our position before Him and our dependence on Him. 
While the ashes symbolize humility and sorrow, they also serve to remind us of God’s deep love for us, His grace and mercy for those who seek Him with repentant hearts. Lent is a time of seeking God in His mercy and recognizing our helplessness with out Him. We can seek Him through a season of reflection, prayer and fasting.

Thy Mercy, My God by John Stocker
Without Thy sweet mercy I could not live here;
Sin would reduce me to utter despair;
But, through Thy free goodness, my spirits revive,
And He that first made me still keeps me alive.