Ash Wednesday on Valentine’s Day

Dear Friends,

St. Valentine was beheaded as a martyr. For some reason this grisly detail is not generally emphasized in the Valentine’s Day festivities. However, seeing as how Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day are the same day this year (next Wednesday), I thought you should know. After all, we’ll say with the ashes, “You are dust and to dust you shall return,” and Valentine’s story quite dramatically illustrates one way this might happen. (Note: There will be no further mention of this at our Valentine's Vow Renewal Saturday.)

Next Wednesday, on the less-than-ideal conjunction of Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday, we will begin the season of Lent, that forty day season of preparation for Easter. At the end of last Sunday’s sermon, I invited you to cultivate holiness in this season of Lent. Today, I’m making the same exhortation digitally. Next week, I’ll make the same invitation as part of the Ash Wednesday liturgy.

As a church, St. Andrew’s “gives up” a few things for Lent, like flowers at the altar. But by and large, as a parish we tend to add things on rather than give up. As you can see in the Lenten overview below, we’ll add weekly prayer, weekly adoration, and weekly Wednesday night dinners and discipleship time. Paradoxically, these things we add corporately are designed to give us as individuals more space to simplify, to focus on God’s presence, and to encounter Christ in the middle of our weeks.

I’m particularly excited about the Wednesday night series on Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, but perhaps spending 30 minutes alone in silence with the presence of Jesus in the sacrament (adoration) would bless you more. Or perhaps you’re going to read a Lenten devotional, give up meat, or attend our Sunday morning series between the services. There are lots of ways to do this. But I do want to urge you to do something to pursue a holy Lent, not as a means to righteousness, but as a way to encounter the presence and power of God in your life.

In Christ,
Fr. Andrew

PS: My family has been hard at work brainstorming and building our umbrella floats for the Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper this year. Don’t forget to get your entry made this weekend, and then to come on Tuesday night for our great big bash before Lent begins. Word on the street is there will be an expanded menu of breakfast items. Click here to see our weekly schedule in Lent!