By Brooke, CBF field personnel
We are used to having a packed backyard on Thursday nights. Each week, the young adult ministry gathers for dinner and Bible study. However, the first week in March looked a little different. We changed from a Thursday gathering to a Wednesday gathering. It was something new and meaningful for us, our first Ash Wednesday service. It came from a group of young adults last year asking if we could observe Ash Wednesday together this year.
The evening began with a conversation of Ash Wednesday, discussions of its history and meaning. Why do we do it? Where did it come from? Why is it observed by Christians around the world? This was all new to many of us.
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, the 40-day journey leading to Easter. It’s a time set aside for reflection, repentance and spiritual preparation. The ashes, traditionally made from burning the palm branches of the previous year’s Palm Sunday, are placed on foreheads in the sign of the cross. As they are applied, the words are spoken, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” It’s a deeply humbling act, a physical reminder of our mortality, our need for grace and the hope we have in Christ.
Historically, Lent mirrors the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the wilderness, facing temptation and preparing for his ministry. It’s a call to journey inward, to clear away distractions and re-center our lives on God. For centuries, Christians have marked this season with fasting, prayer and acts of service, not out of obligation, but as a spiritual discipline that makes space for grace.
After the discussion, we moved into a time for the imposition of ashes. Although we didn’t have any palm branches from last year, we found some charcoal to mix with coconut oil. One by one, we came forward to receive the ashes on our foreheads, each person hearing and reflecting on the ancient words.
We ended with dinner together, nothing fancy, just good food, laughter and connection in the backyard. It was fitting to start the Lenten season this way: grounded in truth, surrounded by friends and nourished in body and spirit.
This backyard gathering was the start to our Lenten season this year. We look forward to being together each week, culminating in Holy Week, and when we will gather in our backyard again to observe another ancient tradition, a Seder Dinner, a time to remember the Last Supper and the meaning behind it. Let us not forget Easter, when we will celebrate the hope and new life found in the resurrection.
In hosting this Ash Wednesday gathering, we discovered something powerful: that sacred things can happen in ordinary spaces. That worship doesn’t always need pews and stained glass. Sometimes, all it takes is a few friends, a handful of ashes and hearts turned toward God.