Carol Bennett knows her focus this Lenten season.
“I’m not in the give-up-chocolate camp,” said Bennett, prior to the Church of the Good Shepherd’s Ash Wednesday evening service. “It’s more of a time of study.”
Members of the Episcopalian church on Walton Way came together before their evening service for a simple meal.
“Ash Wednesday is a day of fasting,” said the Rev. Ted Clarkson, interim rector.
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The meal began at 6 p.m. or the end of the day, so it was an acceptable time to break the fast, he said.
Congregants shared a meal of lentil soup and bread.
Wednesday evening meals were common at the church prior to the pandemic, and the Ash Wednesday gathering was the first since March 2020.
The regular Wednesday meals will begin next week, Clarkson said.
Ash Wednesday is the traditional start of Lent, the 40 days leading to Easter.
Clarkson said it’s a day to remember people’s mortality, that people have come from dust and will return to dust.
Lent is a time of “prayer, fasting and self-denial,” he said.
In his homily, he charged those in the congregation to examine their hearts because each person has darkness somewhere inside. Pride lurks in the recesses of the heart as does a lack of faithfulness and a love of self over others.
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After finding those dark corners, it’s important to change.
One thing he told them to keep in mind was that no matter what people have done, God will always love and forgive. But they must accept that love and forgiveness.
Ash Wednesday and Lent are solemn times, but they lead to the joy of Easter, he said.
During the service, members received ashes on their forehead as a reminder of their mortality.
This year’s service was different from last year’s. Because of the pandemic, church leaders opted for a safer route in its Ash Wednesday services, not bringing the congregants together but allowing them to drive through to receive their ashes.
Church member Carol Davis said she was grateful for an in-person Ash Wednesday service this year and was looking forward to the weekly Stations of the Cross service at noon Fridays.
“Lent is just a very special season,” she said.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the managing editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com
