Wednesday, February 17, 1999
More foreheads showing ash cross
Today marks start of Lent
BY JULIE IRWIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Thousands of Tristate residents will go to their churches today to receive the smudged cross on the forehead that signifies the beginning of Lent.
Ash Wednesday is observed by Catholics, Episcopalians, Lutherans and increasingly by other mainline Protestants such as Presbyterians and Methodists. The ashes, usually the remnants of the burned palms carried on the previous Palm Sunday, represent sorrow over sins.
Ash Wednesday begins the 40-day observance of Lent, a time of repentance that leads to Easter. The 40 days is a reference to the period of time Jesus spent in the desert being tempted by the devil.
“The point of Lent is really a period of conversion, that we become close to the Lord by changing our life,” said the Rev. Jeff Kemper, professor of liturgy and sacramental theology at the Athenaeum of Ohio in Mount Washington. Applying ashes “is not to show off, but to bring us to a conversion of the heart.”
Members of Kennedy Heights Presbyterian Church have had Ash Wednesday services for about a decade. The Rev. Martha Sexton, pastor of the church, said there are several reasons for an upswing in Ash Wednesday observance among mainline Protestants.
“I think with the spiritual hunger taking hold among people in this country right now, special worship services like that really feed the hunger. It provides something people are really wanting,” she said.
“And as Presbyterians, we've made an effort in the last 25 years to be more in touch with Christian tradition, things that we've neglected for a century.”
Not all Christians observe Ash Wednesday or Lent. Baptists, Pentecostals and other traditions find no biblical basis.
“We've had periods of prayer, but (Lent) has never become part of our tradition,” said the Rev. Dr. Dino Sinesi, director of missions for the Cincinnati Baptist Association.
“I'm from New Orleans, the Mardi Gras mentality, and we had a lot to repent for the day after Mardi Gras ... (but) we as Baptists have always shied away from saying one day a year is more important than the rest for seeking forgiveness.”
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