02/17/2026
Ash Wednesday Services
February 18th
12pm & 7pm
Dear Friends in Christ,
On Ash Wednesday we gather to face a truth our world often avoids: our mortality. We live in a culture that distracts itself from suffering, avoids conversations about death, and moves quickly past grief. Yet the church pauses. We slow down. We tell the truth.
“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
These words are not meant to shame us or frighten us. They are meant to ground us. They remind us of who we are — and whose we are. We are created by God from the dust of the earth. We are fragile. We are dependent. We are not self-made or self-sustaining. And yet, we are deeply loved by our Creator.
Ash Wednesday invites us to face the human condition honestly: our brokenness, our sin, our suffering, and yes, our death. But we do not face these realities alone. Even in the midst of death, God is at work. Even in suffering and despair, Christ is present. Even in ashes, there is promise of new life.
The ashes marked on our foreheads form the shape of a cross — a sign that our mortality does not have the final word. The One who entered into our dust, who bore our brokenness, and who faced death itself is the same One who leads us through it.
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of our Lenten journey — a season of repentance, reflection, prayer, and renewal. It is a journey inward, but also a journey toward the cross and ultimately toward resurrection hope. Lent invites us to return to God with our whole hearts, trusting that God’s mercy is deeper than our sin and stronger than death.
We gather on Ash Wednesday, February 18, at 12 PM and 7 PM, to be reminded of our dependence on God and the grace that meets us there.
Come and begin this holy journey together.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Alex