We encourage you to take this information and work with your own worship team to contextualize it for your community of faith. At the end are links for additional articles and information. We begin by sharing some scenarios and then offering some practical ideas for imposing the ashes safely.

Below are some suggested considerations for your preparations for Ash Wednesday. However, as COVID-19 cases continue to soar, churches are left with the task of re-envisioning these liturgical markers while keeping faithful to their importance and meaning in the community of faith. For some churches, this time of Lent begins on the eve of Ash Wednesday, known as Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, where Christians party for one last day and clean out the pantry as fasting (one of the spiritual disciplines during Lent) begins on Ash Wednesday. The marking of ashes in the shape of a cross on the foreheads of believers as a reminder of mortality and belonging is how Christians begin the forty-day journey of Lent leading to Easter and ultimately the Day of Pentecost. Each year, Christians worldwide attend church services centered on the liturgical act known as the imposition of ashes. Ash Wednesday, February 17 this year, is the beginning of the Lent-Easter-Pentecost-cycle of the Christian year.

Drive UP imposition of ashes