Baptists Recovering Lost Catholic Treasure of Lent

In yet another demonstration of Christ continuing to unify His Church, I read that a number of Baptist churches have begun Ash Wednesday services and are encouraging their congregations to prepare for Easter by keeping the liturgical season of Lent.

Most Baptists churches continued their tradition of focusing on scripture by starting special Lenten scripture studies:

"This year for lent we held an Ash Weds here at our Baptist Church (not a normal thing for a ‘free church’). The other unusual thing was that we held it Shrove Tues for a number of logistical reasons. It was most of our groups first experiece of ash weds and we did some further thinking around lent."

"We started a Wednesday Night Bible Study series on Ash Wednesday called Eyeing Easter. Former Baptist World Alliance General Secretary Denton Lotz wrote the material and invited his readers to take a journey of personal reflection during this "in between time" called Lent."

A few Baptist Churches went further and imposed ashes on their congregations:

"Last night during our Wednesday evening service this author introduced Ash Wednesday to our church. We first talked about the history of Lent and of Ash Wednesday and how we can use these times to strengthen our own faith and resolve to stand against Satan and the world. ...

...We talked about how other churches have priests administer the ashes, but how since we are all priests we can do this for ourselves. ...

That is what is so wonderful about being a Baptist, we are free to find a celebrate lost treasures from our Christian past and give them new meaning and life to a new generation."

Actually, what our Baptist friend, who is new to Ash Wednesday, doesn't realize is that imposition of ashes is not restricted to Catholic priests alone. Deacons and lay persons also may impose ashes on any baptised Christian. Personally, I hope our fellow Baptists will continue to recover the lost treasures thrown out by the Reformers.

My favorite quote by a Baptist minister is this one by Rev. Jeremy Rutledge of Covenant Baptist Church:

"I put my thumb into a bowl of ashes and I put the ashes on someone's forehead and tell him he is going to die," Rutledge told the Chronicle. "It is incredibly powerful."

Dude! With a quote like that, it shouldn't be too long before all Baptists ministers take up imposing ashes. Of course, not all Baptists like the idea of Ash Wednesday and Lent, as Michael at The Boar's Head Tavern can attest:

"Of course, doing the service early meant the ashes were visible all day. This prompted one of the deacons of the local Baptist church that I’ve been attending to take the opportunity to ridicule some men wearing the ashes and to ask where the priest was who did that? I’m trying to give up denominational bigotry for Lent, so no comment. Or was it dessert?"

Please feel free to share any similar happenings in your non-Catholic place of worship. Comments will be open through February.

Sources:
Weird Hippy
Danny Chisholm
Spiritual Samurai
The Boar's Head Tavern
moldova.org