Ash Wednesday Service
Wednesday, February 10, 2016 - 7:00pm
A Service of Confession, Repentance, Prayer, and Commitment to End Racism
As a nation we continue to be confronted by police violence against African Americans, such as the killing of Tamir Rice in Cleveland, and many more, across the nation. As white Christians we are mostly silent in the face of this systemic oppression and fail to see our collective responsibility. In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. implied that it was not racist vigilantes that disappointed him most but "the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice.”
In the aftermath of the Charleston, South Carolina church shooting by a white supremacist, the African Methodist Episcopal Church’s Council of Bishops challenged our nation to break the silence on racism and to act. They wrote, “we would not continually have Fergusons and Baltimores if it were not for racism.” On Ash Wednesday we are asked to break the silence and to put our faith into action!
As many Christians across the world start the Lenten journey on Ash Wednesday and engage in the spiritual discipline of “giving something up” or fasting, we turn to the prophet Isaiah who reflected on the will of God, saying,
Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke? (Isaiah 58:6)
Join Westminster as we host First Presbyterian Church and the Office of Interfaith Campus Ministry of The College of Wooster for an Ash Wednesday Service of “Confession, Repentance, Prayer, and Commitment to End Racism” on February 10 at 7:00 p.m. While the service takes its inspiration from the Christian tradition and will include the imposition of ashes, this event is open to all as we work together for a more just world.
You are also invited to join us for a potluck meal prior to the service in The Meeting Place starting at 5:30 p.m. Please bring enough food to share with your family and others as students are invited to simply attend.
Service at 7:00 p.m. with Potluck prior to the service at 5:30 p.m.
« Back to Calendar
