As worshippers entered the dim sanctuary, they could tell that this wasn\u2019t the usual Wednesday night prayer meeting in the First Baptist Church of Gretna, Va.<\/p>\n\n
First, there was quiet music, candlelight and a meditative atmosphere. After awhile, worship leaders began reading verses from the Psalms, such as: \u201cHave mercy upon me, O God. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me.\u201d Then everyone sang \u201cAmazing grace! How sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me!\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Finally, participants were invited to walk the aisle and have ashes applied to their foreheads in the shape of a cross. Yes, First Baptist in Gretna held an Ash Wednesday service last year and it will do so once again next week, opening the Lenten season that precedes Easter.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cTo tell you the truth, we didn\u2019t do the sign of the cross on the forehead part at first,\u201d said the Rev. M. Glenn Graves, describing the rites that began three years ago in his church. \u201cThat kind of thing tends to freak Baptists out, you know? So we just let them stick their own hands down in the urn the first time and get ashes all over themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
For one thing, the ashes were really thick and hard to handle that first year. Christians have long added to the symbolism of these rites by using ashes created by burning palm branches saved from Palm Sunday the previous year. But there\u2019s the rub. Palm Sunday rites are almost as rare in Baptist circles as Ash Wednesday services. Since Graves didn\u2019t have any old palm leaves around his church, he burned a dried-out Christmas tree instead. Since then, he has found that friendly florists will hand over a few palm branches.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cWe could do Palm Sunday, but that would open up Holy Week and there you go,\u201d he said, laughing. \u201cThen my people would really accuse me of being a Baptist-Episcopalian-Roman Catholic. That\u2019s the thing about traditions like that. They all seem to be connected and once you use one of them it\u2019s hard to know where to stop adding things to the calendar.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Graves is convinced many people in Protestant pews would welcome a chance to find symbolic ways to deal with sticky issues such as sin, repentance, forgiveness and their own mortality \u2013 even if the \u201cnew\u201d rites are really centuries old. After asking a few tough questions, his flock has accepted Ash Wednesday as a chance to face \u201cthe dark side of their souls,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cFor those of us who are new at this, it is awkward, much like our confessed sins,\u201d he wrote, in an article in Baptists Today, a national newspaper for those in the \u201cmoderate\u201d wing of Baptist life. \u201cHowever, the shared, solemn occasion has left a mark on us like the dark ashes we carry on our foreheads.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
First Baptist in Gretna \u2013 located about 38 miles south of Lynchburg \u2013 hasn\u2019t based its rites directly on a Catholic liturgy or the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. Instead, Graves said he adopted a very Baptist approach to tiptoeing into ancient traditions. He went to a mainline Protestant bookstore and bought a copy of \u201cThe New Handbook of the Christian Year.\u201d Then his church started experimenting.<\/p>\n\n
Graves suggested that churches that want to try Ash Wednesday services should start with their own frameworks of scriptures and familiar music about sin and repentance \u2013 such as \u201cAmazing Grace.\u201d For some people, this more formal approach to worship may seem like \u201cgoing through the motions,\u201d he said. But for many others, it will provide a chance to form ties to believers in the past.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cSometimes you just have to pull some stuff from here and some stuff from there and then give it a shot,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause I\u2019m a Baptist, I\u2019m free to pick and choose. I\u2019m free to choose the parts of a liturgy that I\u2019m comfortable with and to avoid the parts that I know will make my people uncomfortable. You have to find out what works for your people.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As worshippers entered the dim sanctuary, they could tell that this wasn\u2019t the usual Wednesday night prayer meeting in the First Baptist Church of Gretna, Va. First, there was quiet music, candlelight and a meditative atmosphere. After awhile, worship leaders began reading verses from the Psalms, such as: \u201cHave mercy upon me, O God. Wash […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n