A Modern Ash Wednesday Service

Updated for 2026

Introduction to Ash Wednesday

(if you are interested in a traditional Ash Wednesday Service, click here.)

Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent, a season of reflection, repentance, and renewal in the Christian calendar. Ash Wednesday typically takes place in February or March, forty days before Easter (excluding Sundays).

With the imposition of ashes—a symbol of our frailty and repentance—we are reminded of the words, “You are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19). Life, in other words, is never guaranteed.

This journey provides, in the words of Beth Bevis,

ample time for self-examination and spiritual reorientation, the duration of forty days symbolically aligns Lent with biblical examples of preparation, fasting, and journeying toward liberation—recalling, for instance, Jesus’s forty days of fasting in the wilderness before beginning his ministry, as well as the Israelites’ forty years of desert-wandering before their deliverance into the Promised Land. (Read the full quote here)

Yet, Ash Wednesday is not focused only on sorrow; it is also a call to hope. We place our trust in our lord Jesus Christ, who already overcame death. As we turn our hearts toward Jesus Christ, we embrace His grace and begin a journey of transformation that will make its way to the cross, and then finally the empty tomb, the first fruits of everlasting life.

(See our worship guides for more Ash Wednesday and Lent resources.)

More Ash Wednesday Resources

Find Ash Wednesday services, sermon resources, and prayers in TPW's Ash Wednesday Worship Guide.