Lenten season begins today

From North Carolina-

Today marks the first day of Lent, and many Pitt County citizens will attend Ash Wednesday services at a variety of churches.
Lent is a traditional Christian period of prayer, penitence and giving leading up to Easter, said Bob Hudak, rector at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.

“We are to be generous to our neighbors, and many people give up things,” Hudak said. “I follow the idea of fasting from selfishness and feasting on service.”
Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, occurs 46 days before Easter and is observed by the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of believers as a sign of repentance.
The ashes are traditionally worn on the forehead until they wear off.

“The ashes are a symbol of our mortality, that we are given the gift of life and eventually need — not on our own timetable and not in our control — to give that life back to God,” Hudak said. “Ashes in rituals have meant a new time and start of religious renewal. The rituals of Ash Wednesday in the Episcopal church are about acknowledging our sinfulness personally and communally.”

Many churches burn the palm crosses used in the previous year’s Palm Sunday services.
At St. Paul’s, church members gathered Tuesday to burn palms and enjoy a pancake dinner, marking the beginning of a time of fasting and the giving up of certain comforts and addictions, Hudak said.

Ash Wednesday and Lent are observed by many denominations including Catholics, Lutherans, Churches of God, United Methodist churches and some Baptist and Presbyterian churches.

http://www.reflector.com/news/lenten-season-begins-today-23677