Dear Friends,

Lent is a time of spiritual renewal. It is a season of preparation during the 40 days and six Sundays before Easter. Lent is a time when we reflect upon the love of God and the gift of God’s grace. It has a solemn beginning with Ash Wednesday, which is on Feb. 17 this year. On that day, with burnt palm branches crushed into ashes smudged onto foreheads, we are reminded that “from dust you came and to dust you shall return.”

Several ministry colleagues in the Eastern Panhandle Mission Community of the Shenandoah Presbytery have worked together to create a virtual Ash Wednesday service.