The Christian Season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and continues for 40 days (not counting Sundays) before culminating in Holy Week and Easter Sunday. Ash Wednesday is on March 2 this year. Easter Sunday is April 17.
On Ash Wednesday, Episcopalians, along with many other Christians in different traditions, wear a smudgy cross of ash on our foreheads to remind us of our mortality. This ancient ritual links us to countless generations who have turned humbly to God for help in absorbing the knowledge of our inevitable death in a way that will shape our living.
As always, the Ash Wednesday liturgy will mark the beginning of forty days of sitting with the knowledge of our mortality, knowledge twinned with the astonishing news of our redemption.
In recent years, because of the Covid 19 pandemic, we have had daily reminders of our mortality. Ash Wednesday takes on an added poignancy as we sit with the knowledge that Covid 19 has claimed the lives of more than one million Americans since the start of the pandemic.
Countless more have been affected by the loss of family members and friends, the loss of jobs, the impact on schooling, and on daily life. Lent is a season of reflection, offering us a time to acknowledge the austerity of the pandemic while exploring hope, grace, courage, resilience, grief, and anger, not necessarily in that order. It can remind us that even in the wilderness, we never are alone. It will allow us to step into and walk through Lent focused on the hope of Easter.
Here is a list of Ash Wednesday services and offerings of Ashes to Go by congregations of the Episcopal Church in North Texas, including a special Ash Wednesday children’s service at 4:30 pm at Trinity Episcopal Church, Fort Worth, outdoors in the garden
EPISCOPAL CHURCHES
ARLINGTON
St. Alban’s Episcopal Church
holding services at Theatre Arlington
316 W. Main, Arlington, TX 76010
7 am Ash Wednesday service (brief).
7 pm Ash Wednesday service with music and communion.
In classroom across street from Theatre Arlington
FORT WORTH
All Saints’ Episcopal Church
Now worshiping at
All Saints Chapel
All Saints’ Episcopal School
9700 Saints’ Circle
Fort Worth, TX 76108
7 pm Ash Wednesday Liturgy in the All Saints’ Episcopal School Chapel
St. Christopher Episcopal Church
Now worshiping at
St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church
5709 Wedgwood
Fort Worth, TX 76133
Phone: 817-926-8277
7 – 9 am – Ashes To Go at Starbuck’s at Trail Lake and I-20
Noon – Traditional Episcopal Ash Wednesday Liturgy at St. Matthew’s Lutheran
Church 5709 Wedgwood Dr. Fort Worth, TX 76133
7 pm – Lutheran Ash Wednesday Liturgy at St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church
5709 Wedgwood Dr. Fort Worth, TX 76133
St. Luke’s in the Meadow Episcopal Church
3021 East Rosedale, Ft. Worth, TX 76105
Phone: 817-534-4925
8-9 am – Ashes to Go at the Bell Tower in the Circle Drive on Texas Wesleyan Campus at the entrance to the University on Rosedale and Vaughn.
Noon – Traditional Ash Wednesday service, the Baker Building, 3201 E. Rosedale, Fort Worth, TX 76105.
Trinity Episcopal Church
3401 Bellaire Drive So., Ft. Worth, TX 7610
Phone: 817-926-4631
7-8 am – Drive-by Imposition of Ashes in parking lot
6 – 7 p.m – Drive-by Imposition of Ashes in parking lot
We encourage you to also watch the full Ash Wednesday service on Facebook and YouTube
Imposition of Ashes & Holy Eucharist
12 pm – Imposition of Ashes and Holy Eucharist
Children’s Service
4:30 p.m. A special Ash Wednesday children’s service will take place outdoors in the garden
Online Worship
On demand starting at 6 a.m. The full Ash Wednesday service will be available on our Facebook page and YouTube channel
Reconciliation of a Penitent (Confession) available by appointment on Ash Wednesday. You can explore this pastoral office through the Book of Common Prayer at this link. Please contact Father Robert Pace or Mother Amy Haynie to set up an appointment.
HURST/MID CITIES
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church
463 W. Harwood Road, Hurst, TX 76054-2941
Southeast corner of Harwood at Hurstview, in the Village Plaza Shopping Center
Noon – Ash Wednesday service
KELLER/SOUTHLAKE
St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church
223 S. Pearson Lane, Keller, Texas, 76248
Phone: 817-431-2396
7-9 am – Ashes to Go in parking lot
4-6 pm – Ashes to Go in parking lot
7 am – Ash Wednesday service
Noon – Ash Wednesday service
7 pm – Ash Wednesday service