Lent and Protestants

I was having a conversation with a friend today about Ash Wednesday, how we are both celebrating it this year. We have both grown up Baptist and he is now recently a Presbyterian. I was telling him how our church is joining in with other churches in our community to have an Ash Wednesday service tonight, something new for most of the attenders in my church as well as for me as a Baptist pastor. I recall the practice from my short time at a Catholic school mass and from seeing the ashes on my friends, most of whom attended the local Catholic church. I grew up celebrating Advent and Maundy Thursday, but Baptists and other Protestants in general have not embraced the Lenten season(but this is changing--see the article link below). I am looking forward to beginning the season with the service tonight and especially to meeting with people from other churches and backgrounds as we set our focus on repentance and focus for the next 40 days. For a great article on this topic from Slate, visit here. Lent Ash Wednesday