Ash Wednesday – February 18, 2026

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent—a season that invites us to slow down, to remember who we are, and to return to God with honesty and humility. In a world that constantly urges us to perform, achieve, and appear put-together, Ash Wednesday offers a different word: remember.

This year’s Ash Wednesday services will center on the theme “Learning Lent: Learning to Remember—Dust and Desire.” Drawing on Joel 2:12–17 and Matthew 6:1–6, 16–21, Ben Fletcher will reflect on the truth that we are formed from dust and animated by desire: finite, fragile, and deeply loved. Lent begins not with self-improvement, but with telling the truth about our limits, our longings, and our need for grace.

We will gather for two services:

• Noon Chapel Service – a simple, reflective service of Scripture, prayer, and the imposition of ashes

• 7 p.m. Sanctuary Service with Choir – a fuller service including choral music, prayer, and the imposition of ashes

Both services offer space to pause, to receive the mark of ashes as a sign not of shame but of mercy, and to begin the Lenten journey together. Whether you come at midday or in the evening, you are invited to enter this season not with anxiety or striving, but with openness—to remember that from dust we came, and to dust we return, held always in God’s grace.