The Bishop of Chichester Mark Warner is taking to the streets of Brighton this morning (Wednesday 18 February) to offer Ash Wednesday blessings.
After pancakes yesterday on Shrove Tuesday he and his fellow bishops of the Diocese of Chichester will practise an old custom to mark the start of Lent.
Dr Warner is making his way from Brighton Station down Queen’s Road to a meeting in the Mayor’s Parlour at Brighton Town Hall with the mayor of Brighton and Hove Brian Fitch.
He will be offering passers-by the ancient custom of “ashing” and responding to prayer requests.
The bishop will also celebrate the Ash Wednesday service in Chichester Cathedral at 5.30pm.
He said: “The day is about prayer. It is about anything that seriously matters to people in their lives. We all have hurts that need to be healed.
“By walking the streets and talking to people as they travel to work or college or simply to do the shopping or catch a train, we simply offer them a chance for a moment of reflection or prayer as we enter a valuable time of the year in the Christian calendar.”
The Bishop of Lewes, Richard Jackson, will lead acts of worship at Christ Church Blacklands at 9.30am and will do the same in Shoreham, at St Mary de Haura, at 7.30pm.
Churches across the diocese will be offering a wide range of Ash Wednesday services as priests and people gather across Sussex to observe one of the most poignant days in the Christian year.
Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. It is 46 days – or 40 weekdays plus 6 Sundays – before Easter.
It takes its name from the practice of blessing ashes made from palm branches blessed on the previous year’s Palm Sunday and placing them in the sign of the cross on the heads of participants.
