Vermillion churches prepare to celebrate Ash Wednesday

With the arrival of Ash Wednesday and Lent, churches around the Vermillion area have planned several services and activities to celebrate.

The ways in which these occasions are celebrated varies on which denomination of Christianity each church follows.

Those who attend the Saint Thomas More Newman Center, for example, observe Ash Wednesday and the Lent season through Mass and the Stations of the Cross, along with having a weekly discussion Thursday evenings.

Ash Wednesday services at the Newman Center are scheduled for 12 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., Father Norfolk, the Newman Center priest, said.

“This will begin Lent in which we will have other activities throughout the 40 Days of Lent such as the Stations of the Cross each Friday at 3 p.m. and a Thursday evening talk on Lent discussing prayer, fasting and almsgiving,” he said.

Jenna Peterson, a student missionary at the Newman Center, said Stations of the Cross is an ancient tradition in the Catholic Church.

“This tradition started in the year 312 by our Blessed Mother,” Peterson said. “It is said that she visited the scenes of our Lords’ passion daily. Catholics celebrate this devotion all over the world in the season of Lent, which is our preparation of 40 days before our Lord Jesus Christ was put to death on the cross.”

Other churches around Vermillion will simply have a service and some type of meal.

First United Methodist Church, for example, is having a single service Wednesday at 7 p.m., which will include the imposition of the ashes.

Trinity Lutheran Church is also holding worship at 7 p.m.  and will also be having Holy Communion.

There are also churches that are observing Ash Wednesday as a day of fellowship and learning. Stephen Miller, a United Church of Christ pastor, said they’re having what he calls “a learning service along with a soup supper beforehand.”

The soup supper begins at 5:30 p.m., and the service begins at 6 p.m.

“It is called a teaching service because it will be very informal with lots of explanation of the history, rituals and practices surrounding Ash Wednesday and Lent,” Miller said. “This is especially good for children or anyone new to the spirituality of this season.”