Home Worship Planning Seasons & Holidays When Did United Methodists Start the “Imposition of Ashes” on Ash Wednesday?

When Did United Methodists Start the “Imposition of Ashes” on Ash Wednesday?

While many think of actions such as the imposition of ashes, signing with the cross, footwashing, and the use of incense as something that only Roman Catholics or high church Episcopalians do, there has been a move among Protestant churches, including United Methodists, to recover these more multisensory ways of worship. This is in keeping with a growing recognition that people have multiple ways of learning and praying.

Worship that is oriented to the intellect or to the emotions, both interior, leaves out those who engage in prayer through vision, smell, touch, movement, and so forth. We are increasingly aware that people are formed in faith when practices become embedded in memory, nerves, muscles, and bone through sensory engagment.

United Methodists have had resources for worship that include the imposition of ashes since 1979 when Ashes to Fire was published as Supplemental Worship Resource 8. This practice became part of our official worship resources in 1992 when General Conference adopted The United Methodist Book of Worship. See the service for Ash Wednesday, pp. 321-324. It is, of course, optional and no congregation or individual is required to use it.

Other such practices were adopted in 1992. See The United Methodist Book of Worship

  • footwashing for Holy Thursday, pp. 351-354
  • meditation at the cross for Good Friday, pp. 363-364
  • incense for Evening Praise and Prayer, p. 574


Daniel Benedict is retired from Discipleship Ministries.

Contact Us for Help

View staff by program area to ask for additional assistance.

Related


Subscribe

* indicates required

This is a bi-monthly email where you’ll receive the highest quality resources to support your disciple-making process. Everything from Helpful Articles, New Webinar Series and Podcasts, Discounted Teaching Series, and so much more!

Please confirm that you want to receive email from us.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. For information about our privacy practices, please read our Privacy Policy page.

We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By clicking below to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy practices here.