AUBURN - A season of penance, reflection and fasting, the 40 days of Lent are spent in preparation for Easter Sunday.

Many local Christians attended special services Wednesday, the first day of Lent.

“Lent is a time of preparation, of repentance, of looking inward and thinking about how we are going to proceed with the gift of Jesus in our life again,” explained the Rev. Thomas Drake of Calvary Presbyterian Church. “Ash Wednesday is the beginning point of a process that will last throughout the Lenten season, and then with Easter and the resurrection, it blossoms out.”

Although traditions vary among different denominations, most Ash Wednesday services include a ritual during which worshippers receive an ashen mark on their foreheads, a visible symbol of penitence.

At Calvary Presbyterian, this year's Ash Wednesday service also included scripture readings and special music from the Taize tradition, a form of worship that is distinguished by short songs sung in repetition.

As an offering, parishioners wrote prayers on slips of paper. These were collected and burned along with the remnants of palms from last year's Palm Sunday celebration.

Then at Drake's invitation, worshippers were invited to receive the ashen marks on their foreheads.

“The mark is in the shape of a cross,” said Drake. “It's a sign of repentance. It's a sign of looking inward, a sign of emptying oneself before the King. The words I use when I put the crosses on are, 'Remember, thou art dust and to dust thou shall return.' So it's also a reminder of our mortality in the face of the Resurrection.”

After tracing the ashen cross, Drake handed each worshipper a token with the words, “Lent is to follow. Lent is to watch. Lent is to Listen. Lent is to Pray.” inscribed on it.

Drake said that the Ash Wednesday service is a new experience for many in his congregation. “It's more a Catholic and an Episcopalian tradition,” he said.

“It's a relatively new experience for Protestants to have this more highly liturgical experience. So we kind of mix and match and do whatever we can. I designed this service four years ago, and each year we get a few more people. The reaction's been very positive.”

“I think this is only the fourth year we've been doing this,” said parishioner Catherine Bogart. “We never had it in our church, but when Tom came he started it, and it's just been growing each year. We get the ashes on our foreheads, and it really brings you to thinking about this time of year.”

Ruth Parker, who also attended the service, agreed. “I've never been to this kind of a service before and I thought it was wonderful,” she said. “It's a solemn time and it was very peaceful. I just feel very comfortable. Very at peace.”

Drake said that the Ash Wednesday service had a special sentiment because it was more experiential than a regular service.

“For many Protestants, worship is cerebral,” he said. “It's a mental agreement or ascent to doctrine, but this service brings the feelings and the senses.”

“It's meant to be holistic - body, mind, and spirit. Body of course with the ashes, the readings is the mind, and the spirit is the repetition as well as the symbolic actions that we do like the burning of the prayers and the ashes.”

Drake hopes that the unique Ash Wednesday service inspired people in attendance.

“I hope they took away an awareness of themselves in relationship to God, God's claim on them, and most important, God's deep love and willingness to empower them.”