Date: February 18, 2026
It is a lovely piece of writing. It is part biographical, part theological, and part history. It is a conversion narrative that explains why Ash Wednesday was a way into Anglicanism. You can find the article here. I recommend it to you.
Ash Wednesday is the only occasion in the Church Calendar when we come to the altar twice. Once to receive the ashes – a sign of repentance and mortality – and again to receive the sacrament of the body and blood of our Lord – a sign of redemption and hope. It is a deeply poignant service. Sin and death meets redemption and hope.
And it is the start of the holy season of Lent. A moment when we reflect afresh on our fragility in this wounded world. May God bless all those at VTS and beyond. May we have a Holy Lent.
The Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, Ph.D.
Dean and President of Virginia Theological Seminary and the President of The General Theological Seminary.Â