Feb. 14 was not only a day of love for many students this year, but also a day to begin the sacrificial Lenten season.
Many Christians use the forty days of Lent as an opportunity to honor the ultimate sacrifice Jesus made according to their faith, in turn sacrificing by giving something up for the entire period. The forty days will end on Easter Sunday, which falls on April 1 this year.
USC’s Lutheran Campus Ministry, Methodist Student Network and UKirk Presbyterian Campus Ministry gathered in Rutledge Chapel on the Horseshoe to host Ash Wednesday services. Students, faculty and staff left the church service with ashes in the symbol of a cross on their foreheads.
United Methodist campus minister, Rev. Tom Wall, has been a part of the Ash Wednesday services at USC for fifteen years. To Wall, Lent should be centered on finding perspective.
“Make sure that you are intentional. Make sure that you take up a discipline or disciplines like fasting or praying or silence or serving other people,” Wall said. “Take God more seriously than you take yourself.”
Linda Chiaccia, an architect, chose to visit Rutledge Chapel instead of her home church for the service. To her, Lent is an important part of the Christian year after the major winter holidays.
“It's nice to ... reset and move forward with a positive energy into the new year,” she said.