Grace@Calvary Church pastor the Rev Tara Lynn receives ashes at Diamond Park as part of Ash Wednesday services in 2015. Butler County churches are adding services or midweek lessons to keep congregants' attention focused on self-reflection and penance.

Ash Wednesday ushered in the observance of Lent, a six-week period of prayer, penance, self denial and almsgiving ending on Easter Sunday.

Area churches have several methods to help the preparation of the believer for Easter.

For example, Lutheran churches in the county will add a rotating series of Wednesday worship services and speakers throughout Lent, said the Rev. Kimberly van Driel, pastor of First English Lutheran Church, 241 N. Main St.

“The Butler Area Lutheran Ministries is going to have a series of Wednesday services, prayers and speakers,” she said.

The first one is slated for 7 p.m. Wednesday at Trinity Lutheran Church, 120 Sunset Drive, Center Township.

Van Driel said, “Each service will depend on the congregation. Each has a different style of worship.”

The additional services are to emphasize the self-assessment and repentance aspects of Lent, she said.

“The purpose is to remind us we are children of God through baptism. For Lutherans, it is a fundamental aspect of God's grace,” said van Driel. “It is our identity of being a child of God.”

“Our vocation is to serve our neighbors and interact with our neighbors,” she added.

“ For us it is a time to reflect more deeply on what it means to be a baptized child of God and the possibilities of grace that Jesus has offered us,” she said.

To aid in that reflection, Trinity Lutheran Church is opening its sanctuary from 4 to 5 p.m. Saturday for prayer and reflection before the 5:30 p.m. worship service.

Trinity pastor, the Rev. Joel Benson, said, “It's a thing we do for Lent. We've done it for at least the past couple of years. It's 4 to 5 p.m. every Saturday.

“In the past, it's mostly been members of the church,” said Benson. “But people from the community are welcome.”

“Lent is a time for prayer and reflection and this gives people the time and the space to do that,” said Benson.

Christ Community United Methodist Church, 205 N. Duffy Road, finds a series of Bible study sessions in Lent concentrates attention.

The church will have an hour Lenten Bible Study from 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesdays and from 10 to 11 a.m. Thursdays beginning March 13 and running to April 17, said church secretary Karen Egan.

Egan said, “The lessons are taught by the Rev. Bruce Gascoin and they are to keep concentration on Lent and what it means. The church has been doing it for years.”

Mars United Presbyterian Church, 232 Crowe Ave., is one church that combines food for thought with just plain food as it begins a series of Lenten lunches starting at noon Friday and running every Friday up to and including Good Friday, said church secretary Shelly Bocheff.

The Rev. James Steiner will be the speaker during the luncheon. All are welcome to attend.

“People can eat and there is a speaker,” said Bocheff. “The deacons provide and make the luncheon. We have different speakers, often different pastors from different churches.

“It's a long tradition at this church, and the lunches are open to the community,” said Bocheff. “We get about 50 to 60 in the fellowship hall each week.

“The lunches are part of the Lenten season of self reflection,” Bocheff said. “And there's fellowship in coming in to cook the lunches.”