This is one of several posts for Ash Wednesday that will be rolling out this week. Tomorrow, an Ash Wednesday service adapted from this one by Mike Cosper will be posted.
WELCOME
Leader: [Some words of welcome.]
Ash Wednesday is not just a holiday.
It is a wake up call.
It confronts us with our mortality
and the ways we treat our lives as less than precious.
To heed this call is not to despair
but to repent,
to devote ourselves to the 40 day journey toward Easter,
where we celebrate God’s victory over death
and the promise of life.
The prophet Joel issues the wake up call.
CONFESSING
CALL TO CONFESSION: Joel 2:1, 15, 16a, 12-14a
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Reader 2:
Let us bow before God in prayer:
Almighty and Abundantly Merciful God,
in a thousand different ways,
our lives demonstrate how we have been lulled by the ways of sin and death.
We refuse to offer or seek forgiveness,
we cling to resentment, fear, and shame,
we misuse and abuse one another and your creation,
we obsess over what is trivial
and ignore what matters.
Don’t let us waste this life.
Forgive us our sin and open us to the way of salvation.
In your mercy. Amen.
DECLARATION OF PARDON
Reader 3:
Hear the good news!
Who is in a position to condemn?
Only Christ,
and Christ died for us,
Christ rose for us,
Christ reigns in power for us,
Christ prays for us.
Anyone who is in Christ
is a new creation.
The old life has gone;
a new life has begun.
You are forgiven
Be at peace.
All:
Thanks be to God.
COMMITTING TO REPENTANCE
Reader 3:
Friends in Christ,
I invite you in the name of Christ,
to observe a holy Lent,
by self-examination and penitence,
by prayer and fasting,
by works of love,
and by reading and meditating on the Word of God.
HEARING GOD’S WORD
FIRST READING: Reader 4:
Our first reading is from second Corinthians, chapter five, verse seventeen to chapter six, verse two.
This is the Word of the Lord.
ALL: THANKS BE TO GOD
SECOND READING:
Reader 5:
Our second reading is from Matthew chapter six, verses one to six and verses sixteen to twenty-one:
Matthew 6:1-6,16-21
IMPOSING ASHES
INVITATION
Reader 6:
We invite you to begin our journey to Easter
with the sign of ashes.
This ancient sign speaks of the frailty and
uncertainty of human life,
and identifies our commitment to the journey.
Let’s pray:
Almighty God,
you have created us out of the dust of the earth.
May these ashes be for us
a sign of our mortality and penitence,
and a reminder that only by your gracious gift
are we given everlasting life;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
IMPOSITION
As people come forward to receive ashes, we will sing, “Jesus Remem-ber Me.” Repeat until everyone has received ashes.
SILENCE
Two minutes of silence.
EATING AND DRINKING
INSTITUTION OF HOLY COMMUNION
Here, Mark used a communion liturgy from The Worship Sourcebook
As we celebrate the meal, sing, “Eat this Bread.” Repeat until meal is over.
SENDING OUT
CHARGE:
Mark:
We have received the sign of ashes.
We have received the bread and the cup.
The one confronts us with our mortality,
the other shows us the gift of salvation.
What does it look like to leave here and live fully aware of the fact that you are going to die?
And at the same time fully aware that you have life, eternal life?
Listen to these words from Isaiah.
Isaiah 58: 6-11
Mark:
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
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