This liturgy is an adaptation of Mark Roeda’s Ash Wednesday Liturgy (see yesterday’s post)
Song: Psalm 25 by Joe Day
Leader:
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent – the 40 days leading up to Easter. This season has been observed by many different traditions in the church for hundreds of years. Our goal in observing lent is not to earn favor with God by fasting and praying, but to allow us a season to reflect on the reality of the darkness that surrounds us. We live in a world that is permeated with disease, with cancer and AIDS, with starvation and poverty. We see injustice and misery in one part of the world and excess and luxury in another. We see ourselves in the mirror and know the sin that dwells in us, and it’s a reality we often want to look away from.
The Gospel speaks to all of these realities – it speaks to the suffering in the world and promises the hope of the resurrection and the hope of Jesus making all things new. It speaks to the evil in our hearts and condemns the sin to death, while freeing us from our condemnation. This is the hope we proclaim relentlessly.
Lent is not a season to deny hope, but rather to remind us why we need hope. It’s a season when we observe the darkness around and within us in anticipation of celebrating the light and hope of Easter morning. We look remember our death to prepare for the celebration of the promise of eternal life. So like Moses time on Sinai, like Elisha’s time on Horeb, and like Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness, we take this journey of prayer and fasting together.
Several years ago, Si Smith – an English cartoonist – decided to reflect on Lent by drawing a picture for each day of Lent. Let’s begin our meditation this morning by seeing what he did.
{ Video based on Si Smith’s artwork. }
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.
CALL TO CONFESSION: Joel 2:1, 15, 16a, 12-14a
SONG: Merciful God by Keith and Kristyn Getty and Stuart Townend (see their website for details)
Imposition of the Ashes
We begin our journey to Easter with the sign of ashes.
This ancient sign speaks of the frailty and uncertainty of human life,
It calls us to heartfelt repentance, and urges us to place our hope in God alone.
Father God,
you have created us out of the dust of the earth.
May these ashes remind us of our mortality and frailty
and teach us again that only by your gracious gift
are we given everlasting life
through Jesus Christ, our Savior.
Amen.
I want to invite all of you who desire to take this journey into Lent to come forward now. The ashes will be placed on your forehead in the sign of a cross – a reminder that from dust you were made and to dust you will return.
(Instrumental Music during the ashes)
DECLARATION OF PARDON
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.
Thanks be to God.
(You may be seated)
The invitation to Lent is an invitation to a season of prayer and fasting. Fasting is a biblical practice, carried out by Christians for generation where we learn – as Jesus tells us – that we don’t live on bread alone, but by the sustaining word of God. There are as many ways to fast during Lent as there are people on the earth. Some people give up sweets or chocolate. Others give up TV or internet surfing. The point is not to make some grand gesture to appease God. The point is to create a new space in our life to acknowledge our dependence on the Lord – or as the case may be, something other than the Lord. Fasting from food will tell us we “need” food. Fasting from TV will tell us that we “need” to be entertained. So we fast, anticipating these voices that reveal our dependence. In response to them, we will echo Jesus’ words – “Man does not live on bread alone.” So consider how you might fast this season. Many will do some of the things I mentioned. In some traditions, a weekly 24-hour fast is part of the practice, fasting from dinner on one day to dinner the next day. Other traditions give up particular foods or practices. Ask the Lord, ask your friends, and ask your spouse. They’ll probably know what you need to give up. Whatever you commit to, remember that your goal is not to read a book instead of watching TV, or to lose weight. Rather, your goal is to remember your frailty, and to put your hope in the God who is present to you here and now.
Jesus has this to say about fasting in Matthew 6:16-17
Notice he doesn’t say “if” you fast. He says “when.” For Jesus, fasting would have been a regular part of life. Much in the way we assume we should pray and read scripture, fasting was an assumed part of the day. And notice too that his emphasis is on the opportunity that fasting provides for intimacy with the Father.
Ultimately, lent would be hopeless waste of time if it didn’t lead us where it does – to Easter morning. If Lent is the season of darkness, then Easter is the dawn. All of our reflections on suffering, sin, and sadness find a hope in ultimate redemption in the light that shines out of the empty tomb.
Hear this promise from 2 Corinthians
2 Corinthians 5:17-6:2
Amen! We know that there is a hope for all who suffer, and though death is still a reality in this world, it has lost its sting through Jesus life, death, and resurrection.
Let’s remember that promise by coming together at the Lord’s table.
Here, I used a communion liturgy from The Worship Sourcebook
COMMUNION
SONG: The Wondrous Cross
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
{ Leader– Extemporaneous prayer }
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
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