This liturgy was used at Sojourn Community Church in 2007, and was crafted by Mike Cosper and Lorie King.
Call to Worship
Brothers and sisters in Christ, every year at Easter, during the time of the “Christian Passover,” we celebrate our redemption through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Lent is a time to prepare for this celebration and to practice with discipline daily repentance, our daily dying and rising in union with Christ. We begin this season by acknowledging our need for repentance and for the mercy and forgiveness proclaimed in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Reading: Psalm 51:1-6
Reading: Joel 2:12-18
Opening Response
Merciful God, we come to you today realizing that we are not how you want us to be.
Help us let go of our past, that we may turn toward you and live again the life of faith.
Help us call out our fear and hatred, our anger and self-pity.
Lift the burden they place on our shoulders.
Help us set aside our guilt and enter a season of healing.
As we pray and fast today, help us become simple people, that we may see you plainly.
As we wear the mark of ashes, rekindle the sign of hope within our eyes.
Let us draw near to you now. Amen.
Call to Confession
Lent is a journey of deepening reflection and renewal, an opportunity to make new commitments in faith.
We prepare for the journey by setting aside burdens that would weigh us down. Let us turn to God and confess our sin.
Song: Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Genuine repentance involves two things: the dying-away of the old self and the coming-to-life of the new. The dying-away of the old self is to be genuinely sorry for sin, to hate it more and more, and to run away from it. The coming-to-life of the new self is wholehearted joy in God through Christ and a delight to do every kind of good as God wants us to. Together, as Christ’s body, we now confess our sin and express our longing to live in joyful obedience to God.
Prayer of Confession
Lord God, it is hard to think that we will die someday.
We dream, make plans, and talk about what we’ll do in the near future.
We don’t always think about what you want.
Instead, we make choices that we think are good for us.
But we are only here because you take care of us.
We confess that we forget we need you all the time.
We confess that sometimes we make choices that aren’t what you want.
We don’t know what is best for our lives.
Holy God, we are sorry for our sin.
Help us to remember we live because of you.
Help us to do what you want us to do through Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. —John 3:16,
Song: You Have Redeemed My Soul by Don Chaffer
Prayers of the People
We begin our journey to Easter with the sign of ashes. This ancient sign speaks of the frailty and uncertainty of human life, calls us to heartfelt repentance, and urges us to place our hope in God alone.
Almighty God, you have created us out of the dust of the earth.
May these ashes remind us of our mortality and penitence and teach us again that only by your gracious gift are we given everlasting life through Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.
Imposition of the Ashes
The ashes imposed on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday are a reminder of our unworthiness and sinfulness ¬that corrupts and stains us and leads to death (we return to the dust from whence we came.) Ashes remind us of our original sin and our need of redemption ¬ our need to be cleansed of sin and made worthy of Salvation. This is why the priest says, as he imposes ashes on our foreheads, “Remember, man, that you are dust and to dust you will return” [Genesis 3:19] or Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel. [Mark 1:15]
We cannot appreciate God’s infinite mercy if we do not realize we need mercy. We cannot understand salvation apart from our recognition of our need to be saved, rescued, from something ¬ namely our sin, which otherwise separates us forever from God. Ashes remind us of this need. When we wear the ashes on our heads, we also acknowledge the sacrifice of Christ, who forever substituted His own death for the “burnt offerings” made by Old Testament priests to atone for the sins of the people.
Song: Give Us Clean Hands by Charlie Hall
Sending
Jesus Christ, we want always to remember that you love us, died for us,
and rose from the dead for us.
In the next weeks, help us to remember, and help us trust in you
more and more. Amen.
Blessing/Benediction
May God the Father, who does not despise the broken spirit, give you a contrite heart.
May Christ, who bore our sins in his body on the tree, heal you by his wounds.
May the Holy Spirit, who leads us into all truth, speak to you words of pardon and peace.
Amen.
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