GREETING
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
And also with you.
Bless the Lord who forgives all our sins.
God's mercy endures forever.
OPENING PRAYER
O God, maker of every thing and judge of all that you have made, from the dust of the earth you have formed us and from the dust of death you would raise us up. By the redemptive power of the cross, create in us clean hearts and put within us a new spirit that we may repent of our sins and lead lives worthy of your calling through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
HYMN Would I Have Answered When You Called (verses 1 and 2)
Would I have answered when you called, Come, follow, follow me!""?
Would I at once have left behind both work and family?
Or would the old, familiar round have held me by its claim
and kept the spark within my heart from bursting into flame?
Would I have followed where you led through ancient Galilee,
On roads unknown, by ways untried, beyond security?
Or would I soon have hurried back where home and comfort drew,
where truth you taught would not disturb the ordered world I knew?
LESSON Joel 2:1–2, 12–17
Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near – a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness spread upon the mountains a great and powerful army comes;
their like has never been from of old, nor will be again after them in ages to come.
HYMN Sunday’s Palms are Wednesday’s Ashes
Sunday's palms are Wednesday's ashes as another Lent begins
Thus we kneel before our Maker in contrition for our sins
We have marred baptismal pledges, in rebellion gone astray,
Now returning seek forgiveness, grant us pardon God this day
We have failed to love our neighbors their offences to forgive
Have not listened to their troubles nor have cared just how they live
We are jealous proud impatient, loving over much our things
May the yielding of our failings be our Lenten offerings
We are hasty to judge others, blind to proof of human need
And our lack of understanding demonstrates our inner greed
We have wasted earth's resources, want and suffering we've ignored
Come and cleanse us then restore us, make new hearts within us Lord
LESSON Psalm 51:1-17
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment. Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me. You desire truth in the inward being; therefore, teach me wisdom in my secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased. The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
LESSON 2 Corinthians 5:20b–6:10
…we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says, “At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you. See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! 3 We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, 7truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed;
as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
HYMN Open Our Eyes
Open our eyes Lord; we want to see Jesus to reach out and touch Him, and say that we love Him.
Open our ears Lord, and help us to listen. Open our eyes Lord, we want to see Jesus.
LESSON Matthew 6:1–6, 16–21
“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
LITANY OF PENITANCE
Even now, return to me.
Even now, God says, return to me.
Let the sirens in the streets rage; let the trumpet from the church house blow.
Let those consumed with darkness, gloomy from bad fortunes know that:
Even now, God says, return to me.
Let the abused and abusing hear, the defiant and disobedient revere.
Let the sinner and the scornful draw near.
Even now, God says, return to me.
Return from your ignorance, return from your injustice.
Return from your apathy, return from your agony.
Even now, God says, return to me.
Return from your selfishness, return from your greed.
Return from your neglect, return out of your need.
Even now, God says, return to me.
Return to me, with a clean heart.
Return to me with fasting, weeping, and mourning.
Return to me, God says, for I am gracious and merciful; I am slow to anger and full of steadfast love. Return to me, God says, for I am your God.
Holy God, on this Ash Wednesday, we come before you acknowledging your greatness, exalting your supreme power, declaring that you are the God of our salvation. We come confessing the multitude of our transgressions known and unknown. God, we know that we have not helped the needy when there has been need. We have been greedy even in the land of plenty. Lord, we know that we've abused our brother, misused our sister, forgotten about our parents, manipulated our friends. We're guilty and we need your grace so we bow before you, kneel before you, lay down prostrate before you, asking that you would intervene for our sinful, sorrowful, and sick souls. Have mercy on us because we need you to respond to our human need. Wash us, because we're muddy from our indiscretions. Teach us so that we may live and declare your truth. Purge us, so that the shame of today will not be the guilt of tomorrow. Create in us newness of life, happiness of heart. Restore to us the full blessings of heaven. Deliver us from the penalty we deserve, and we will rise up. We will stand up. We will get up and live up to the expectations of your calling on our lives. These things we pray in the powerful and mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
HYMN Would I Have Answered When You Called (verse 3)
Would I have matched my step with yours when crowds cried, ""Crucify!""
When on a rocky hill I saw a cross against the sky?
Or would I too have slipped away and left you there alone,
A dying king with crown of thorns upon a terrible throne?
INVITATION TO THE OBSERVANCE OF LENTEN DISCIPLINE
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ: the early Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord's passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church that before the Easter celebration there should be a forty–day season of spiritual preparation. During this season converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism. It was also a time when persons who had committed serious sins and had separated themselves from the community of faith were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to participation in the life of the Church. In this way the whole congregation was reminded of the mercy and forgiveness proclaimed in the gospel of Jesus Christ and the need we all have to renew our faith. I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to observe a holy Lent: by self–examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self–denial; and by reading and meditating on God's Holy Word. To make a right beginning of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us now bow before our Creator and Redeemer.
THANKSGIVING OVER THE ASHES
Almighty God, you have created us out of the dust of the earth. Grant that these ashes may be to us a sign of our mortality and penitence, so that we may remember that only by your gracious gift are we given everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
IMPOSITION OF ASHES *
At this time, pleases use the ashes to make the sign of the cross on your forehead or the back of your hand. If you are with others, you may assist one another. Take a moment to reflect on these statements:
Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
Repent, and believe the gospel.
SILENT PRAYER
HYMN Change My Heart, O God
Change my heart, oh God; make it ever true. Change my heart, oh God; may I be like You.
Change my heart, oh God; make it ever true. Change my heart, oh God; may I be like You.
You are the potter; I am the clay. Mold me and make me; this is what I pray.
Change my heart, oh God; make it ever true. Change my heart, oh God; may I be like You.
SILENT PRAYER
PARDON
May the almighty and merciful God, who desires not the death of a sinner but that we turn from wickedness and live, accept your repentance, forgive your sins, and restore you by the Holy Spirit to newness of life. Amen.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
HYMN Would I Have Answered When You Called (verse 4)
O Christ, I cannot search my heart through all its tangled ways,
Nor can I with a certain mind my steadfastness appraise.
I only pray that when you call, ""Come, follow, follow me!""
You'll give me strength beyond my own to follow faithfully.
DISMISSAL WITH BLESSING
GOING FORTH
Water mixed with ashes may react poorly with your skin. Oil is recommended for removal.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
And also with you.
Bless the Lord who forgives all our sins.
God's mercy endures forever.
OPENING PRAYER
O God, maker of every thing and judge of all that you have made, from the dust of the earth you have formed us and from the dust of death you would raise us up. By the redemptive power of the cross, create in us clean hearts and put within us a new spirit that we may repent of our sins and lead lives worthy of your calling through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
HYMN Would I Have Answered When You Called (verses 1 and 2)
Would I have answered when you called, Come, follow, follow me!""?
Would I at once have left behind both work and family?
Or would the old, familiar round have held me by its claim
and kept the spark within my heart from bursting into flame?
Would I have followed where you led through ancient Galilee,
On roads unknown, by ways untried, beyond security?
Or would I soon have hurried back where home and comfort drew,
where truth you taught would not disturb the ordered world I knew?
LESSON Joel 2:1–2, 12–17
Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near – a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness spread upon the mountains a great and powerful army comes;
their like has never been from of old, nor will be again after them in ages to come.
HYMN Sunday’s Palms are Wednesday’s Ashes
Sunday's palms are Wednesday's ashes as another Lent begins
Thus we kneel before our Maker in contrition for our sins
We have marred baptismal pledges, in rebellion gone astray,
Now returning seek forgiveness, grant us pardon God this day
We have failed to love our neighbors their offences to forgive
Have not listened to their troubles nor have cared just how they live
We are jealous proud impatient, loving over much our things
May the yielding of our failings be our Lenten offerings
We are hasty to judge others, blind to proof of human need
And our lack of understanding demonstrates our inner greed
We have wasted earth's resources, want and suffering we've ignored
Come and cleanse us then restore us, make new hearts within us Lord
LESSON Psalm 51:1-17
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment. Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me. You desire truth in the inward being; therefore, teach me wisdom in my secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased. The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
LESSON 2 Corinthians 5:20b–6:10
…we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says, “At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you. See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! 3 We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, 7truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed;
as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
HYMN Open Our Eyes
Open our eyes Lord; we want to see Jesus to reach out and touch Him, and say that we love Him.
Open our ears Lord, and help us to listen. Open our eyes Lord, we want to see Jesus.
LESSON Matthew 6:1–6, 16–21
“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
LITANY OF PENITANCE
Even now, return to me.
Even now, God says, return to me.
Let the sirens in the streets rage; let the trumpet from the church house blow.
Let those consumed with darkness, gloomy from bad fortunes know that:
Even now, God says, return to me.
Let the abused and abusing hear, the defiant and disobedient revere.
Let the sinner and the scornful draw near.
Even now, God says, return to me.
Return from your ignorance, return from your injustice.
Return from your apathy, return from your agony.
Even now, God says, return to me.
Return from your selfishness, return from your greed.
Return from your neglect, return out of your need.
Even now, God says, return to me.
Return to me, with a clean heart.
Return to me with fasting, weeping, and mourning.
Return to me, God says, for I am gracious and merciful; I am slow to anger and full of steadfast love. Return to me, God says, for I am your God.
Holy God, on this Ash Wednesday, we come before you acknowledging your greatness, exalting your supreme power, declaring that you are the God of our salvation. We come confessing the multitude of our transgressions known and unknown. God, we know that we have not helped the needy when there has been need. We have been greedy even in the land of plenty. Lord, we know that we've abused our brother, misused our sister, forgotten about our parents, manipulated our friends. We're guilty and we need your grace so we bow before you, kneel before you, lay down prostrate before you, asking that you would intervene for our sinful, sorrowful, and sick souls. Have mercy on us because we need you to respond to our human need. Wash us, because we're muddy from our indiscretions. Teach us so that we may live and declare your truth. Purge us, so that the shame of today will not be the guilt of tomorrow. Create in us newness of life, happiness of heart. Restore to us the full blessings of heaven. Deliver us from the penalty we deserve, and we will rise up. We will stand up. We will get up and live up to the expectations of your calling on our lives. These things we pray in the powerful and mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
HYMN Would I Have Answered When You Called (verse 3)
Would I have matched my step with yours when crowds cried, ""Crucify!""
When on a rocky hill I saw a cross against the sky?
Or would I too have slipped away and left you there alone,
A dying king with crown of thorns upon a terrible throne?
INVITATION TO THE OBSERVANCE OF LENTEN DISCIPLINE
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ: the early Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord's passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church that before the Easter celebration there should be a forty–day season of spiritual preparation. During this season converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism. It was also a time when persons who had committed serious sins and had separated themselves from the community of faith were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to participation in the life of the Church. In this way the whole congregation was reminded of the mercy and forgiveness proclaimed in the gospel of Jesus Christ and the need we all have to renew our faith. I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to observe a holy Lent: by self–examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self–denial; and by reading and meditating on God's Holy Word. To make a right beginning of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us now bow before our Creator and Redeemer.
THANKSGIVING OVER THE ASHES
Almighty God, you have created us out of the dust of the earth. Grant that these ashes may be to us a sign of our mortality and penitence, so that we may remember that only by your gracious gift are we given everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
IMPOSITION OF ASHES *
At this time, pleases use the ashes to make the sign of the cross on your forehead or the back of your hand. If you are with others, you may assist one another. Take a moment to reflect on these statements:
Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
Repent, and believe the gospel.
SILENT PRAYER
HYMN Change My Heart, O God
Change my heart, oh God; make it ever true. Change my heart, oh God; may I be like You.
Change my heart, oh God; make it ever true. Change my heart, oh God; may I be like You.
You are the potter; I am the clay. Mold me and make me; this is what I pray.
Change my heart, oh God; make it ever true. Change my heart, oh God; may I be like You.
SILENT PRAYER
PARDON
May the almighty and merciful God, who desires not the death of a sinner but that we turn from wickedness and live, accept your repentance, forgive your sins, and restore you by the Holy Spirit to newness of life. Amen.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
HYMN Would I Have Answered When You Called (verse 4)
O Christ, I cannot search my heart through all its tangled ways,
Nor can I with a certain mind my steadfastness appraise.
I only pray that when you call, ""Come, follow, follow me!""
You'll give me strength beyond my own to follow faithfully.
DISMISSAL WITH BLESSING
GOING FORTH
Water mixed with ashes may react poorly with your skin. Oil is recommended for removal.