Ash Wednesday - Morning - Christian Worship Tools

(This is celebrated on the Wednesday that is forty days before Easter, not counting the Sundays.)

HAVE MERCY ON ME, O GOD

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17; Psalm 51:1-17; II Corinthians 5:20b-6:10

GREETING (Psalm 94:9-10 & 12)

He who planted the ear,

does he not hear?

He who formed the eye,

does he not see?

He who disciplines the nations,

he who teaches knowledge to humankind,

does he not chastise?

Happy are those whom you discipline, O Lord,

and whom you teach out of your law.

HYMN 339/616 “Come, Sinners, to the Gospel Feast”

PSALM 51:1-9

PRAYER

(Consider some of the following concerns of people for prayers of thanksgiving, intercession, and petition. Follow with your personal prayer list.)

For God’s forgiveness To observe a holy Lent

For God’s compassion and mercy That we are not alone in Lent

For God’s steadfast love For fasting

To be saved from death For study of God’s Word

To be saved from sin For giving alms (money)

For Christ’s strength in times of temptation For increased prayer

For Christ’s joy in the springtime of the soul For self-examination and repentance

For relief from the burden of guilt For spiritual healing

For opportunities to do penance For complete reconciliation with God

For self-denial That God make us faithful

That we are dust and to dust we shall return That God create in us a clean heart

That we repent and believe the gospel That God create good in us

That others repent and believe the gospel ____________________________

That we become fully alive in Christ ____________________________

That others become fully alive in Christ ____________________________

THE LORD'S PRAYER

SCRIPTURE LESSON

(Choose a passage of scripture to read. It can be a chapter, a paragraph, or a particular story. Daily lectionaries are available online or in print that assign a lesson each day from the gospels, epistles, Old Testament and psalms on a three-year cycle. Or you can create a plan to read a book of the Bible, or the whole Bible. Then follow the steps below.)

Read a passage of scripture. Read it out loud, very slowly and carefully as if for the first time. Continue reading until a word, phrase or sentence captures your attention. Stop there to repeat the word, phrase or sentence over and over, listening to it deeply in your heart.

Reflect on why the passage got your attention. Consider the area of your life to which this may apply. Is God saying something to you in this passage? Take time to listen carefully to whatever God may be saying to you.

Respond to God in prayer (or with journaling, music, art or whatever you choose) about what you have heard. Ask questions. Open yourself to God’s will for you.

Rest in God’s company. Be still and quiet. Move beyond thinking, practicing interior silence. Let yourself be open to God’s presence. Savor this moment with God.

PRAYER

Merciful God, today we begin a new season in the church year,

and are praying to also begin a new season in our relationship with you.

This day calls us from the worldly paths where we have strayed,

and points us again to the one path that leads us into your loving arms.

Open our eyes to everything in us that displeases you, Holy God.

You have been so gentle and patient, deserving nothing but thankfulness.

Only your pure love and perfect grace have kept us from doom,

and only a Lent full of your forgiveness and transformation can help us.

Some come into this Lenten season with nothing but dread, God,

but we come anticipating your forgiveness and correction of our errors.

We come grasping at the opportunity to turn from past mistakes,

and to repent of the selfishness that lurks in our dark and sinful hearts.

We come to let you see our tears and to hear our desperate cries,

so you may know the depth of our desire to live every day in your love.

Forget what we have so busily and mistakenly made of ourselves.

We come counting on you, Almighty God, to make in us all things new.

Draw us into complete and total unity with you, Heavenly Father.

Merge our dreams and goals with your divine will and holy character.

Change us. Remove, reform and add to us whatever you will;

and make everything new in order to make us true kingdom citizens.

Let our thoughts, words, deeds be so full of you, so one with you,

that none can tell where a Holy Father ends and a forgiven child begins.

Use this Lent to bring your image, created into us, into full view,

and add our praises and thanksgivings to the joy of Jesus’ resurrection. Amen.

SILENCE AND COMMITMENT

(Pause to reflect and listen. Work to push out of your mind any distracting or irrelevant thoughts. Concentrate your thoughts on the words of the hymns and choruses you have sung, the prayers you have spoken and the scriptures you have read. Be aware of what you are feeling. Listen for anything that God might be saying to you in this time you have spent together. As God responds to your prayer-time, seek guidance for how you can best respond to God’s will. Then commit to serving God’s will for you.)

HYMN 372 “How Can We Sinners Know”

CLOSING PRAYER

Get out your spiritual scrub brush, Loving Father.

Let the washing begin. Scour our souls.

Hose down every dark, wicked corner in our minds.

Wash away all the debris and detritus.

Send a flood to carry off sinful thoughts and words.

Turn us from selfish deeds of unloving.

Wash away all the darkness and death lurking in us.

Make us new and give us clean hearts.

Shine the bright light of Jesus Christ upon us again.

Open us up to your love, peace and joy.

Let your Lenten spring-cleaning begin, Holy Father! Amen!