Bulletin – February 14, 2024 – Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday Service of Prayer 2024

(adapted from 2021 service at WPUC)

Welcome

Welcome to this Ash Wednesday prayer service from Windsor Park United Church. Ash Wednesday is an important day in the church calendar. It marks the beginning of Lent, a season of preparation for the celebration of Easter.  During Lent, we tend to look inward, taking ownership of our role in our separation from God and working toward finding our way back to God’s love through Jesus Christ.

This holy day is not a holiday from work, school, or most other obligations, so if we are not intentional in our observance it is likely to resemble any ordinary Wednesday.  Thank you for taking the time to join us today.

Our opening reading comes from Joel 2:1, 13b, 16 and is one of the traditional Ash Wednesday readings.

Service Opening

Blow the trumpet; sound the alarm on Zion, God’s sacred hill. Tremble, people of Judah! The day of the Lord is coming soon. Come back to the Lord your God. He is kind and full of mercy; he is patient and keeps his promise, he is always ready to forgive and not punish.

Blow the trumpet on Mount Zion; give orders for a fast and call an assembly! Gather the people together, prepare them for a sacred meeting; bring the old people; gather the children and the babies too. Even newly married couples must leave their room and come.

Call to Worship

One:   The world says, “turn to face me.” And the world is filled with people telling us what to do, with voices calling us to hate and to be greedy, that hurting other people is okay, and all sorts of sin. As we begin Lent, do you turn your back on all the sin that the world says is OK?
All:      We turn towards Christ and say, “I do.”

One:   As we come together today, do you turn your back on selfishness and greed, on looking out only for yourself and those you love and getting what you want?
All:      We turn towards Christ and say, “I do.”

One:   Do you turn your back on using violence against people you do not like? Do you turn your back on causing physical, emotional and spiritual pain to others?
All:      We turn towards Christ and say, “I do.”

One:   Finally, do you turn your back on anything that keeps you from loving God?
All:      We turn to Christ. We promise to be Christ’s faithful disciples, obeying God’s Word and showing God’s love, to our life’s end. We do this with God’s help.

Opening Prayer

Let us pray:

God, selfishness and greed and violence and so many other evils call to us so powerfully. Every day we have to make a choice not to respond to them, but to be your loving disciples. So, at the beginning of Lent, we admit that this is so, and promise once more to keep working at turning away from all the evil in the world, and toward your great love. Be with us. Love us and guide us and give us your loving power as we keep turning away from sin and toward you and sharing your love with the whole world. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Song – “Great God, Your Love Has Called Us Here”

Great God, your love has called us here,
As we, by love, for love were made.
Your living likeness still we bear,
Though marred, dishonored, disobeyed.
We come, with all our heart and mind
Your call to hear, your love to find.

We come with self-inflicted pains
Of broken trust and chosen wrong,
Half-free, half-bound by inner chains,
By social forces swept along,
By powers and systems close confined,
Yet seeking hope for humankind.

Great God, in Christ you call our name
And then receive us as your own,
Not through some merit, right or claim,
But by your gracious love alone.
We strain to glimpse your mercy seat
And find you kneeling at our feet.

Our next Scripture Reading is Psalm 51:1-17

¹ Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. ² Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. ³ For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. ⁴ Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. ⁵ Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

⁶ Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place. ⁷ Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. ⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. ⁹ Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. ¹⁰ Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

¹¹ Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. ¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. ¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you. ¹⁴ Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Savior, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. ¹⁵ Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise.

¹⁶ You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. ¹⁷ My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.

God’s Valentine

Start with a large red piece of paper. We will cut a red paper heart out of the paper.

Today is also Valentine’s Day. The baby Jesus was like God’s valentine telling us that God loves us. God became one of us and lived among us as a baby who grew into a man who talked about God’s love and really loved every person he met. One would think everyone would like Jesus, but they did not. Jesus’ love made them feel like they should be more loving than they wanted to be. Jesus talked about forgiving love and loving EVERYONE. Enough people got angry enough that they killed Jesus. But the totally amazing thing is that Jesus did not get angry. Jesus FORGAVE them. He still loved them. And after he rose from the dead, Jesus kept loving them and reached out to them.

Draw a large black cross on the red heart.

So, on this red heart that is God’s valentine to us we draw this black cross. This cross represents how some people didn’t love like Jesus hoped that we would love and so they put Jesus on a cross, but God and Jesus forgave the people and THAT is love! I invite you to make a paper heart like this and put it up in your house somewhere for the season of Lent, until Easter, to always remind you how much God loves us.

Prayer

Let us Pray:

One:   Thank you, God, that you love us and hear us when we pray. We are sorry for things we have done that have hurt you and others.

One:   We have not loved you or others as much as we could.
All:      God, we are sorry.

One:   We have not helped others as Jesus helped us.
All:      God, we are sorry.

One:   We have been impatient.
All:      God, we are sorry.

One:   We have been angry.
All:      God, we are sorry.

One:   We have been jealous of others.
All:      God, we are sorry.

One:   We have told lies.
All:      God, we are sorry.

One:   We have forgotten to pray.
All:      God, we are sorry.

One:   Hear us and help us, God. Work through us so that we can share your goodness and love in the world. Show us the joy and new life that Jesus brings. Hear us now as we continue to pray in the words that Jesus taught us;
All:      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, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Meditation – “Why Bother with Ash Wednesday?”

On Ash Wednesday, as we start the season of Lent, we remember that we are part of the human family.  The day is also a reminder to serve others.

You may have heard of the practice of “Giving something up for Lent.” Although not usually practiced in the United Church, you may hear of people giving up a favorite food or trying to kick a bad habit. Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, is when this begins, but if you want to participate and make a real change, don’t confine yourself to food or habits.

Can you abstain from gossip or complaining? What about defensive attitudes, fear, or anxiety? You probably won’t be perfect at this, but when these attitudes begin to take hold of your day, pause for prayer.

Pray for the drivers of the vehicles and fellow transit passengers with whom you share your commute. Pray as you pass the hospital, police station, and government offices. Lift up the trash collector and mail carrier. Offer prayer sentences throughout the day thanking God for your coworkers.

Some of us reflect and pray best when our hands are busy. Get back in the workshop or craft room and spend time cutting, sanding, and gluing. Sit at a piano and let the music flow. Take out the paints, glue, clay, and other supplies to create a work of art. As you create, give thanks to our Creator who longs to be in relationship with you.

Others find meaning in stillness. Light a candle and pause before the presence of God. Take a holy yoga class. Enjoy a cup of coffee on your deck. Listen for the voice of God.

Ash Wednesday is a good day to get a jump on your spring cleaning. There is even a movement called “The 40 Bags in 40 Days challenge.” Spend an hour with the junk drawer, that cabinet at work, or organizing the files on your computer.

As you remove things you no longer need and reorder those you do, be mindful of the ways God “cleans” us. The Bible tells us “As far as east is from west—that’s how far God has removed our sin from us” (Psalm 103:12, CEB). As we get things in order, we remember that Jesus gave his life so that we might be free from our sins and know new life.

Amen.

Joe Iovino works for UMC.org at United Methodist Communications. Contact him by email or at 615-312-3733. This story was first published on February 21, 2017, updated January 2021, February 2022 and February 2023.

Song – “And When You Call for Me” (MV #96)

And when you call for me,
I have already answered.
And when you call for me,
I am already there.

And when you call for me,
I have already answered.
And when you call for me,
I am already there.

Our closing reading is: 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10

²⁰ We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. ²¹ God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

¹ As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. ² For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.

³ We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. ⁴ Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; ⁵ in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; ⁶ in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; ⁷ in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; ⁸ through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; ⁹ known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; ¹⁰ sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

Song – “Grace Alone”

Every promise we can make,
Every prayer and step of faith,
Every difference we will make
Is only by His grace.

Every mountain we will climb,
Every ray of hope we shine,
Every blessing left behind
Is only by His grace.

Grace alone which God supplies,
Strength unknown He will provide.
Christ in us, our Cornerstone,
We will go forth in grace alone.

Benediction

We know that you love us, God, and we thank you for your love in our lives. We also know that through your grace we are always given a second, third, and even a fourth chance. Helps us to be more like Jesus through this season of Lent until Easter. Help us to live more like you want us to live, to be more loving, more patient, more forgiving. As we leave this time, we know that you will always be with us, giving us your love. Amen.