Ash Wednesday
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Prelude, Welcome, and Information |
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The grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you
all. And also with
you. Psalm: 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. |
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The Lord be with you. And
also with you. Let us pray. Almighty and
ever-living God, you hate nothing you have made and you forgive the sins of
all who are penitent. Create in us new and honest hearts, so that, truly
repenting of our sins, we may obtain from you, the God of all mercy, full
pardon and forgiveness; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. |
Reading:
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
A reading from the prophet Joel
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.
Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with
fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your
clothing. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from
punishing. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a
blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord,
your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn
assembly; gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the aged;
gather the children, even infants at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his
room, and the bride her canopy. Between the vestibule and the altar let
the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep. Let them say, “Spare your
people, O Lord, and do not make your heritage a mockery, a byword among
the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”
The Word of the Lord
Reading:
2 Corinthians 5:20b—6:10
A reading from the second letter to the Corinthians
So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through
us; 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! 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, truthful 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.
The Word of the Lord.
Gospel
Verse:
Return to the Lord, your
God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast
love. (Joel 2:13)
Gospel Reading: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
A reading from the Gospel of Matthew
[Jesus said] “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.
This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise
to you, O Christ.
Sermon
(added at the end of the document)
Hymn
#600 Out of the
Depths I Cry to You
Thanks and Offertory
Prayers of the Church:
Brothers
and sisters: God created us to experience joy in communion with him, to love
all humanity, and to live in harmony with all of his creation. But sin
separates us from God, our neighbors, and creation, and so we do not enjoy the
life our Creator intended for us. Also, by our sin we grieve our Father, who
does not desire us to come under his judgment, but to turn to him and live.
As
disciples of the Lord Jesus we are called to struggle against everything that
leads us away from love of God and neighbor. Repentance, fasting, prayer, and
works of love--the discipline of Lent--help us to wage our spiritual warfare. I
invite you, therefore, to commit yourselves to this struggle and confess your
sins, asking our Father for strength to persevere in your Lenten discipline.
Most
holy and merciful Father:
We
confess to you and to one another, and to the whole communion of saints in
heaven and on earth, that we have sinned by our own fault in thought, word, and
deed; by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.
We
have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind, and strength. We have not
loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven others, as we have been
forgiven.
Have mercy on us, Lord.
We
have been deaf to your call to serve as Christ served us. We have not been true
to the mind of Christ. We have grieved your Holy Spirit.
Have mercy on us, Lord.
We
confess to you, Lord, all our past unfaithfulness. The pride, hypocrisy, and
impatience in our lives,
we confess to you, Lord.
Our
self-indulgent appetites and ways, and our exploitation of other people,
we confess to you, Lord.
Our
anger at our own frustration, and our envy of those more fortunate than
ourselves,
we confess to you, Lord.
Our
intemperate love of worldly goods and comforts, and our dishonesty in daily
life and work,
we confess to you, Lord.
Our
negligence in prayer and worship, and our failure to commend the faith that is
in us,
we confess to you, Lord.
Accept
our repentance, Lord, for the wrongs we have done. For our blindness to human
need and suffering, and our indifference to injustice and cruelty,
accept our repentance, Lord.
For
all false judgments, for uncharitable thoughts toward our neighbors, and for
our prejudice and contempt toward those who differ from us,
accept our repentance, Lord.
For
our waste and pollution of your creation, and our lack of concern for those who
come after us,
accept our repentance, Lord.
Restore
us, good Lord, and let your anger depart from us.
Hear us, Lord, for your mercy is
great. Amen
Remember
that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
Accomplish
in us, O God, the work of your salvation,
that we may show forth your glory
in the world.
By
the cross and Passion of your Son, our Lord,
bring
us with all your saints
to the joy of his resurrection.
Hymn #592 Just As I Am
The
Lord’s Prayer
Finally let
us pray for all things as our Lord would have us ask:
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.
Closing prayer
God of
compassion,
through your
Son Jesus Christ
you
reconciled your people to yourself.
Following his
example of prayer and fasting,
may we obey
you with willing hearts
and serve one
another in holy love;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Benediction & Sending
May the Lord
bless us and keep us.
May the
Lord’s face shine upon us with grace and mercy.
May the Lord
look upon us with favor and X give us peace.
Amen.
Hymn
#793 Be Thou My
Vision
Go in peace. Serve
the Lord. Thanks be to God.
W
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Upcoming Services for February,
March, & April: (All services begin at 11:00am) February 26 YouTube (Lent I) March 5 Holy Communion at St. John’s (Lent
II) & Annual General
Congregational Meeting March 12 YouTube (Lent III) March 19 Holy Communion at St. John’s (Lent
IV) March 26 YouTube (Lent V) April 2 Holy Communion at St. John’s (Palm
Sunday) & Special
Congregational Meeting April
7 Good Friday at St.
John’s April
9 Holy Communion at St. John’s
(Easter Sunday) April
16 YouTube (Easter II) April
23 Holy Communion at St. John’s
(Easter III) April 30 YouTube (Easter IV) |
Beware of practicing your piety before
others in order to be seen by them…
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It seems
pretty strange that we read this Gospel passage on the same day that many of us
rub ashes into our foreheads. There are places where priests and pastors set up
a station in a public transit stop and offer ashes to anyone who come by.
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Unfortunately,
since we are doing this on YouTube today, I can’t offer any of you who are
watching the ashes for which this day is named. If you’re so inclined, get some
dirt from a potted plant or your backyard and scribe a cross on your forehead.
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What I’m
saying here is the acceptance of ashes on one’s head is not really a public
practice. When the ashes are applied, the pastor says “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.” Sometimes I
personally change it up and say “Repent
and believe the Good News.” Either one is the real point.
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We don’t do
our Lenten things – whatever they might be – to gain God’s favour or God’s
grace. That is ours without our action. Grace not freely given is not grace!
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We do what we
do in Lent to remind ourselves of our need for God and our need to live into
the grace we’ve received. Using the word, “into”,
sounds odd but it sounds very active and carries the idea that our entire lives
are involved in movement deeper into the grace and life of God.
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Martin Luther
began his 95 Theses with this one: When
our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, “Repent [for the kingdom of heaven has
come near.] (Mt 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of
repentance.
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Later in his
life he wrote: “This life therefore is
not righteousness, but growth in righteousness, not health, but healing, not
being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not yet what we shall be, but
we are growing toward it, the process is not yet finished, but it is going on,
this is not the end, but it is the road. All does not yet gleam in glory, but
all is being purified.”
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The season of
Lent serves two purposes then. It is a time of preparation for the great
festival of Easter. In the early church, those looking to Baptism at Easter
(the only time Baptisms were done, by the way) used this time for preparation
for that sacrament. For us, the Baptized, Lent is a reminder of our continued
need of growth in our relationship with God. It is a time of response to grace.
Yes, we are reminded of our sinfulness, but primarily to remind us of God’s
forgiveness!
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When Easter
comes, we rejoice and rise in our own way with the Risen Christ.
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Beware
of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them… but remember In the same way, let your light shine
before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your
Father in heaven. (Mt. 5:16)
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We can do
both.
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