Welcome to our Ash Wednesday worship service as we begin the season of Lent, when we get ready and prepare our hearts for Easter. In this service we read Scripture verses, sing hymns, confess in prayer, and use ashes, all to help us humble ourselves and strengthen our faith. The order of service is below, along with words to the responsive reading we will do below that. The words for the readings and the hymns will also be displayed on the screen. If you would like to open or print a copy of the bulletin with the words on it to read, you can do so HERE.
Call to Worship
Reader: Grace and peace to you through Jesus Christ our Lord.
All: Amen.
Reader: The Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your needs in dry places.
All: According to the Lord’s abundant mercy, there is forgiveness for all who seek repentance, and grace for all who turn their hearts to the way of Jesus.
Invocation Prayer
Invocation Hymn – “My Faith Has Found a Resting Place” (v. 1)
Old Testament Reading – Isaiah 58:1-10
Litany of Confession and Humility
Gospel Reading – Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Message
Hymn of Reverence – “Just As I Am” (vv. 1, 3, 6)
Psalm Reading – Psalm 51:1-10
Receiving of the Ashes – “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Commissioning Prayer
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Litany of Confession and Humility –
Holy and merciful God, we confess that we have sinned in thought, word, and deed; by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have shut our eyes to evils that our world allows. We have sealed our ears from the cries of the suffering whose pain we tolerate. We have clung to the hostility that we harbor against one another, and have hardened our hearts to the creative power of love. We have not loved you with our whole heart, 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 lived as Christ has called us to live.
Have mercy on us, Lord.
We confess to you all our past unfaithfulness: the pride, hypocrisy, and impatience of 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 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 talk about the faith that is in us,
We confess to you, Lord.
Accept our repentance, O God, 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 mean judgments that we make, for unkind thoughts toward our neighbors, and for our prejudice and contempt toward those who are different from us,
Accept our repentance, Lord.
Restore us, good Lord, and accomplish in us the work of your salvation,
That we may show forth your glory in the world.
According to the Lord’s abundant mercy, there is forgiveness for all who seek repentance, and grace for all who turn their hearts to the way of Jesus.
Thanks be to God.
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