Blog
Feb 19, 2022
A Modern Ash Wednesday Service
Introduction to Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent, a season of reflection, repentance, and renewal in the Christian calendar. Ash Wednesday typically takes place in February or March, fourty days before Easter (excluding Sundays).
With the imposition of ashes—a symbol of our frailty and repentance—we are reminded of the words, “You are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19). Life, in other words, is never guaranteed.
This journey provides, in the words of Beth Bevis, "ample time for self-examination and spiritual reorientation, the duration of forty days symbolically aligns Lent with biblical examples of preparation, fasting, and journeying toward liberation—recalling, for instance, Jesus’s forty days of fasting in the wilderness before beginning his ministry, as well as the Israelites’ forty years of desert-wandering before their deliverance into the Promised Land." (Read the full quote here)
Yet, Ash Wednesday is not focused only on sorrow; it is also a call to hope. We place our trust in our lord Jesus Christ, who already overcame death. As we turn our hearts toward Jesus Christ, we embrace His grace and begin a journey of transformation that will make its way to the cross, and then finally the empty tomb, the first fruits of everlasting life.
Ash Wednesday Worship Service
Prelude
People are encouraged to enter in silence. Lights are dim.
As people gather, words appropriate to the day appear and disappear on the screen.
You can create your own presentation or find one for free online here.
Invitation to the Observance of Lenten Discipline
The Pastor reminds the congregation of the origins of Lent and Ash Wednesday, following it with an invitation to observe a holy Lent through various Lenten disciplines. An excellent invitation to use or model your invitation after may be found online in the United Methodist Church's Book of Worship, p. 322.
Scripture Reading and Song
At the end of the invitation, an acoustic guitar and djembe begin to play the introduction to the first song. We are indebted to Taylor Burton-Edwards, compiler of an excellent Contemporary Service for Ash Wednesday, for the idea of alternating the reading of scripture with the haunting song O-So-So from The Faith We Sing, #2232.
ALL SINGING: O-So-So (aka Come now, O Prince of Peace)
Author: Kōn-yong Yi; Paraphraser: Marion Pope
Copyright: © 1991, WGRG the Iona Community (Scotland), admin. GIA Publications, Inc.
Come now, O Prince of peace, make us one body.
Come, O Lord Jesus, reconcile your people.
Following the singing, a shofar blows.
A recording will work if you are unable to locate and play one live.
A person stands in the midst of the congregation and reads.
Do not project the words to the scripture as it is read.
The instruments continue during the reading.
ONE VOICE Joel 2:1-2, 12-17a (NRSV)
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.
ALL SINGING: O-So-So (The Faith We Sing, #2232, Verse 2 twice)
2 Come now, O God of love, make us one body.
Come, O Lord Jesus, reconcile your people.
Following the singing, a person stands in the midst of the congregation and reads.
Do not project the words to the scripture as it is read.
The instruments continue during the reading.
ONE VOICE 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:2 (NRSV)
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!
ALL SINGING: O-So-So (The Faith We Sing, #2232, Verse 3 twice)
3 Come now and set us free, O God, our Savior.
Come, O Lord Jesus, reconcile all nations.
Following the singing, a person stands in the midst of the congregation and reads.
Do not project the words to the scripture as it is read.
The instruments continue during the reading.
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 may be substituted for the verses from Psalm 103.
ONE VOICE Psalm 103:8-14 (Adapted from the New Jerusalem Bible)
The Lord is tenderness and pity, slow to anger and rich in faithful love;
His indignation does not last forever, nor his resentment remain for all time;
He does not treat us as our sins deserve, nor repay us as befits our offenses.
As the height of heaven above earth,
so strong is his faithful love for those who revere him.
As the distance of east from west, so far from us does he put our faults.
As tenderly as a father treats his children, so the Lord treats those who revere him;
He knows of what we are made, he remembers that we are dust.
ALL SINGING: O-So-So (The Faith We Sing, #2232, Verse 4 twice)
4 Come, Hope of unity, make us one body.
Come, O Lord Jesus, reconcile all nations.
Instruments and singing end before the next prayer
Thanksgiving Over the Ashes
The Pastor offers a prayer of thanksgiving, calling to mind the many meanings associated with ashes: our creation out of dust, mourning our sin (sackcloth and ashes), and our mortality (eventual return to dust). An excellent prayer to use or model your prayer after may be found online in the United Methodist Book of Worship, p. 323.
Imposition of Ashes
Persons are invited forward to receive ashes on their forehead, place their offering on the altar table, and pray at the altar rail. The words projected as persons gathered are again projected. The guitar plays softly.
The following words are traditionally spoken by those applying the ashes as the ashes are received:
Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. (Gen. 3:19)
Repent, and believe the gospel.
CONFESSION AFTER THE IMPOSITION OF ASHES
Show the video Confession Starter from Shift Worship.
TIME OF SILENT CONFESSION
After a few minutes of silent confession, project the words to the following scripture.
ALL SPEAKING: Psalm 51:1-3, 7, 10-17 (NIV)
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you.
Save me from blood-guilt, O God, the God who saves me,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
SONG: Come Thou Fount (United Methodist Hymnal, #400)
Or another song of your choosing
Modern Ash Wednesday Service Compilation
© 2012 Nicole Sallee and Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia, www.revlisad.com
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