Ash Wednesday (2)

Prelude: YouTube / Ash Wednesday Entrance Reflection https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP89gMtJO7c Greeting and Opening Prayer......................... Pastor Lauri Welcome and thank you for joining our Ash Wednesday service. Ash Wednesday is most commonly a Catholic tradition, however, has become more popular among the protestant traditions in more recent years. Though Ash Wednesday is not specifically mentioned in the Bible, sprinkling oneself with ashes has been a mark of sorrow for sin from Bible times. In the Protestant tradition, it is important to regularly examine our lives and take time to repent. Ash Wednesday is by no means an obligation; however, it is a special way of preparing ourselves for the Lent season. In taking time to kick off Lent with Ash Wednesday, we slow down and take note of what this season represents. It can bring a greater experience and appreciation of Easter without it slipping by us too quickly. There is more on the meaning of sackcloth and ashes on the back of your program. Once again, thank you for joining us and may your Lent be more meaningful through the experience of this special service. {Prayer for the service} Songs .................................................................... Pam Hardy

"Here In Your Presence" "Lead Me to the Cross"

Scripture Reading.............................................. Pam Hardy

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17a [MSG]

Our first scripture reading tonight is from the Old Testament. Hear the words of the prophet Joel:

Blow the ram’s horn trumpet in Zion!

Trumpet the alarm on my holy mountain!

Shake the country up!

God’s Judgment’s on its way—the Day’s almost here!

A black day! A Doomsday!

Clouds with no silver lining.

Like dawn light moving over the mountains,

A huge army is coming.

There’s never been anything like it

And never will be again.

Change your life…it’s not too late—

God’s personal Message!—

“Come back to me and really mean it!

Come fasting and weeping, sorry for your sins!”

Change your life, not just your clothes.

Come back to God, your God.

And here’s why: God is kind and merciful.

He takes a deep breath, puts up with a lot,

This most patient God, extravagant in love,

Always ready to cancel catastrophe.

Who knows? Maybe he’ll do it now,

Maybe he’ll turn around and show pity.

Maybe, when all’s said and done,

There’ll be blessings full and robust for your God!

Blow the ram’s horn trumpet in Zion!

Declare a day of repentance, a holy fast day.

Call a public meeting.

Get everyone there. Consecrate the congregation.

Make sure the elders come,

But bring in the children, too, even the nursing babies,

Even men and women on their honeymoon—

Interrupt them and get them there.

Between Sanctuary entrance and altar,

Let the priests, God’s servants, weep tears of repentance.

Let them intercede: “Have mercy, God, on your people!

Don’t abandon your heritage to contempt.”

{a brief pause}

This is the word of the Lord.

Gospel Reading................................................. Pastor Lauri

Isaiah 58 [MSG]

Our second reading tonight is from the prophet Isaiah. Listen carefully to his admonition to the returning exiles that we do not make the same mistakes.

“Shout! A full-throated shout! Hold nothing back—a trumpet-blast shout! Tell my people what’s wrong with their lives, face my family Jacob with their sins! They’re busy, busy, busy at worship, and love studying all about me. To all appearances they’re a nation of right-living people— law-abiding, God-honoring. They ask me, ‘What’s the right thing to do?’ and love having me on their side. But they also complain, ‘Why do we fast and you don’t look our way? Why do we humble ourselves and you don’t even notice?’

“Well, here’s why:

“The bottom line on your ‘fast days’ is profit. You drive your employees much too hard. You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight. You fast, but you swing a mean fist. The kind of fasting you do won’t get your prayers off the ground. Do you think this is the kind of fast day I’m after: a day to show off humility? To put on a pious long face and parade around solemnly in black? Do you call that fasting, a fast day that I, God, would like?

“This is the kind of fast day I’m after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts. What I’m interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families. Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once. Your righteousness will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage. Then when you pray, God will answer. You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’

“If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people’s sins, If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. I will always show you where to go. I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places— firm muscles, strong bones. You’ll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry. You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You’ll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.

“If you watch your step on the Sabbath and don’t use my holy day for personal advantage, If you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy, God’s holy day as a celebration, If you honor it by refusing ‘business as usual,’ making money, running here and there— Then you’ll be free to enjoy God! Oh, I’ll make you ride high and soar above it all. I’ll make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob.” Yes! God says so!

{a brief pause}

This is the word of the Lord.

Message.............................................................. Pastor Lauri

Matthew 18:1–9 NIV

1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. 6 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. 7 Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! 8 If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

Intro

The ruins of St. Paul's cathedral in Macao (People's Republic of China) is one of the most interesting landmarks in the world. From the front, it appears to be a towering cathedral--a magnificent house of WORSHIP. But, after centuries of ruin and neglect, all that remains are the iconic stone frontage and the grand staircase leading up to it.

Walk to either side, or the back of it, and you'll find that it is an empty shell, a facade, with no inner substance whatever. If not buttressed up from behind, the front walls would simply collapse.

This cathedral allows us to get a picture of the Jews returning to Jerusalem after their long exile in Babylon. Some returned wealthy. Others were poor. All feigned a relationship with God that was not necessarily authentic. Look with me more closely at Isaiah 58 and we see…

A. Judah’s appearance

1. They appear to seek out God

2. They seem eager to know God’s ways

3. They look like a nation that does right before God

4. They may appear to outsiders as if they have always been obedient to God

We need to also look @...

B. Their expectation

1. That God will grant their requests

2. That God will eagerly come near to them

Now notice…

C. Their disappointment

1. They are making an effort to fast and appear humble, but God does not respond

God sees beyond a few actions and expectations to the true heart and all other behaviors. Which brings us to…

D. Their sin

1. They do as they please and take advantage of their workers

2. They fast and then turn and quarrel and fight amongst themselves

They still had not learned that God was not interested in the appearance of righteousness. What God wants is a heart that is authentic in worship to Him.

Psalm 51:16-17 (NRSV)

Psalm 51:16–17 NRSV

16 For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased. 17 The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

God declares to them that if they will be authentic in their worship, He will…

· Quickly heal them and His glory will shine upon them.

· He will answer their cries for help and be beside them

· He will turn their night into day

· He will guide them and they will accomplish the task that is set before them.

It is important that we take to heart what Isaiah shared with the Tribe of Judah that day. Ash Wednesday is not an obligation, but if we participate, it needs to be with a true heart. One that loves God and serves Him, not just one who participates to give the appearance of righteousness.

II. Ash Wednesday

A. ...is a wakeup call

1. We gather with other sinners to pray and seek forgiveness

a) Human sin is universal. (Everyone, even Christians)

b) We are no worse or better than anyone else.

c) This is not a day to compete ("my sins are worse than yours")

2. Church traditions sets aside a particular day to address sin and death specifically

a) It is a day to confess

b) We are mindful that "God hates nothing he has made and forgives the sins of all who are penitent."

B. Ash Wednesday reminds us of our creation--that we are created beings

1. God created all, however, He created us in a unique way; out of dust. He then created us in His image breathing His very Spirit into us

2. Dust here is a material of a beloved creation

a) We cannot despise a loving work.

b) We are not worth much as a commodity--remember you are dust--but what God is revealing about himself in this passage is that we are loved, beloved, shaped, molded, caressed, nurtured by the loving God who made the stars, moon, and all the creatures of the world.

c) Yes, we are dust--but precious, precious dust.

C. Ash Wednesday reminds us of our mortality

1. After the Fall, God tells Adam the consequences of his sin. "Dust you are, and to dust you shall return."

2. These same words are used in the burial office when we say "We commit this body to its final resting place, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust."

a) It is not morbid to think about death. It is reality.

b) Death is the great equalizer. In death, there are no presidents of corporations, deans of universities, janitors, prisoners, etc.

c) Any trinkets of honor and position--dust and ashes

d) Any shame from the judgments of others--dust and ashes.

e) In remembering that it is to dust we return reminds us that we were made for more than trinkets or shame. We were made for life with God--now and forever.

3. Ash Wednesday reminds us that we are mortal, and in doing so confronts us with a simple question: We have only one life. How do we want to spend it?

Media Clip – My Last Days - Anne

D. Ash Wednesday is bitter sweet day.

1. Knowing that we will return to dust reminds us of our ugly past and need to repent, but more importantly, it reminds us of how precious we are to God--that we were not made for this life alone, but for eternity with him. When we grasp that, we can become free. Freedom--personal freedom--comes from knowing who we are and where we are going. Nothing and no one can bind us when we have this kind of freedom

E. Ash Wednesday.is about sanctification

1. Ash Wednesday is the gateway to Lent

2. Forty days to open ourselves most particularly to God--to examine ourselves.

3. On Ash Wednesday, we begin these forty days with the sign of the cross smeared upon us. As we journey to the cross we are reminded that we are marked for death.

4. This journey is about participating in the death and resurrection of Christ.

a) dying to an old identity conferred by culture, tradition, parents, etc.

and instead

b) born to a new identity centered in the Spirit of God.

5. This path of death and resurrection, of radical re-centering on God

may mean we need to die to specific things.

6. This radical re-centering should be at the very center of every

Christian life.

Call to the Observance of Lent.................................... Pam

Since the beginning of the church, Christians have always observed the days of our Lord’s passion and resurrection with great devotion. It became one of the great traditions of the church to prepare for these events through serious examination of our spiritual lives through prayer, repentance, and fasting. The early church determined that this period of fasting and renewal should correspond to Christ’s fasting as recorded in Matthew chapter 4, and by counting forty days back from Easter (excluding Sundays, which remain “feast” or celebration days), they arrived at the Wednesday seven weeks before Easter Sunday. During these 40 days, which have come to be known as Lent, the church recalls its understanding of creation and the fall, and of new birth and Christlikeness.

We invite you, therefore, in the name of the Lord and His Church, to take this 40 day to a journey—a spiritual pilgrimage if you will, by self-examination, repentance, prayer, fasting, and sacrificial giving; to further your discipline of reading and meditating on the word of God.

Tonight, it is fitting that we take a moment to acknowledge our need for Christ in this process and entreat Him to enable us to take up our cross and follow Him. In these next few moments of silence, let us bow our heads and humble ourselves before God our maker and Christ our redeemer.

(a brief silence is kept)

Media Clip - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dO5kBOGnYA

Ashes by Tom Conry

Thanksgiving over the Ashes........................... Pastor Lauri

Let us pray:

Almighty God, you created us out of the dust of the earth. Grant that these ashes may be to us a sign of our mortality and contrite hearts, that we may remember that it is only by your gracious gift that we are given everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.

Imposition of Ash………………………………………………………..……Pastor Lauri

We invite those who wish to come and identify with Christ through the imposition of ashes, to come forward.

{extemporaneous instruction}

(Name), remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.

Corporate Reading of Psalm 51:1-17.............. Pastor Lauri

Let us stand together, and corporate pray David's prayer of repentance found in Psalm 51.

Psalm 51:1-17 [CEB]

Psalm 51:1–17 CEB

1 Have mercy on me, God, according to your faithful love! Wipe away my wrongdoings according to your great compassion! 2 Wash me completely clean of my guilt; purify me from my sin! 3 Because I know my wrongdoings, my sin is always right in front of me. 4 I’ve sinned against you—you alone. I’ve committed evil in your sight. That’s why you are justified when you render your verdict, completely correct when you issue your judgment. 5 Yes, I was born in guilt, in sin, from the moment my mother conceived me. 6 And yes, you want truth in the most hidden places; you teach me wisdom in the most secret space. 7 Purify me with hyssop and I will be clean; wash me and I will be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and celebration again; let the bones you crushed rejoice once more. 9 Hide your face from my sins; wipe away all my guilty deeds! 10 Create a clean heart for me, God; put a new, faithful spirit deep inside me! 11 Please don’t throw me out of your presence; please don’t take your holy spirit away from me. 12 Return the joy of your salvation to me and sustain me with a willing spirit. 13 Then I will teach wrongdoers your ways, and sinners will come back to you. 14 Deliver me from violence, God, God of my salvation, so that my tongue can sing of your righteousness. 15 Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will proclaim your praise. 16 You don’t want sacrifices. If I gave an entirely burned offering, you wouldn’t be pleased. 17 A broken spirit is my sacrifice, God. You won’t despise a heart, God, that is broken and crushed.

Absolution Blessing........................................... Pastor Lauri

May our almighty and merciful God, the source of our salvation in Christ, who desires not the death of a sinner but rather that we turn from wickedness and live; accept your repentance, forgive your sins, and restore you by the Holy Spirit to newness of life. Amen.

Please be seated.

Thanksgiving...................................................... Pam Hardy

We praise you, Lord Christ, for your pilgrimage on this earth

for your obedience even to death,

and for your victory over death.

Teach us, we pray; to walk in your ways.

Institution.......................................................... Pastor Lauri

“On the night he was handed over to suffering and death, our Lord Jesus Christ took bread; {take the bread} and when he had given thanks to you, he broke it, {break the bread in half} and gave it to his disciples and said, ‘Take, eat: This is my body, which is given for you. {extend the bread toward the congregation} Do this for the remembrance of me.’

After supper he took the cup of wine; {take the cup} and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and said, ‘Drink this, all of you: This is my Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you {extend the cup toward the congregation}and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me.’ "

Prayer of Consecration..................................... Pastor Lauri

Our loving God, we ask you to send your Holy Spirit upon these offerings of bread and cup, making them for us communion in the body and the blood of Jesus Christ our Savior. Father, gather into one all who share in these sacred mysteries, filling them with the Holy Spirit and confirming their faith in the truth, that together we may always praise you and give you glory through your servant, Jesus Christ.

Invitation to the Table...................................... Pastor Lauri

What I have received from the Lord, I pass on to you.

Come, eat and drink; we are one at the Table of the Lord.

Partaking of Sacraments

The body of Christ, given (or broken) for you.

The blood of Christ, given (or poured) out for you.

Closing Song........................................................ Pam Hardy

"Jesus Paid It All"

Closing/Dismissal.............................................. Pastor Lauri

In baptism we proclaim that the baptized are sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever. The ashes on our foreheads remind us that we are children of God and disciples of Christ. As we die with Christ so too will we be raised with Christ.

Go in peace to live for Christ, to serve him alone and to walk in holiness and righteousness all your days, through the Grace of our Lord and the power of his Holy Spirit. Amen!

You are dismissed to depart in quiet reflection.

Post service Music