Ash Wednesday 2023

Ash Wednesday

Pre Song

Welcome and Psalm

Intro

[Slide] Welcome

Good Evening. My name is Clint, I am a pastor here, thank you all for joining us tonight for our Ash Wednesday service.

Service is Contemplative

This service is a bit more Contemplative than a normal worship service. The purpose of tonight is to take stock of where we are at spiritually. To look below the surface and ask the hard questions, how am I really doing, how’s my relationship with God, where in my life do I need to repent because…

Tonight is a time to press into repentance, both individually and corporately. As individuals we fall short. We don’t do the things we should, or we do things that we know we shouldn’t. We sin. And that sin can get in the way of our relationship with God, and our relationship with other people.

We need to repent as individuals, but repentance also can happen on the community level. We see in scripture this theme of God’s chosen people, as a community, failing to live as they should. When they become aware, there is a time of sorrow and repentance, of turning back toward God and a commitment to live the way God intends us as his chosen to live.

Friends, it’s been a hard season for our church.At the beginning of this Lenten season, we have an opportunity to turn to God in repentance.  Tonight, I'd like to invite us to do that by reading Psalm 130 together.

This is what’s called a penitential (peh-nuh-TEN-shl) psalm. It helps us repent and move back toward God. Friends, let’s read this together, and then we will continue on with our worship.

[Slides] Psalm 130

Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord; 2 Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. 3 If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? 4 But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.

5 I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope. 6 I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. 7 Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. 8 He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.

2 Worship Songs

(Slide) Message

What is lent

Hello again friends, you can be seated. Once again welcome to our Ash Wednesday Service. Today starts what we call Lent, which is the 40 day period that leads up to Easter.

40 is one of the those numbers that pops up over and over in the scriptures. We often see it as this time of preparation before something big happens.

Elijah walked in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights before he came to Mt. Sinai.

Jesus fasted and prayer for 40 days in the desert before he began his public ministry.

We see this in scripture, and we see this precedent of spending extra time in preparation for Easter and Holy Week by fasting in church history.

And that brings us to Ash Wednesday, the start of this period of preparation. Now you maybe thinking, but Clint, why Ash’s, whats the deal with that?

I’m so glad you asked. The ashes represent a couple of different things.

First, they are a sign of repentance. Often times in scripture when people become aware of their sins, they mark themselves with dust or ashes as this outward sign of the inward sorrow they are feeling coming face to face with there sin.

Second, people were created out of dust. The ashes remind us that we will die, that we will return to dust. They are a way for us to return to humility and realize that our very existence is a gift from God.

And, lastly, the Ash’s help us identify with our need for Jesus. They acknowledge that, as it says in (Slide) Romans 3:23 “..for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…”

Today is a day to remember that Jesus went to the cross, not for someone else, but for me, and begin to make space in our lives to feel that weight, so that we can fully embrace the gift of the cross and celebrate the resurrection on Easter.

[Slide] Jonah 3

Friends, as we begin this Lenten Season, let’s look at a story of repentance from the Old Testament. We will read this story, which comes out of Jonah, Chapter 3, I’m going to make some observations about what we can learn from it, and then we will spend some time repenting and worshiping together as we move into our ashing ceremony.

1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you." 3 Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. 4 Jonah began by going a day's journey into the city, proclaiming, "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown."

5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. 6 When Jonah's warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. 7 This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh: "By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8 But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish." 10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.

[Slide] Take Stock (v6) become aware of our sins

The first thing we learn from this story is how to take stock of where we actually are at and become aware of our sins. Lent is about self-examination. During lent we let the mask down, we don’t try to minimize our sin or the consequences of it(“It’s not that bad”), we don’t rationalize it (“well everyone does that, so its fine”). We face it head on and acknowledge it.

Verse six, we see the King of Nineveh he does this when Jonah’s word reaches him. He doesn’t question it, he doesn’t have Jonah arrested or killed. The king, gets off his throne, takes off his robes and begins to mourn as he feels the weight of the sin.

Today, ask yourself, how am I really doing?

Where in my life have I grown over this past year, and where am I stuck. Where have I gotten worse.

This can be a hard thing. Don’t try to sugar coat it. Got off the throne, sit in the dirt, and be real.

Take stock. Where is the presence of God in your life. Are you experiencing him regularly, or are you going through life with little or  no awareness of his presence.

What parts of your life are off limits to him. It’s important to remember that this isn’t and either or thing, either you experience the presence of God, or you don’t.

You can have areas of your life where you are totally walking in step with the Spirit of God, while at the same time, you can have whole sections of your life that you don’t let God into at all.

Maybe you feel like you are crushing it at work. You are bringing Glory to God, your are working hard, you are a supportive co-worker, you are having amazingly deep conversations, but then you go home and your marriage is falling apart.

Or maybe its the exact opposite for you. Things in your personal life are going great, you have godly friendships, you are encounter God in worship and daily devotions, but when you get to work its like a switch flips. You hate being there so much that you completely forget to show the love, care, and compassion of Jesus to your co-workers.

During Lent, we take stock of where we really are, we get off the throne and we repent.

[Slide] We repent (Fast) (v7-8) (put on take off)

Repentance means we go the other way, we change course, we do something different. We see this in verses 7 and 8

This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh: "By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8 But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence.

Nineveh radically changed course. They fasted, and changed their behavior. Lent is a time of Fasting, it’s a spiritual spring cleaning.

When we fast, we deny ourselves something, to engage with something else. We can take things off, or we can put things on. For followers of Jesus, fasting should become a normal part of our lives. In Matthew 6, Jesus says “When you fast” not “If you fast”.

When we fast, what we are doing is we are creating space in our life, space that can then be filled by the presence and power of God.

I think of it like this, let me give you a simple illustration. Often times when I get home at night my girls are already there. I’ve got two daughters, Clara is 4 and Lucy is 2. When I open the door and they hear me come in, the will often run to say hi. Now, sometimes when I get home, I’m so distracted. I walk in the door and I’m on my phone, check in that last email, or sending that last message. And when I walk in and then run to the door, and they see me distracted, sometimes, they walk away sad, because Dad isn’t aware of them, I’m distracted. I haven’t created an environment where we can be together.

When we fast, we eliminate the distractions. We put things in place to help cultivate our awareness of God. It’s like me saying, I am going to Fast, to take away, that phone time when I’m walking in the door. No phone coming through the door, the girls run to me, I see them smile, they see me smile they yell “Daddy! Daddy’s home” they run to me, and I drop down and give them that big hug.

When we fast, it’s like we put the phone away. We become aware of God waiting for us to come home.

A.W. Tozer said, “God waits to be wanted”.

Fasting is us communicating our want and need for God’s presence in our lives

When we fast, we take away the things that are getting between us and experiencing the love of God.

[Slide] How to fast and examples

Food/Prayer

So, how do we fast, and even what do we fast from? I think it’s helpful to think about taking things off and putting things on. We can stop one activity, or we can start another. Often times these two go hand in hand.

For example, we can fast from a Food. We can give up lunch. What happens then. Well, you get hunger right. That hungry acts as a trigger. When we get hungry, that reminds us to Pray. We put on prayer. We engage with it. We say, Lord, this hunger reminds me that you are with me. It reminds me that without you, I don’t exist. Lord would you be with me know as I go throughout my day.

Media/Scripture

It can be helpful to look at your life and see what is distracting you from your relationship with God and pick fasting practices that will help you pivot. So, let’s say you realize that consuming media is eating up a bunch of your time. Hitting Facebook is the first thing you do in the morning, at Lunch you scrolling through Instagram, and then in bed at night you stay up way too late on Tic Tok.

What if you decided that instead of sitting there, watching the Tic Tok Videos, you decided to pivot towards scripture reading. You use that time to press into scripture reading and meet God in his Word.

Comforts/Gratitude (Bonhoeffer Quote) (Casey and Socks)

Those are two big things and there is a lot of room to get creative. In the book of Daniel we see Daniel fasts from choice foods. You could fast from Comforts. A few years back, Casey one of our Pastors, fasted from wearing socks. No socks for lent. Maybe you fast from something like that an it’s place you put Gratitude. The lack of the choice thing points us towards the things we have to be grateful for.

Dietrich Bonhoffer wrote” We do not complain of what God does not give us; we rather thank God for what he does give us daily.

What if this lent, you denied yourself to press into gratitude. Imagine the work God would do in us if we each began to recognize the work of God, in big ways and small, in our daily lives.

Self Denial(Hobbies)/Service (Maybe me in the food shelf)

My thing this year revolves around Self Denial. I love hobbies. I’m always picking up something new. My wife jokes that my hobby is collecting hobbies. You know what hobbies take up….time. So this year, what I am doing, is I am taking a block of time that I might usually devote to a new hobby, and instead I am going to devote that time to serving others in our food shelf.

[Slide] Commitment Cards

So, in just a little bit, I’m going to ask you to make a commitment to fasting, to taking something off or putting something on.

We have these commitment cards for you to fill out. On here there is a spot for you to write things you are fasting from, as well as things you will be engaging in. It’s perforated, so half of it stays with you and half of it gets thrown in a basket when you come forward to receive your ashes. We as a staff will spend some time praying over each card through out this lenten season. If you would rather, we also have a digital form you can fill out by scanning that QR Code.

In just a few minutes you are going to have some time to fill out that card and as you do ask yourself where in you life are you’re hoping to make a change. Where are you thirsty for God’s presence.

[Slide] Cry out (9-10)

Ultimately, when we fast, we are crying out to God for more his presence, his Mercy and Grace.

Look at verse 9-10. The king of Nineveh says after proclaiming the fast:

Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish." 10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.

When we fast, when we cry out, it opens us up to experience the loving compassion of our heavenly Father.

Where in your life do you need to feel that love? Where do you need to feel that Forgiveness.

Repentance is the way forward my friends, its the way to live authentically before God and people.

So, as a sign of repentance, in just a second here we are going to read again Psalm 130, and then begin our Ashing Ceremony

Instruction for Ashing

In the front of the auditorium there will be multiple Ashing stations with pastors from Vineyard.

After we read the psalm, we will spend some time worshiping.During that first song, spend some time filling out that commitment card. After the first song I will everyone to come forward and receive their ashes. Bring your commitment card forward and place it in a basket and the receive the ashes.

As the pastor or leader places the ashes on you they will say the phrase,  “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel.”  In this phrase we are acknowledging with humility our mortality, and giving our word to make Jesus even more the center of our lives. Feel free to respond with Amen, or just be silent. Return your seat and we will continue to worship until I close us with some prayer.

[Slide] Psalm 130

So, friends, lets read this psalm again together.

Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord; 2 Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. 3 If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? 4 But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.5 I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope. 6 I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. 7 Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. 8 He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.

Interlude Song/Fill out Cards

Lets take some time and fill out our cards

Ash Ceremony

Blessing

Almighty God, you have created us out of the dust of the earth: Grant that these ashes may be to us a sign of our mortality and repentance, that we may remember that it is only by your gracious gift that we are given everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Savior.  Let the sign of the cross, given in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit encourage and heal us so that we might faithful to you in all of life.  Amen.

Please come forward and receive your ashes

Closing

Friends, thank you so much for coming to our Ash Wednesday service. Let’s pray together

Father, we thank you for your forgiveness on the cross. We thank you that as we confess and repent of our sins, you are faithful to forgive. Lord would you help us prepare ourselves to fully celebrate the Resurrection. Would you use this Lenten period to draw us close to you, to transform us into the People of God who you desire us to be. Father, we commit to making space in our lives, space that we trust you will fill. Lord would you fill us with your Holy Spirt, teach us how to love and serve you and love and serve other people. In your Holy Name, Amen.

Friends, Let’s do one more song together as a church, and then we will officially be done. Thank you for being with us tonight. God Bless

Closing Song