Ash Wednesday 2024

2/14/2024

Order of Service:

Welcome

Song #1 - Come Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy

Responsive Reading - Psalm 51 - Bekah?

Sermon

Ashes - Ash Wednesday Music Video

Song #2 - Lord, I Need You (iSing)

Benediction and Release to Prayer Stations

Special Notes:

Opening Prayer:

Loving and merciful God, we ask you to be with us as we begin our Lenten journey together today. We come before you, mindful of our sinfulness and the ways we fall short in our everyday lives. We ask for your mercy during this season of repentance so that we may begin again and walk in the light of your love. Be with us this day and through our Lenten journey. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

Ash Wednesday 2024

Forgiveness is not automatic. Sometimes I wish it was. Sometimes, I wish God, in His power and mercy, could wave His hands over the world and forgive everyone for everything we have done.

Our trouble is that we often think about guilt rather than sin. Guilt can be alleviated, but sin is an act that often has permanent effects on the world.

One summer, when we were teenagers, my Mom gave my brother and I the task of scraping about 70 years’ worth of wallpaper from my parents' bedroom. In the middle of an argument, a pillow was thrown that missed its intended target and smashed the lamp on the table beside the bed. Not two seconds later, the phone on that same table rang. It was Mom checking in on us. We panicked. I blamed my brother. Curt tried to deny it, and Mom knew we were up to something. To make matters worse, in our panic, we did not pick up the phone when it first rang, so the entire conversation was recorded on our answering machine for Mom and Dad to play back multiple times.

Mom forgave us and told us that she never liked that lamp much anyway, which was good because it was beyond fixing. Our guilt was gone even though the brokenness remained, but we can all laugh about it now.

Years later, I moved to Kentucky and was appointed to serve two rural churches. Each weekend, I drove about 45 minutes from our home in Lexington to get there, and one Saturday evening, I saw a pale yellow blur dart in front of my car as I took the exit off the interstate. I heard a thump as I hit something, and as I looked briefly to the side, I noticed a yellow lab limping off the side of the road. I felt terrible, but it was not a good place to stop and check on it, so I took that guilt with me for weeks. About a month later, I was in the parking lot outside McDonald's, near that exit, when I saw a yellow lab limping over to my car. My guilt flared up, and I shared part of my burger with that dog, not knowing if it was the one I hit or not but feeling better that, if it was, it had forgiven me enough to approach me. Forgiveness was given, and guilt was gone... but that dog limped for the rest of its life.

We can come up with hundreds of excuses about why it was not all my fault, but at the end of the day, I hit the dog, and it still limps.

If all we need is for our guilty conscience to feel better, God did not need to send Jesus to us. The problem is not guilt alone; it is sin, and sin uses us as instruments of destruction to break God's world. We need true healing and restoration along with forgiveness. We must be remade in God's image as people of life, creation, and righteousness.

For that, we need Jesus. We need Jesus to lead us and remake us in God's image. That is what this season of Lent is all about.

A Pure Heart and Steadfast Spirit

Psalm 51, which we read together, is a prayer with incredible passion and depth far beyond the written words. It has a backstory behind this prayer of confession and plea for mercy, which involves one of the best and brightest of God’s people committing some of the worst sins imaginable. David sought redemption in a way that he knew he could never accomplish. He knew he needed more than forgiveness for sins he could never make right. He needed to be remade. The clay had fallen off the potter’s wheel and shattered on the floor. The only way forward for Him was to start over again.

In the middle of this prayer, one of the petitions that holds it together like a seam is a request for a pure heart and a steadfast spirit.

A pure heart is a heart that is clean and clear, innocent as a newborn, but not necessarily new. The snow that comes down from heaven is, at its essence, the same water that sits in mud puddles alongside the road, fills our pipes, and even moves through us. But it has been purified and returned to the ground with a new purpose. David asked God to do the same thing with his heart. Lord, give me a pure heart.

A steadfast spirit is a faithful spirit, like the pure heart, but it lasts over time. Practice with God makes perfect, and God coaches us, teaches us, picks us up, cleans us off, and puts us back on the wheel until we get it right every time. The steadfast spirit is the one that doesn’t quit until the heart is pure and stays pure.

David knew he needed more than just a second chance. We understand that we need God’s help to make the best of every opportunity He gives us. So we pray with David that God would take poor sinners into His hands, remold us, and make us just as He always intended us to be.

Prayer Stations

How do we get our hearts cleansed, and how do we keep them pure and faithful?

Today, we invite you to participate in several prayer stations to begin that work in you as we begin the season of Lent together, following Jesus to the cross.

Prayer Knots of Forgiveness

Along the wall, we have Prayer Knots of forgiveness that help us see what we need to confess and where we need to seek God’s forgiveness.

Light

Here, at the prayer rail, we have candles symbolizing the light of Christ. They remind us that Christ wants to shine through us and help us see where we need to let him be that light in and through us.

Laying Down Fears

At the back of the sanctuary you are invited to use a rock to confess and lay down your fears before God.

Prayer Sticks

The kid’s Sunday school room contains colored prayer sticks to guide you in prayer for those in your life.

Prayer Labyrinth

We have a Prayer labyrinth in the room across from the restrooms. Here, you can spend some time listening and reflecting with God.

The Cross

This season of Lent is about recommitting our lives to a growing relationship with Christ. In our prayer chapel, we invite you to prayerfully make a personal decision to give something up for Lent and/or perhaps add something that will draw you closer to God in this season.

We invite you to begin with an act of humility. Without the breath of life from God, we have no voice. Without the water of life, we have no form. We are simply ash and dust. We need God for everything. Without Him, we are nothing. In just a moment, we will invite you to come forward, from the back to the front, and receive ashes on your forehead to remind us of what we are without God and how much we need Him. As we empty ourselves, we make room for God to fill us. We will conclude with a song together, and then You are invited to use all of the prayer stations to continue making room for God to work in you and make you more like Jesus. Each station represents things you can do every day, and we invite you to begin them with us today.

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, This journey of death to self and discovering new life in You challenges our minds and hearts. It tests our faith in ways we are not comfortable with. Thank You for leading the way. Thank You for sending Your Spirit to go with us. We desire pure hearts and steadfast spirits that will keep us close to You and lead us into that eternal life that we cannot imagine but desperately desire. We remember we are nothing apart from You. As we follow Jesus to the cross, take our lives and let them be a living sacrifice for You. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Benediction

The journey has begun. Remember, this is not a race for the swift. It is a marathon for the steadfast. Our goal is not to get to heaven quickly but to be ready for heaven when we arrive. Go, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and may God shape you with every step you make following Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Amen.