ASH WEDNESDAY – February 17, 2010

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent.  By the fourth century the Western church had determined that the Lenten period of fasting and renewal should correspond to Christ’s forty-day fast (Matt 4:2), and, by counting back from Easter (excluding Sundays, which remain “feast” days), arrived at the Wednesday seven weeks before Easter.  At one time, Lent was primarily viewed as a period during which converts prepared for baptism on Easter Sunday, but later the season became a general time of penitence and renewal for all Christians.  Thus Ash Wednesday became the day that marked the beginning of the Lenten renewal.

The aim of Ash Wednesday worship is threefold: to meditate on our mortality, sinfulness, and need of a savior; to renew our commitment to daily repentance in the Lenten season and in all of life; and to remember with confidence and gratitude that Christ has conquered death and sin.  Ash Wednesday worship, then, is filled with gospel truth.  It is a witness to the power and beauty of our union with Christ and to the daily dying and rising with Christ that this entails.

The imposition of ashes is often a central part of the worship service.  Ashes have a long history in biblical and church traditions.  In Scripture ashes or dust symbolize frailty or death (Gen 18:27), sadness or mourning (Esther 4:3), judgment (Lam 3:16), and repentance (Jon 3:6).  Some traditions also have considered ash a purifying or cleansing agent.  All these images are caught up in the church’s use of ashes as a symbol appropriate for Lent.  In Christ’s passion we see God’s judgment on evil; in our penitence we express sorrow and repentance for our sins; in our redication we show that we are purified and renewed.  The ashes, which often are the burnt residue of the previous year’s palms from Palm Sunday, are often mixed with a little water and carried in a small dish.  As the leader goes from worshiper to worshiper, or as worshipers come forward, the leader dips a finger in the moist ash and makes a cross on each person’s forehead (the “imposition”), saying words such as “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return,” or, “Consider yourself dead to sin and alive in Jesus Christ.”

In some contexts, the imposition of ashes may be a barrier to thoughtful Lenten worship because of its newness or because it may be misunderstood.  Most important is that worshipers rend their hearts (Joel 2:13).  Decisions about whether or how to practice the imposition of ashes should always take into account that the service should build up the body of Christ.

Scriptures Applying the Theme of Ash Wednesday:

Psalm 51 (and other penitential psalms: 6, 32, 38, 102, 130, 143)
Psalm 90
Psalm 103
Psalm 139:23-24
Joel 2:12-17
Matthew 5:3-6
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-23
Matthew 11:28-29
2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2
1 Peter 1:1-2:3

Order of Worship

Welcome:

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent.  The Lenten season is the 40-day period before Easter, excluding Sundays.  It is a time of preparation for Resurrection Sunday, Easter, by far the Christian’s most significant holiday.  If you’re like me, most years Good Friday and Easter jump up pretty quickly.  If I’m lucky, I’ll read a Gospel account of the Passion Week sometime that weekend.

Lent is designed to head off that surprise and prepare our hearts to receive the Easter celebration well.  With your order of worship I provided a description of Ash Wednesday I pulled from a worship book.  I want to read one portion:

The aim of Ash Wednesday worship is threefold: to meditate on our mortality, sinfulness, and need of a savior; to renew our commitment to daily repentance in the Lenten season and in all of life; and to remember with confidence and gratitude that Christ has conquered death and sin.

That will be the structure of today’s worship, with special attention to our mortality, sinfulness and need.  Yes, we want to remember that Christ has come, died in our place, and rose again.  But there’s a helpfulness to stop and dwell on our mortality and sinfulness, for from this posture the cross and the empty grave are so much sweeter. We cannot appreciate God’s infinite mercy if we do not realize we need mercy. We cannot understand salvation apart from our recognition of our need to be saved.

Lent is a time to remember the prophet Isaiah, in 57:15

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy; “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.

And in 66:1-2,

Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool;
… All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look, he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

Our Holy God does not dwell with prideful people, but only with those who are contrite and lowly.  Similarly, Jesus opens the Beatitudes in Matthew 5,

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

A biblical spirituality always begins in sackcloth and ashes.  We, who are surrounded by delusions of our own grandeur, who are taught from when we’re little to have high self-esteem, we have to remind ourselves and remind each other of our lowliness before God the Father. Lent is not a season to deny hope, but rather to remind us why we need hope. It’s a season when we observe the darkness around and within us in anticipation of celebrating the light and hope of Easter morning.

A brief aside on fasting: traditionally, Christians choose to fast in some way during Lent in preparation for Easter.  We give up something (food, chocolate, soda, sleep, Saturday mornings, internet surfing, TV, video games, sleeping in beds). The point is not to make some grand gesture to appease God. The point is to create a new space in our life to acknowledge our dependence on the Lord – or as the case may be, something other than the Lord. Fasting from food will tell us we “need” food. Fasting from TV will tell us that we “need” to be entertained. So we fast, anticipating these voices that reveal our dependence. In response to them, we will echo Jesus’ words when he was tempted while fasting – “Man does not live on bread alone.”

So consider how you might fast this season. Many will do some of the things I mentioned. In some traditions, a weekly 24-hour fast is part of the practice, fasting from dinner on one day to dinner the next day. Other traditions give up particular foods or practices. Ask the Lord, ask your friends, and ask your spouse. They’ll probably know what you need to give up. It’s not too late to decide.  Whatever you commit to, remember that your goal is not to read a book instead of watching TV, or to lose weight. Rather, your goal is to remember your frailty, and to put your hope in the God who is present to you here and now.

Call to Confession: Selections from Joel 1 and 2

The vine is dried up and the fig tree is withered;
the pomegranate, the palm and the apple tree –
all the trees of the field – are dried up.
Surely the joy of mankind is withered away.

Put on sackcloth, O priests, and mourn;
wail, you who minister before the alter.

“Even now,” declares the Lord,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning.

“Tear your heart and not your garments.
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity.
Who knows? He may turn and have pity
and leave behind a blessing.”

SONG: Come Ye Sinners

Come ye sinners, poor and needy,
weak and wounded, sick and sore.
Jesus ready stands to save you,
full of pity, love, and power.

Come ye thirsty, come and welcome
God’s free bounty glorify.
True belief and true repentance,
and every grace that brings you nigh

I will arise and go to Jesus;
he will embrace me in his arms.
And in the arms of my dear saviour
there are ten thousand charms.

Come ye weary, heavy laden,
lost and ruined by the fall.
If you tarry until you’re better,
you will never come at all.

If we are to be saved, we must repent. Genuine repentance involves two things: the dying-away of the old self and the coming-to-life of the new. The dying-away of the old self is to be genuinely sorry for sin, to hate it more and more, and to run away from it. The coming-to-life of the new self is wholehearted joy in God through Christ and a delight to do every kind of good as God wants us to. Together, as Christ’s body, we now confess our sin and express our longing to live in joyful obedience to God.

Let’s confess our sin corporately together through Psalm 51.  Afterwards, take a moment in silence to confess that sin which is laid on your heart the heaviest this morning – pride in your responsibilities, greed and materialism, adulterous lust, hiding your sin and hypocrisy before other believers, unquenchable anxiety, whatever it is – confess your sin, knowing that our Father is faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9)

Prayer of Confession: Psalm 51

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.
Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
Create in me a pure 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.  Amen.

SONG: Lead Us Back

Falling down upon our knees
Sharing now in common shame
We have sought security
Not the cross that bears your name
Fences guard our hearts and homes
Comfort sings a siren tune.
We’re a valley of dry bones;
Lead us back to life in you.

Lord we fall upon our knees,
We have shunned the weak and poor,
Worshipped beauty, courted kings
And the things their gold affords,
Prayed for those we’d like to know –
Favor sings a siren tune.
We’ve become a talent show;
Lead us back to life in You.

You have caused the blind to see,
We have blinded him again
With our man-made laws and creeds,
Eager, ready to condemn.
Now we plead before Your throne –
Power sings a siren tune.
We’ve been throwing heavy stones;
Lead us back to life in You.

We’re a valley of dry bones
Lead us back to life in You.
We’ve become a talent show
Lead us back to life in You.
We’ve been throwing heavy stones
Lead us back to life in You.

Time of Silence

I said it before, I’ll say it again because it is so good.  First John 1:9 promises us that “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  Here this declaration of pardon from Isaiah 40 and 53.

Declaration of Pardon: Isaiah 40 and 53

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.
He was wounded for our transgressions
and bruised for our iniquities.
Upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole,
and with his stripes we are healed.
He will feed his flock like a shepherd
and gather the lambs in his arms.

SONG: Mourning Into Dancing

When my soul was dry, oh God, Your Spirit came like water
To drown me with Your love, and cover me with life
And Your waves were stronger than my faith could ever be
But your current was faithful then, to pull me into You

Chorus:
You turn my mourning into dancing, my sadness into laughter
My sorrow into joy,
“Halleluiah” is my song

When our souls were dry, oh God, Your Spirit came like water
To drown us with Your love, and cover us with life
And Your waves were stronger than our faith could ever be
But your current was faithful then, to pull us into You

As the deep calls out to deep,
we are calling out to You
Now we set our hope in You,
and we live unto Your name.

Christ has redeemed us from sin!  We have been made right with Creator God, clothed in the righteousness of Christ, qualified to partake of the inheritance of the saints!

Yet we are still plagued by sin.  Let us remember the challenge of Paul in Romans 6, “We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”

Let us then commit to a lifestyle of repentance during this Lenten season and during all of life.  Read with me 1 Peter 1:22-2:3.

Committing to Repentance: 1 Peter 1:22-2:3

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.  For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.  For,

“All men are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of the Lord stands forever.”

And this is the word that was preached to you.  Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.  Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Church family, you have tasted that the Lord is good.  Crave him!  Like newborn babies, demand him every hour.  He is here for you, all who are weary and heavy laden with the burden of sin, come to him and rest.

But Hebrews says we must work hard to enter that rest (Hebrews 4:11).  Later it says, we must throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles in our pursuit of him.  May this be a season of pursuing him boldly, cutting out any and all practices which keep you from him.  Fast for him; sweat for him; cry for him.

We send you with the imposition of ashes on your forehead.  We are energized by Christ to pursue him with our all, but we know our weakness.  We know that when we step out that door into a harsh world, we will face temptation from within and without.  Work will not be easy today.  Children will not be easy today.  So, we take the mark of ashes on our forehead to acknowledge our weakness and our need for union with Christ in his death, and so in his resurrection.

Come forward, receive the mark of the cross on your forehead and the charge to “Consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Jesus Christ.”  Then you may leave.

Imposition of Ashes

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