Ash Wednesday 2022 by Sherry L. Daniels

Photo by Eugenia Porechenskaya

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March 2, 2022 @ 12:00 Noon

Ash Wednesday is an observance built around the imposition of ashes and not on the proclamation of the Word. The worship team should make sure that the focus is on the ashes and the symbolism that is inherent in them. Even if you don’t actually apply them to the forehead or any part of the body, the ashes can still remind us of our mortality and our human sinfulness. This is essentially a call to the Lenten observance; therefore, it needs to take the center place.

Video Gathering of the Faith Community First Reading Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 An Army of Locusts 2 Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming. It is close at hand— 2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was in ancient times nor ever will be in ages to come.

Rend Your Heart 12 “Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” 13 Rend 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. 14 Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing— grain offerings and drink offerings for the Lord your God. 15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly. 16 Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber. 17 Let the priests, who minister before the Lord, weep between the portico and the altar. Let them say, “Spare your people, Lord. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”

:Second

Reading

2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin[b] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 6 As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. 2 For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.”[a] I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation. Paul’s Hardships 3 We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. 4 Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; 5 in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; 6 in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; 7 in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; 8 through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; 9 known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; 10 sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

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Rev. Dr. Derek Weber, Director of Preaching Ministries, served churches in Indiana and Arkansas and the British Methodist Church. His PhD is from University of Edinburgh in preaching and media. He has taught preaching in seminary and conference settings for more than 20 years.

The season of Lent is both rich and scary. The season is rich because we are invited to dig deep into our faith practices and determine whether we are on the right path to becoming disciples of Jesus Christ. We are encouraged to look at our whole lives and then to lay them alongside the life of Christ and see how we measure up. That is where the scary part comes in. Being honest with ourselves is a difficult exercise; that’s part of why we need forty days to do it. It takes diligence and discipline and a whole lot of grace to see ourselves as we truly are. In fact, it might be argued that we are incapable of doing this Lenten thing on our own. It is simply beyond our capabilities and certainly beyond our inclinations. The only us on no matter how we have run the race so far.

incapable of doing this Lenten thing on our own. It is simply beyond our capabilities and certainly beyond our inclinations. The only hope we have is to be gathered up in Jesus. The guiding image for this series is found in Jesus’ own words. In Luke 13:34, the gospel text for the Second Sunday in Lent, Jesus tells us how he wants to gather us up, like a mother hen gathers her brood. He wants us to claim him, to run to him, to be loved and cared for by him. But this is not to avoid the Lenten examination. Rather, it is to be able to endure it. We can stand the scrutiny of the questions about the state of our souls because we have one who will love us no matter what we find. We can be honest with our failings and our successes because there is one who cheers us on no matter how we have run the race so far. The season of Lent is essential for those who truly seek to be disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Because a part of what we learn in this time of self-examination is that we are what might be most in need of transformation. We might find that what might need to grow in faith and discipleship is the church and that the transformation of the world begins with building bridges and gathering up rather than with condemnation.

Third Reading Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 Giving to the Needy 6 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Prayer 5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Fasting 16 “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Treasures in Heaven 19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Receiving the Ashes The action is offered in silence, with the words, "Remember, you are dust" and "Repent, believe the gospel," alternating on the projection screen, scrim, or wall. CalendarDate.com

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Deacon or Lay Leader or Lay Speaker: May God, who has forgiven us now make us strong for these days ahead. May Jesus lead us, and we be found faithful to follow. May the Spirit drive us into the wilderness, burning away the chaff of our lives, and purifying our hearts for all to see and be blessed. Pastor: And may the blessing of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Mercy, Master, and Fire, Be with us and remain with us always! People: Amen! Deacon, Lay Leader or Lay Speaker: Go in peace, to love and serve God and your neighbor. People: Thanks be to God!