Ash Wednesday

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In the Western Christian calendar, Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent and occurs forty-six days (forty days not counting Sundays) before Easter. It is a moveable feast, falling on a different date each year because it is dependent on the date of Easter. It can occur as early as 4 February or as late as 10 March.

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A Liturgy for Ash Wednesday
(Use all or part, add hymns, readings etc as you see fit)

Opening Prayer

Give thanks to the Lord of all creation
 ALL: His love endures forever
Into your presence we come,

in a busy world
that demands our attention
Breathe on us now
that we might know your presence
and your power
to see this day though


A reading from psalm 51 for three voices

 1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out   my transgressions

 2 Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse  me from my sin.

 3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.

Confession and Forgiveness

In the blazing light of your love
our short comings are illuminated
our failure to give 
our failure to love
our failure to serve
our failure to forgive
our failure to be the people
you would have us be.
Forgive us and renew us.
You know our nature
know our failings
Enfold us in your arms
that we might daily know
your forgiveness and healing love.
The Lord is full of compassion and mercy, slow to anger and of great kindness. Psalm 103.8

 
The Lord’s Prayer

We say together the words of the Lord's Prayer.
All: Our Father…

Reading - Matthew 6:1-21
Lord, grant us simplicity of faith
And a generosity of service
That gives without counting cost
A life overflowing with Grace
Poured out from the One
Who gave everything
That we might show
The power of love
To a broken world
And share the truth
From a living Word
Lord, grant us simplicity of faith
And a yearning to share it

Affirmation

May we know the love of the heavenly Father deep in our hearts
May we understand our significance in the centre of His family,
May we know the ever present Spirit


May we understand the lengths that He was prepared to go for all mankind
and freely respond in the Today which he has given for us to cherish.

All: Amen
Let us bless the Lord.
ALL: Thanks be to the three fold friendship of the living god

Ash Wednesday

O Lord and Master of my life,
give me not the spirit of laziness,
despair, lust of power, and idle talk. (prostration)
But give rather the spirit of sobriety,
humility, patience and love to Thy servant. (prostration)

Yea, O Lord and King,
grant me to see my own transgressions
and not to judge my brother,
for blessed art Thou unto ages of ages. Amen (prostration)

St. Ephraim the Syrian (AD 305-373)

Ash Wednesday

 

VI

Although I do not hope to turn again
Although I do not hope
Although I do not hope to turn

Wavering between the profit and the loss
In this brief transit where the dreams cross
The dreamcrossed twilight between birth and dying
(Bless me father) though I do not wish to wish these things
From the wide window towards the granite shore
The white sails still fly seaward, seaward flying
Unbroken wings

And the lost heart stiffens and rejoices
In the lost lilac and the lost sea voices
And the weak spirit quickens to rebel
For the bent golden-rod and the lost sea smell
Quickens to recover
The cry of quail and the whirling plover
And the blind eye creates
The empty forms between the ivory gates
And smell renews the salt savour of the sandy earth This is the time of tension between dying and birth The place of solitude where three dreams cross Between blue rocks But when the voices shaken from the yew-tree drift away Let the other yew be shaken and reply.

Blessed sister, holy mother, spirit of the fountain, spirit of the garden,
Suffer us not to mock ourselves with falsehood
Teach us to care and not to care
Teach us to sit still
Even among these rocks,
Our peace in His will
And even among these rocks
Sister, mother
And spirit of the river, spirit of the sea,
Suffer me not to be separated

And let my cry come unto Thee. 

 An Excerpt  from T. S. Elliot's epic poem ASH WEDNESDAY

Ash Wednesday (4)

O my all-merciful God and Lord,

Jesus Christ, full of pity:

Through Your great love You came down

and became incarnate in order to save everyone.

O Savior, I ask You to save me by Your grace!

If You save anyone because of their works,

that would not be grace but only reward of duty,

but You are compassionate and full of mercy!

You said, O my Christ,

"Whoever believes in Me shall live and never die."

If then, faith in You saves the lost, then save me,

O my God and Creator, for I believe.

Let faith and not my unworthy works be counted to me, O my God,

for You will find no works which could account me righteous.

O Lord, from now on let me love You as intensely as I have loved sin,

and work for You as hard as I once worked for the evil one.

I promise that I will work to do Your will,

my Lord and God, Jesus Christ, all the days of my life and forever more.

Prayer of St. John Chrysostom

Ash Wednesday (3) The Begining of Lent

Penitential Prayer of St. Ambrose of Milan

O Lord, who hast mercy upon all,
take away from me my sins,
and mercifully kindle in me
the fire of thy Holy Spirit.
Take away from me the heart of stone,
and give me a heart of flesh,
a heart to love and adore Thee,
a heart to delight in Thee,
to follow and enjoy Thee, for Christ's sake, Amen

St. Ambrose of Milan (AD 339-397)

Graphic: Praying Shepherd : Pieter Bruegel II




see the Living water  page on Lent

Ash Wednesday (2) Prayer of St. Ephriam

In the Western Christian calendar, Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent and occurs forty days before Easter (excluding Sundays). It falls on a different date each year, because it is dependent on the date of Easter; it can occur as early as February 4 or as late as March 10.

On this day ashes are placed on the foreheads of the faithful to remind them of Christ's sacrafice, of the sorrow they should feel for their sins, and of the necessity of changing their lives. The practice, which dates from the early Middle Ages, is common among Roman Catholics, Anglicans and Episcopalians, and many Lutherans; it was also adopted by some Methodists and Presbyterians in the 1990s.


St. Ephraim the Syrian (AD 305-373)


O Lord and Master of my life,

give me not the spirit of laziness,despair,

lust of power, and idle talk. (prostration)



But give rather the spirit of sobriety,humility,

patience and love to Thy servant. (prostration)



Yea, O Lord and King,

grant me to see my own transgressionsand

not to judge my brother,

for blessed art Thou unto ages of ages.

Amen (prostration)


Scriptures for reflection for ash wednesday this year
Joel 2:1-2,12-17

Isaiah 58:1-122

2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10

Matthew 6:1-6,16-21

Psalm 103 or 103:8-14

see Living water ancient well ash wednesday (1)

Ash Wedensday (1)

Ash Wednesday
(the 1st day of Lent)

In the Western tradition Ash Wednesday is the seventh Wednesday before Easter Sunday and the first day of Lent. Lent is the period of forty days before Palm Sunday. Sundays are not figured into the caculation.

In those churches which follow the Byzantine tradition (e.g. Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholics), the forty days of Lent are calculated differently: the fast begins on Clean Monday, Sundays are included in the count, and it ends on the Friday before Palm Sunday. (more on that at a later date)

Ash Wednesday gets it's name "dies cinerum" (day of ashes) from the ancient practice of followers placing ashes on their foreheads as a sign of humility before God. The ashes being a symbol of sorrow, mourning and repentence for sin. Not only does this action prefigure the death and ressurection of Christ but places the worshipper

Generally the forehead is marked with the sign of the cross while the words "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel" or "Remember, man, you are dust and to dust you shall return"(Gen 3:19) are said. Traditionally the ashes would come from palm branches that had been gathered and burned after their use during the previous year's Palm Sunday celibration.

In the early church it began as an individual practice. Eventualy only those wishing to make public confession of sin seeking restoration into fellowhip for the Easter celibration would make the mark. Over the years others began showing their identification with the penents and asked for the ashes. Finally the marking was extended to the whole community in services similar to those now observed in many churches on ash Wednesday.Ashes became symbolic of the attitude of penitence reflected in the Lord's Prayer " forgive us our sins as we forgive those whoin debted to us" Luke 11:4

The only two official days of fasting in theWestern Christian litugical year are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. The follower is asked to for go legitimate material satisfaction in order to open heart and spirit to the word and presence of God. Fasting can be accompanied by gestures of solidarity toward the suffering, in this way it can become an act of sharing with the needy and the marginalized. (more on fasting at a later date)

The use of ashes is found in the scripture and is tied to repentance.
* Job repented using ashes (Job 42:6)
* Daniel prayed with fasting and ashes (Dn 9:3)
* When Jonah preached God's coming judgment against Nineveh, the pagan king of Nineveh and his subjects repented with a fast, the king put on sackcloth and sat in ashes. (Jonah 3:5-10).
* When King Ahasuerus ordered all Jews to be killed, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes. So did the Jews throughout the land (Esther 4:1-3)
* Jeremiah and Ezekiel mentioned mourning with ashes (Jer 6:26, Ez 27:30)
* Jesus mentioned ashes as a sign of repentance in the case of Tyre and Sidon (Mt 11:21)

more on Ash Wednesday
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ash_Wednesday
Ash Wednesday question & answer page
http://www.cin.org/users/james/files/ash_wed.htm
link to Ash Wednesady organization
http://www.ash-wednesday.org/