Ash Wednesday (Year A)
Wednesday, March 1, 2017
When we receive the cross on our
forehead on Ash Wednesday, we are invited to remember that it is in Christ and
through Christ that reconciliation is possible. Yet, we are also invited to
remember that as we leave the church with the seal of the cross of Christ, we
are Christ's ambassadors of reconciliation. We are sent as representatives for
Christ, in Christ's stead… This is what ministry is all about.
–
Karoline Lewis, Luther Seminary
Theme: Acceptable Sacrifices
(This is the
final segment of a six-part series from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’
teachings to his disciples – us included! – about his mission and his interpretations
of scripture.)
Intro: Put
yourself on the hillside one last time, in the tightly knit group of Jesus’
disciples. By this time, you are surrounded by a mass of people who have come
to hear this teacher tell people how they are to live. What started with Jesus
clarifying his mission has turned into a revival, a call to change the way
people worship God and treat one another.
Reflection: I
don’t recall ever deciding to give something up for Lent.
Giving up
meat on Fridays was the standard Catholic practice. Classmates discussed giving
up soda, candy, desserts or video games for six weeks. I never understood how
deprivation prepared one for Easter. (OK, Lutherans give up Alleluias – so we
can sing them with joy and gusto starting at sunrise on Easter morn!)
Several years
ago, newly absorbed in my faith, in preparing for the Easter season, my mind
went the other way – I wanted to add in things for Easter, to enrich my
mind and spirit. Prayer, reading, music and worship were at the top of that
list.
Several
phrases stood out this time when I read the annual Ash Wednesday texts. In Joel
2:12-13a, just before the familiar “Return to the Lord, your God” verses, this
stood out, “Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with
fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your
clothing.”
Of course,
that’s why people deprive themselves of something. A private fast, with respect
to Jesus’ admonitions in the final text from the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew
6:16-17, to refocus our hearts. Prayer and giving alms also would channel our
weeping and mourning for the injustices of our lifestyles and privilege.
Inwardly, our failures to live according to Jesus’ guiding should break our
hearts.
These texts
provide a second gem in the psalm verses of confession, “Create in me a clean
heart, O God” from Psalm 51:10-12. But my eyes fixed on verse 17: “The
sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise.”
More
brokenness.
Sacrifice is
another way of explaining “giving up.” So, our remorse needs to be more than
confession, more than saying we’re sorry we’re not living as God’s people. Our
hearts aren’t clean and our spirits are dragging baggage. Words and prayers
just won’t cut it for the way we’ve broken God’s heart. For me, that translates
to healing some open wounds, tracking down people I’ve cast aside, and
unloading my pride and shame.
I could use
some fasting – beyond food – from harsh words and inconsiderate actions,
intolerance and impatience, willfulness and wrath.
Return to the
Lord, your God, for God is gracious and merciful.
Return to God
with all your heart.
Return.
(Make sure you read the footnote today
for a beautiful Ash Wednesday blessing from one of my favorite poets, Jan
Richardson)
Faith App: What would you like to give up for
Lent – perhaps an unproductive or hurtful habit? The six weeks of the Lenten
season provides time to acquire a new behavior. Consider replacing your
former habit with something positive.
HYMN/SONG SUGGESTIONS
Once We Sang and Danced, ELW 701
Savior When in Dust to You, ELW 601
Restore in Us, O God, ELW 328
Healer of Our Every Ill, ELW 612
Take, O Take Me as I Am, ELW 814
Change My Heart, O God, ELW 801
Our Father, We Have Wandered, ELW 606
Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling, ELW 608
Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing, ELW 807
Out of the Depths I Cry to You, ELW 600
Give Us Clean Hands, Chris
Tomlin
All You’ve Ever Wanted, Casting
Crowns
Kindness, Chris Tomlin
Keep Making Me, Sidewalk Prophets
From the Inside Out, Seventh Day Slumber/Phillips, Craig and
Dean/Hillside United
Come, Let Us Return to the Lord, Matt Redman
Restore to Me, Mac Powell/Candi Pearson-Shelton
LESSONS
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 Return to the Lord, your God, for he is
gracious and merciful.
or Isaiah 58:1-12 Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable
to the Lord?
Psalm 51:1-17 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a
new and right spirit within me.
2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is
the day of salvation!
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 Beware of practicing your piety before
others to be seen by them.
Summary of
the Lessons: Lesson 6
– Acceptable Sacrifices. God’s grace is
a gift. Period. But our call in this season is to turn back to the Lord and be
reconciled, to let God recreate our broken and contrite hearts, restore our
humbled spirits with joy. Part of our practice may be a personal sacrifice,
like fasting, recommitment to prayer or charitable giving, but it is personal,
not public piety God honors.
OPENING LITANY based on Psalm 51:1-17
L: Lord, here I am, all
but hidden beneath my sin,
C: Hoping you recognize
me as one of your own.
L: My mess covering the
God-goodness you created –
C: Cleanse me, Lord,
restore me to newness again.
L: Lord, I’ve been stuck
in this rut since I was young.
C: My scarred heart held
hostage by my guilt and pain.
L: Break it wide open,
set me free with your truth –
C: Cleanse me, Lord, let
joy release my spirit’s despair.
L: Then, Lord, I’ll dance
to the tune of your freedom,
C: Love’s unchained
melody streaming from my lips.
L: Not one thing I give
up could earn your compassion,
C: My humbled heart
turned to you will make you glad.
CONFESSION
L: Tonight starts a new
season for us, a time to repair –
C: To learn to reconcile,
to God and one another,
L: To allow God to
restore our commitment to justice,
C: To recognize our sin
and return to our merciful Lord.
L: Tonight we begin a
season of reflection and preparation –
L: Grace is pure gift; we
are forgiven by God’s mercy.
C: Earthly wealth is
fleeting, unlike kingdom treasure.
C: Dust is what we were,
what we are, and what we will become.
L: Tonight we commence a
season of self-examination –
C: Considering our
practices of sacrifice, prayer, and service,
L: Choosing to take up
our crosses for the hurting and poor,
C: Cleansing ourselves
from finger-pointing and privilege.
(Silent
reflection, or a setting of “Return to the Lord, Your God”)
L: In our confession, we
pray together,
C: Most Merciful God …
Create in us clean hearts, Lord, and renew us by setting our spirits right with
you. Don’t let us stray from your presence, but guide us with your Holy Spirit
always. Refresh us again with delight at your abundant grace, and let your
Spirit uphold us forever.
Hear this
Good News: The prophet Isaiah says “The
Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places.” God
continually waters those places in you that need refreshing. Even when we wander
into the wilderness away from God’s presence, God stands ready to restore us
into relationship, repairing the breach we cause. Accept and rejoice at the
gift of God’s forgiveness.
In the name
of…
Amen.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
L: We pray together,
C: Steadfast God … guide us into Lent
transformed through your teachings, set into right relationship with you and
each other. Keep working to repair the breaches we cause, to see in strangers
and those who struggle the faces of brothers and sisters. Help us to walk the
way of the cross with you now, as humble disciples, choosing your ways of
healing, justice, hospitality and generosity.
Amen.
COMMUNION BLESSING
L: We pray together,
C:
We give you thanks, most gracious God,
for satisfying our parched places through this simple gift of bread and wine,
shared with our family in Christ. Thank
you for your steadfast love that allows us to return to your mercy, again and
again. Rend our hearts, Lord, for those who suffer in our world. Send us out,
each day empowered to speak and act in the ways of justice and your love. Amen.
SENDING
L: We respond to God with a willing spirit,
C: When we honor the Lord with service,
L: When we are humble in prayer and giving,
C: When we truly understand how loved we are.
L:
Go now, marked with the cross of Christ, to love and to serve the Lord.
C:
Thanks be to God!
First Reading Joel 2:1-2,
12-17 (NRSV)
Setting
the Scene: The
“Day of the Lord” to us is a promise, something on which we set our hopes. For Joel,
who prophesied 400 years before Jesus, the “Day of the Lord” spelled doom. He
calls the people to repent.
Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sound the alarm on my
holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
for the day of the
LORD is coming, it is near—
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and
thick darkness!
Like blackness spread upon the mountains
a great and powerful
army comes;
their like has never been from of old,
nor will be again
after them
in ages to come.
Yet even now, says the LORD,
return to me with all
your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
rend your hearts and
not your clothing.
Return to the LORD, your God,
for he is gracious and
merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,
and relents from
punishing.
Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,
and leave a blessing
behind him,
a grain offering and a drink offering
for the LORD, your
God?
Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sanctify a fast;
call a solemn assembly;
gather the people.
Sanctify the congregation;
assemble the aged;
gather the children,
even infants at the
breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room,
and the bride her
canopy.
Between the vestibule and the altar
let the priests, the
ministers of the LORD, weep.
Let them say, “Spare your people, O LORD,
and do not make your
heritage a mockery,
a byword among the
nations.
Why should it be said among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’”
OR
First Reading Isaiah
58:1-12 (NRSV)
Setting
the Scene: This
Isaiah text should sound familiar, as it was read just a few weeks ago. Isaiah
urges the people to service and justice for their neighbors to honor the Lord.
Later, Jesus the teacher would expand on the words in the last of three
sections of Isaiah, probably written by three different authors.
Shout out, do not hold back!
Lift up your voice
like a trumpet!
Announce to my people their rebellion,
to the house of Jacob
their sins.
Yet day after day they seek me
and delight to know my
ways,
as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness
and did not forsake
the ordinance of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments,
they delight to draw
near to God.
“Why do we fast, but you do not see?
Why humble ourselves,
but you do not notice?”
Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day,
and oppress all your
workers.
Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to strike with a
wicked fist.
Such fasting as you do today
will not make your
voice heard on high.
Is such the fast that I choose,
a day to humble
oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush,
and to lie in
sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?
Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of
injustice,
to undo the thongs of
the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every
yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless
poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide
yourself from your own kin?
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall
spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you,
the glory of the LORD
shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;
you shall cry for
help, and he will say, Here I am.
If you remove the yoke from among you,
the pointing of the
finger, the speaking of evil,
if you offer your food to the hungry
and satisfy the needs
of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
and your gloom be like
the noonday.
The LORD will guide you continually,
and satisfy your needs
in parched places,
and make your bones
strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of
water,
whose waters never
fail.
Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many
generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of
streets to live in.
Second Reading 2 Corinthians
5:20b-6:10 (NRSV)
Setting
the Scene: Paul
wrote to the church at Corinth multiple times, two of which are included among
Paul’s epistles. Paul often had to contend with false teachers, so this section
reminds his readers of what he and his colleagues have gone through for the
sake of the message of Jesus.
We entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For
our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become
the righteousness of God.
As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the
grace of God in vain. For he says,
“At an acceptable time I have listened to you,
and on a day of
salvation I have helped you.”
See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of
salvation! We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be
found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in
every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings,
imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge,
patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the
power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the
left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as
impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and
see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always
rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing
everything.
Gospel Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 (NRSV)
Setting
the Scene: It’s
likely the Sermon on the Mount was a teaching session, not a sermon, as Jesus
was sidetracked during this passage to teach the disciples how to pray. The
word “hypocrite” means actor. Wrapping up his teaching, Jesus contrasts acting
for people with being humble before God.
“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be
seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
“So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you,
as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be
praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when
you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so
that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will
reward you.
“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they
love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that
they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But
whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father
who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites,
for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly
I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your
head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by
your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward
you.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth
and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for
yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where
thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart
will be also.
An Ash Wednesday Extra
Rend Your Heart
A Blessing for Ash
Wednesday
By
Jan Richardson, The Painted Prayerbook
To
receive this blessing,
all
you have to do
is
let your heart break.
Let
it crack open.
Let
it fall apart
so
that you can see
its
secret chambers,
the
hidden spaces
where
you have hesitated
to
go.
Your
entire life
is
here, inscribed whole
upon
your heart’s walls:
every
path taken
or
left behind,
every
face you turned toward
or
turned away,
every
word spoken in love
or
in rage,
every
line of your life
you
would prefer to leave
in
shadow,
every
story that shimmers
with
treasures known
and
those you have yet
to
find.
It
could take you days
to
wander these rooms.
Forty,
at least.
And
so let this be
a
season for wandering
for
trusting the breaking
for
tracing the tear
that
will return you
to
the One who waits
who
watches
who
works within
the
rending
to
make your heart
whole.
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