Ash Wednesday, March 2, 2022
Ravenswood Evangelical Covenant Church, 6:30pm
| A Note about Ash Wednesday: this is a day of penitence that marks the beginning of Lent. It emphasizes a dual encounter: we confront our own mortality and confess our sins before God within the community of faith. Ash Wednesday, as indeed the entire season of Lent, is a time particularly appropriate for new beginnings in the faith or returning to the Lord. During this time we intentionally recall our own mortality and wait upon the Lord for the renewing of the Spirit. This is a time for putting aside the sins and failures of the past in the light of who we are becoming by the grace of God. We are to be prepared by the Spirit so that our participation in the meaning of our Christian faith may be authentic, a true dying and rising with Christ to a new life in God. |
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EVENING PRAYER:
OPENING SENTENCE
Yours is the day, O God, Yours also the night; You established the moon and the sun. You fixed all the boundaries of the earth; You made both summer and winter. Psalm 74:15, 16
LORD, WHO THROUGHOUT THESE FORTY DAYS Hymn 214
Lord, who through these forty days, for us did fast and pray,
teach us to overcome our sins, and close by You to stay.
As You did hunger and did thirst, so teach us, gracious Lord,
to die to self, and so to live by Your most holy Word.
And through these days of penitence, and through Your Passion-tide,
forevermore, in life and death, O Lord, with us abide.
Abide with us and through this life our doubts and pain relieve.
An Easter of unending joy we shall at last receive. Amen.
CONFESSION
Let us confess our sins
against God and our neighbor.
Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved You with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of Your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in Your will, and walk in Your ways, to the glory of Your Name. Amen.
Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life. Amen.
O God, make speed to save us.
O Lord, make haste to help us.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and will be for ever. Amen. Alleluia.
PSALM 130
Out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord.
2 Lord, hear my voice!
Let Your ears be attentive
to the voice of my supplications!
3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
Lord, who could stand?
4 But there is forgiveness with You,
so that You may be revered.
5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in His word I hope;
6 my soul waits for the Lord
more than those who watch for the morning,
more than those who watch for the morning.
7 O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with Him is great power to redeem.
8 It is He who will redeem Israel
from all its iniquities.
GLORIA PATRI
Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and will be forever. Amen. Amen.
MARK 2:1-12
When He returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that He was at home. 2 So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and He was speaking the word to them. 3 Then some people came, bringing to Him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this Fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 8 At once Jesus perceived in His spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and He said to them, “Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and take your mat and walk’? 10 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic— 11 “I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home.” 12 And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
The Word of the Lord,
Thanks be to God.
Let us pray
THE LORD’S PRAYER
All: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
RESPONSIVE READING
Show us Your mercy, O Lord;
And grant us Your salvation.
Give peace, O Lord, in all the world;
For only in You can we live in safety.
Lord, keep this nation under Your care;
And guide us in the way of justice and truth.
Clothe Your ministers with righteousness;
Let Your people sing with joy.
Let Your way be known upon earth;
Your saving health among all nations.
Let not the needy, O Lord, be forgotten;
Nor the hope of the poor be taken away.
Create in us clean hearts, O God;
And sustain us with Your Holy Spirit.
PRAYER
Lord, we pray that Your grace may always precede and follow us, that You make in us new and right hearts, that we may continually be given to good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
A PRAYER ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we Your unworthy servants give You humble thanks for all Your goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all whom You have made. We bless You for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for Your immeasurable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. And, we pray, give us such an awareness of Your mercies, that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth Your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up our selves to Your service, and by walking before You in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with You and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen.
IMPOSITION OF ASHES
Almighty God, in the beginning You created humankind from the dust of the earth. Bless these ashes now and make them become for us a sign of our mortality and penitence. Help us to remember that it is only by Your love and grace through the unspeakably precious gift of your Son that we are given everlasting life. In His name we pray. Amen.
Remember, you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Repent and believe the gospel.
Let us pray.
Be our light in the darkness, O Lord, and in Your great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of Your only Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
O God, Your unfailing providence sustains the world we live in and the life we live: Watch over those, both night and day, who work while others sleep, and grant that we may never forget that our common life depends upon each other’s toil; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping; that awake we may watch with Christ, and asleep we may rest in peace.
BE STILL AND KNOW Hymn 503
Be still and know that I am God. Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I am God.
God is our refuge and our strength. God is our refuge and our strength. God is our refuge and our strength.
In You, O Lord, We put our trust. In You, O Lord, we put our trust.
In You, O Lord, we put our trust.
BENEDICTION
Let us bless the Lord
Thanks be to God.
The almighty and merciful Lord, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
bless us and keep us. Amen.