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ASH WEDNESDAY
Invocation (Psalm 51; 2 Corinthians 5–6;
Matthew 6)
O Lord, open our hearts that we may acknowledge our failings. Open our lips that we may declare your praise. Although
we each fall short, we praise you in the name of Christ who takes
away our sin and invites us to walk in the paths of righteousness.
May our Lenten fast begin not with dismal faces or with sorrowful frowns, but with faces aglow in the oil of your Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Invocation (Joel 2)
God of dust and ash, you fashioned us from the dust of the
earth, and to dust we shall return. May the ashes placed upon our
foreheads this day remind us of who we are and whose we are.
Draw us back to you, O God, for you are gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. Heal the hardness
of our hearts, that we may be faithful disciples of the one who
makes all things new. Amen.
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Prayers for Lent and Holy Week
Invocation
Loving God, come to us now. Come to those who are lonely
and frightened. Come to those who are sick and discouraged.
Come to our neighbors and friends. Build us up as your disciples,
teaching us truth and showing us how to be a people of love and
grace. Amen.
Invocation (Adapted from Psalm 84)
O God, how lovely is your dwelling place. My soul longs for
you. Come into this place. Dwell in us. Answer our longing with
your presence. Accept our offering of praise. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Gracious God, we confess that we have not loved you with our
whole hearts, and we have not loved our neighbors as we love ourselves. Forgive us, we pray. Open our hearts wide to you, that you
might renew our faith and strengthen us for obedient service. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
O God who will not let us go, as we worship this day we confess that we have been so wrapped up in ourselves that we have
taken little note of either you or our neighbor who is in need.
Forgive us, we pray, when we forget that our own scripture tells
us that you, O God, “created humankind in [your] image, in the
image of [you, you] created them; male and female [you] created
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Ash Wednesday
them” (Genesis 1:27). On this Ash Wednesday bring to our consciousness the truth that it is from the dust we came and to the
dust we will return. Between these moments of dust, Lord, let us
shine as those “crowned . . . with glory and honor” (Psalm 8:5).
Bring this to pass as we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Words of Assurance
When we confess our sins, God is faithful and just, cleansing
us from all unrighteousness. God is slow to anger and abounding
in steadfast love. In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven! In
the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven!
Prayer of Confession (Psalm 51)
Holy God, wash us thoroughly of our iniquity and cleanse us
from our sin; for our transgressions are ever before us and we have
done what is evil in your sight. You desire truth in our inward
being, yet we turn our backs on the wisdom you would impart in
our hearts. Create in us a clean heart, O God, and put a new and
right spirit within us. Do not cast us away from your presence,
and do not take your Holy Spirit from us. Forgive our sins and
lead us in your paths anew that we might teach transgressors your
ways and lead sinners to return to you. Amen.
Words of Assurance (Joel 2:12-13)
Hear the words of the prophet Joel: “Yet even now, says the
LORD, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping,
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Prayers for Lent and Holy Week
and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the LORD, your God, for [God] is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents
from punishing.”
Prayer of Confession (Psalm 51)
Merciful God, cleanse us with hyssop; wash us white as snow.
You desire truth in our inner being—truth about our many failings: lust (pause), greed (pause), oppression (pause), violence
(pause), intolerance (pause), racism (pause). Purge our sins with
the atoning hyssop of Christ the Lord. Amen.
Words of Assurance (Joel 2)
The promise of God is clear. When we return to the Lord, God
is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast
love. When we return to the Lord with weeping and fasting, God
forgives our sin and blesses us with a renewed and deepened relationship with the Almighty.
Pastoral Prayer
O Lord our God, we praise you above all creatures and all
things. We lift prayers of thanks for the amazing fact that you
loved us enough to give yourself fully for us. Now we have the
challenge of trying to live fully for you. Help us in the task of discipleship. Be our spiritual teacher; remove our thick clouds of
ignorance. Help us, O God, to live by the pattern and example
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Ash Wednesday
given to us by Jesus Christ. Give us an eagerness and joyful desire
to obey your command to make disciples of all nations. Send us
out with renewed courage to proclaim the faith and hope within
us to a world that needs both so that we may become your body
in the world. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer
O God in whom we live and move and have our being, as you
collect us for worship remind us that we are mortal and you are
divine. Too often in our world today, the creature has forgotten
the creator. We are at our best, O Lord, when we remember, and
we are at our worst when we forget. Give us sacred memory of the
order of creation and our place in the order of salvation. May we
once again claim our rightful place as stewards of your manifold
gifts. In Jesus’ name and on this Ash Wednesday, we pray. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer
In the darkness and drear of too much of the high life,
Gracious Presence, be for us the light that illumes the truth for
our time and place. Frequently we punish ourselves by reaching
for things beyond the grasp of what is indeed good for us. As we
worship this night bring to mind that we are indeed our sisters’
and brothers’ keepers. Inspire us to feed others as you have first
fed us. As the celebrants apply ashes to our foreheads, make us
mindful that you, O God, unite us with all people around the
world and through the centuries by our common sin and need of
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Prayers for Lent and Holy Week
salvation. God, make your deliverance manifest this holy night as
you offer us Jesus. Amen.
Offering Prayer (Matthew 6)
Gracious God, we have sought recognition for our piety and
taken pride in our giving, congratulating ourselves for caring
about our neighbors. Receive these offerings in the spirit of your
Son, who taught us that where our heart is, there our treasure will
be also. Amen.
Offering Prayer (Psalm 51)
What would make you happy, O God? We know it is not sacrifice. Our cash is cold and hard and heartless as it drops into the
offering plate. You have told us what is pleasing: a broken and contrite heart. Receive this day our sacrifice of praise as we give to you
from the very depths of our souls. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
Offering Prayer
To you, Author of Benevolence, we owe our gratitude. You have
made us all that we are and all we hope to become. Your bounty is
too great for us to authentically understand—we can only wonder.
Yet, like huffy children, thanksgiving fails to trip easily from our
lips. Mostly we function as those who believe that we are the beneficiaries of our own talents and labor. Disabuse us of this notion
and make us grateful people once again, in Christ’s name. Amen.
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Ash Wednesday
Benediction
God guide you this week into the places and unto the people
where God needs your voice. In that moment, may you speak the
good news, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit. Amen.
Benediction
And now go into the world, into the uttermost regions, and
serve your brothers and sisters. You go with the successes in faith
and with the Peters and the Judases as well, in the name of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Benediction
Expect something new to happen in this Lenten season. Walk
through the wilderness with the hope of Christ. Share the gift of
friendship and hospitality with others, for this is what our Lord
has done for us. Amen.
Benediction (Psalm 51)
Wash us thoroughly from our iniquities and we will be whiter
than snow. Bathe us in your steadfast love. Create in us a clean
heart, O God, and help us hear the joy of your calling. Restore to
us the joy of your salvation. Go with God’s blessing. Amen.
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