ASH WEDNESDAY, 2017
GATHERING
* indicates an invitation to rise in body or in spirit
Gathering Music variations on VU 107
Welcome and Announcements
Territorial Acknowledgement
As we gather for worship today,
let us acknowledge the sacred land on which we come together.
This land is the territory of the Huron-Wendat and Petun First Nations,
the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River.
We are grateful to have the opportunity to work and worship on this territory.
Let us always be mindful of broken covenants
and the need to strive to make right with all our relations.
. . . silence . . .
Gathering Song: (seated) MV 7 “Gather Us In (Rassemble-nous)”
3 times: English, French, English
Opening Prayer
Holy and gracious God,
you love every creature you have made:
you bring forgiveness, healing and wholeness to your people.
Create in us new and hopeful hearts
that, as we acknowledge the brokenness of ourselves and our world,
we may be empowered by your presence
to bring about repentance,
and reconciliation,
and renewal.
We ask this in the name of your Beloved, Jesus,
who lives among us, by the power of your Spirit,
and who makes all things new.
Amen.
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* Song: MV 81 “Love Us into Fullness”
WORD
Reading: Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
A reading from the book of the prophet Joel:
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 shadows 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 Holy One, 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, who is gracious and merciful, slow to anger,
and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.
Who knows whether or not God will turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind
—a offering and a drink offering from 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 Holy One, weep.
Let them say, "Spare your people, O God,
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?'"
Herein in Wisdom.
Thanks be to God.
Responsive Reading: Psalm 51 – VU p. 776 (Refrain 1)
Sermon
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. . . silence . . .
Hymn of Confession: (seated)
VU 107 “Sunday’s Palms Are Wednesday’s Ashes”
ASHES
The Journey of Lent
Friends, Lent is pilgrimage of
contemplation and self-examination,
confession and repentance,
reconciliation and renewal.
We begin our journey with the sign of ashes,
and the solemn and classic words of Genesis,
“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return”
With these words, we recall again,
our beginning the dust of the earth by the hand of God;
And we remember, once more, our mortality,
the frailty of human life,
the fragility of all life on this planet.
Perhaps especially in these days,
or turmoil and division,
we are called again to humility – to God’s humus,
our place, together, in and with all of God’s good earth.
So let us endeavor to observe a holy Lent:
to “give up” whatever holds us back
from following in the way of Jesus,
and to “take up” whatever moves us forward
towards a new heaven and new earth. May it be so.
the ashes of last year’s Holy Week palm branches
are mixed with oil
Prayer over the Ashes: VU 106 “An Ash Wednesday Prayer”
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the Taize song begins immediately as people come forward for the sign of ashes
* The Sign of Ashes: MV 75 “Veni Sancte Spiritus”
sung in Latin or English, as you are comfortable
during which you may come forward to receive the sign of ashes
on the back of the hand or on the forehead
At the words
“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return”
it is appropriate to respond with
“Amen.”
. . . silence is kept . . .
GOING FORTH
Closing Prayer: VU 110 “A Lenten Prayer”
* Closing Hymn: VU 105 “Dust and Ashes Touch Our Face”
* Blessing and Sending Forth
Postlude: variations on the refrain of VU 105
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