Right here a easy intergenerational worship service for Ash Wednesday that focuses on the theme of sand, ashes, and wilderness.
Welcome
Track
Lord Have Mercy by Christ Church East Bay
(V1) Ever begotten and solely Son
Train us, expensive Shepherd, our lives to dwell
Deep in your shadows, we cross by way of hell
(Refrain) Lord, have mercy
Christ, have mercy
Solely say the phrase
And we will be healed
(V 2) Blessed and hidden in Love’s delight
Your Holy Spirit will voice our cry
Life within the Father, exalted the Son
Name to Worship
The mud that shapes the journey,
the cross that guides it,
the colour that surrounds it,
the sunshine that fades by way of it,
the phrase that foretells it,
the wilderness that invitations it.
That is Lent, and into its wilderness God calls us.
Come, siblings, Christ is heading for Jerusalem.
Readings + Tracks
Wilderness by Daniel Snoke & Keith Watts, Half 1
Ev’ry failure that we stock
Is a load you lengthy to take
And redeem it in your glory
With the lightness of your grace
Although the wilderness is lonely
Although our hope could seem to put on
Nonetheless the wilderness is holy
For we discover you meet us there
Genesis 3 (choose verses ceb model)
The snake was probably the most clever of all of the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He stated to the lady, “Did God actually say that you simply shouldn’t eat from any tree within the backyard?”
The lady stated to the snake, “We might eat the fruit of the backyard’s bushes however not the fruit of the tree in the midst of the backyard. God stated, ‘Don’t eat from it, and don’t contact it, or you’ll die.’”
The snake stated to the lady, “You gained’t die! God is aware of that on the day you eat from it, you will notice clearly and you’ll be like God, understanding good and evil.” The lady noticed that the tree was lovely with scrumptious meals and that the tree would offer knowledge, so she took a few of its fruit and ate it, and in addition gave some to her husband, who was along with her, and he ate it.
To the person he stated, “Since you listened to your spouse’s voice and also you ate from the tree that I commanded, ‘Don’t eat from it,’ cursed is the fertile land due to you; in ache you’ll eat from it every single day of your life. Weeds and thistles will develop for you, at the same time as you eat the sphere’s vegetation; by the sweat of your face you’ll eat bread—till you come back to the fertile land, since from it you have been taken; you’re soil, to the soil you’ll return.”
Wilderness by Daniel Snoke & Keith Watts, Half 2
Ev’ry trial and temptation
Is a cross you name to bear
That we all know extra of your endurance
And to really feel your loving care
Although the wilderness is lonely
Although our religion could seem to bend
Within the wilderness you carefully
Guard our hearts unto the top
Matthew 6:1-6 (The Message)
“Be particularly cautious if you end up attempting to be good so that you simply don’t make a efficiency out of it. It is perhaps good theater, however the God who made you gained’t be applauding.
“Whenever you do one thing for another person, don’t name consideration to your self. You’ve seen them in motion, I’m certain—‘playactors’ I name them—treating prayer assembly and avenue nook alike as a stage, performing compassionate so long as somebody is watching, enjoying to the crowds. They get applause, true, however that’s all they get. Whenever you assist somebody out, don’t take into consideration the way it appears to be like. Simply do it—quietly and unobtrusively. That’s the manner your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out.
“And while you come earlier than God, don’t flip that right into a theatrical manufacturing both. All these folks making an everyday present out of their prayers, hoping for fifteen minutes of fame! Do you suppose God sits in a field seat?
“Right here’s what I would like you to do: Discover a quiet, secluded place so that you gained’t be tempted to role-play earlier than God. Simply be there as merely and truthfully as you may handle. The main focus will shift from you to God, and you’ll start to sense his grace.
Wilderness by Daniel Snoke & Keith Watts, Half 3
Ev’ry stain and imperfection
You’re making wholly new
For our marks shall be reflections
Of the scars you carry too
Although the wilderness is lonely
Although we wander and we roam
To your presence is our solely
Path to like that leads us residence
Studying from Black Liturgies by Cole Arthur Riley
“Ashes to ashes, mud to mud.” When God spoke these phrases within the backyard, did their voice crack? Did their palms tremble because the ten knelt to make garments that may cowl the glory they birthed? These phrases got here to us as disgrace entered the world – and out of disgrace, all method of struggling. They weren’t a proclamation of punishment however a reminder of Eve and Adam’s finitude. It’s a poem of grief and reminiscence. Ashes to ashes, mud to mud. There’s magnificence in our humanity. Peer down within the cool, darkish ash; there’s dying there. Watch the particles raise and sway within the wind; there’s but life . . .
On Ash Wednesday we’re marked on our foreheads with a reminder of our mortality. The identical palms we increase up and wave on Palm Sunday every year are made to know the sting of dying – we burn them. And the next 12 months, in an ever-curious act, we decide up the ashes and we mark ourselves with them.
What does it imply that we don’t simply speak concerning the ashes, and even reverently observe them, however that we bodily smear them throughout our faces? Maybe, within the marking, we strategy solidarity. We keep in mind that the identical destiny that haunts you, haunts me. The identical magnificence that birthed you, lives in me. And that this comes as a mark on the physique. I feel, reminds us that the Lenten journey of self-examination is deeply entwined with the bodily world. As we mark ourselves with these ashes, we remind ourselves that no grief is solitary. That what has stricken you can be carried by me. We start our Lenten journey collectively, reminding each other that we’re these whose flesh grows again. We’re those that stay. It’s not straightforward, however we cling to this: God has all the time seen sacred potential within the mud.
Wilderness by Daniel Snoke & Keith Watts, Half 4
Ev’ry stain and imperfection
You’re making wholly new
For our marks shall be reflections
Of the scars you carry too
Although the wilderness is lonely
Although we wander and we roam
To your presence is our solely
Path to like that leads us residence
Blessed is his identify
Jesus Christ we sing
Worthy to be praised
Hallelujah!
Prayer
(Black Liturgies by Cole Arthur Riley)
God of the Ashes,
As we speak, allow us to maintain the stress of the story of our making – born of the dust, superbly linked to the earth we stroll on. And but, possessing the information of our personal mortality – that our widespread decay can’t be escaped. As we start Lent, assist us to grow to be sincere concerning the methods our societies and selfhoods are marred by injustice, cruelty, neglect, and greed. Assist us to see our personal function within the degeneration of the world; that as we push again evil round us, we would additionally admit these secret evils that dwell in us. As we identify how we’ve been complicit within the ashes of this world, assist us to bear them in solidarity and hope. Amen.
Breathe
Inhale: I’ll carry the ashes.
Exhale: God, convey relaxation to the struggling.
Inhale: There’s breath in these ashes.
Exhale: No dying is remaining.
Imposition of Ashes & Praying within the Wilderness
Worshippers can have time to roam to totally different prayer stations.
Prayer station 1: Imposition of Ashes
Because it was additionally Valentine’s Day, we blended pink glitter in with the ashes.
(Sound of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel throughout Imposition of Ashes)
Prayer station 2: Communion
MATERIALS: cupcake liners, grapes, gluten free crackers
Prayer station 3: Sand Drawing
MATERIALS: squeeze bottles, coloured sand
Prayer station 4: Sand Etching
MATERIALS: sand, skewers
Prayer station 5: Sand Molding
MATERIALS: kinetic sand
Prayer station 6: Lighting prayer candles
Neighborhood Prayer from Walter Brueggemann
Ruler of the Evening, Guarantor of the day,
Today — a present from you.
Today — like none different you will have ever given,
or we now have ever acquired.
This Wednesday dazzles us with reward and newness and chance.
This Wednesday burdens us with the duties of the day,
for we’re already midway residence
midway again to committees and memos,
midway again to calls and appointments,
midway on to subsequent Sunday,
midway again, half frazzled, half expectant,
half turned towards you, half moderately not.
This Wednesday is a good distance from Ash Wednesday,
however all our Wednesdays are marked by ashes —
we start today with that style of ash in our mouth:
of failed hope and damaged guarantees,
of forgotten youngsters and frightened ladies,
we ourselves are ashes to ashes, mud to mud;
we are able to style our mortality as we roll the ash round on our tongues.
We’re in a position to ponder our ashness with
some confidence, solely as a result of our each Wednesday of ashes
anticipates your Easter victory over that dry, flaky style of dying.
On this Wednesday, we submit our ashen approach to you —
you Easter parade of newness.
Earlier than the solar units, take our Wednesday and Easter us,
Easter us to pleasure and vitality and braveness and freedom;
Easter us that we could also be fearless in your reality.
Come right here and Easter our Wednesday with
mercy and justice and peace and generosity.
We pray as we watch for the Risen One who comes quickly. Amen.
Track
Graves into Gardens by Elevation
You flip mourning to dancing
You give magnificence for ashes
You flip disgrace into glory
You’re the one one who can
I searched the world however it couldn’t fill me
Useless, empty reward and treasures that fade
Are by no means sufficient
Then, you got here alongside and put me again collectively
And each need is now happy right here in your love
(Refrain) Oh there’s nothing higher than you
There’s nothing higher than you
Lord there’s nothing
Nothing is healthier than you
I’m not afraid to point out you my weak spot
My failures and flaws, Lord, you’ve seen all of them
And you continue to name me good friend
‘Trigger the God of the mountain is the God of the valley
There’s not a spot your mercy and style
Received’t discover me once more
(Bridge 1) You flip mourning to dancing
You give magnificence for ashes
You flip disgrace into glory
You’re the one one who can
(Bridge 2) You flip graves into gardens
You flip bones into armies
You flip seas into highways
You’re the one one who can
Blessing from Jan Richardson
All these days
you felt like mud,
like dust,
as if all you needed to do
was flip your face
towards the wind
and be scattered
to the 4 corners
or swept away
by the smallest breath
as insubstantial—
Did you not know
what the Holy One
can do with mud?
That is the day
we freely say
we’re scorched.
That is the hour
we’re marked
by what has made it
by way of the burning.
That is the second
we ask for the blessing
that lives inside
the traditional ashes,
that makes its residence
contained in the soil of
this sacred earth.
So allow us to be marked
not for sorrow.
And allow us to be marked
not for disgrace.
Allow us to be marked
not for false humility
or for pondering
we’re much less
than we’re
however for claiming
what God can do
throughout the mud,
throughout the dust,
throughout the stuff
of which the world
is made,
and the celebs that blaze
in our bones,
and the galaxies that spiral
contained in the smudge
we bear.
Doxology
Reward God from whom all blessings circulate
Reward God, all creatures right here under
Reward God, ye heavenly host above
Reward God, the Trinity of Love
Right here a easy intergenerational worship service for Ash Wednesday that focuses on the theme of sand, ashes, and wilderness.
Welcome
Track
Lord Have Mercy by Christ Church East Bay
(V1) Ever begotten and solely Son
Train us, expensive Shepherd, our lives to dwell
Deep in your shadows, we cross by way of hell
(Refrain) Lord, have mercy
Christ, have mercy
Solely say the phrase
And we will be healed
(V 2) Blessed and hidden in Love’s delight
Your Holy Spirit will voice our cry
Life within the Father, exalted the Son
Name to Worship
The mud that shapes the journey,
the cross that guides it,
the colour that surrounds it,
the sunshine that fades by way of it,
the phrase that foretells it,
the wilderness that invitations it.
That is Lent, and into its wilderness God calls us.
Come, siblings, Christ is heading for Jerusalem.
Readings + Tracks
Wilderness by Daniel Snoke & Keith Watts, Half 1
Ev’ry failure that we stock
Is a load you lengthy to take
And redeem it in your glory
With the lightness of your grace
Although the wilderness is lonely
Although our hope could seem to put on
Nonetheless the wilderness is holy
For we discover you meet us there
Genesis 3 (choose verses ceb model)
The snake was probably the most clever of all of the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He stated to the lady, “Did God actually say that you simply shouldn’t eat from any tree within the backyard?”
The lady stated to the snake, “We might eat the fruit of the backyard’s bushes however not the fruit of the tree in the midst of the backyard. God stated, ‘Don’t eat from it, and don’t contact it, or you’ll die.’”
The snake stated to the lady, “You gained’t die! God is aware of that on the day you eat from it, you will notice clearly and you’ll be like God, understanding good and evil.” The lady noticed that the tree was lovely with scrumptious meals and that the tree would offer knowledge, so she took a few of its fruit and ate it, and in addition gave some to her husband, who was along with her, and he ate it.
To the person he stated, “Since you listened to your spouse’s voice and also you ate from the tree that I commanded, ‘Don’t eat from it,’ cursed is the fertile land due to you; in ache you’ll eat from it every single day of your life. Weeds and thistles will develop for you, at the same time as you eat the sphere’s vegetation; by the sweat of your face you’ll eat bread—till you come back to the fertile land, since from it you have been taken; you’re soil, to the soil you’ll return.”
Wilderness by Daniel Snoke & Keith Watts, Half 2
Ev’ry trial and temptation
Is a cross you name to bear
That we all know extra of your endurance
And to really feel your loving care
Although the wilderness is lonely
Although our religion could seem to bend
Within the wilderness you carefully
Guard our hearts unto the top
Matthew 6:1-6 (The Message)
“Be particularly cautious if you end up attempting to be good so that you simply don’t make a efficiency out of it. It is perhaps good theater, however the God who made you gained’t be applauding.
“Whenever you do one thing for another person, don’t name consideration to your self. You’ve seen them in motion, I’m certain—‘playactors’ I name them—treating prayer assembly and avenue nook alike as a stage, performing compassionate so long as somebody is watching, enjoying to the crowds. They get applause, true, however that’s all they get. Whenever you assist somebody out, don’t take into consideration the way it appears to be like. Simply do it—quietly and unobtrusively. That’s the manner your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out.
“And while you come earlier than God, don’t flip that right into a theatrical manufacturing both. All these folks making an everyday present out of their prayers, hoping for fifteen minutes of fame! Do you suppose God sits in a field seat?
“Right here’s what I would like you to do: Discover a quiet, secluded place so that you gained’t be tempted to role-play earlier than God. Simply be there as merely and truthfully as you may handle. The main focus will shift from you to God, and you’ll start to sense his grace.
Wilderness by Daniel Snoke & Keith Watts, Half 3
Ev’ry stain and imperfection
You’re making wholly new
For our marks shall be reflections
Of the scars you carry too
Although the wilderness is lonely
Although we wander and we roam
To your presence is our solely
Path to like that leads us residence
Studying from Black Liturgies by Cole Arthur Riley
“Ashes to ashes, mud to mud.” When God spoke these phrases within the backyard, did their voice crack? Did their palms tremble because the ten knelt to make garments that may cowl the glory they birthed? These phrases got here to us as disgrace entered the world – and out of disgrace, all method of struggling. They weren’t a proclamation of punishment however a reminder of Eve and Adam’s finitude. It’s a poem of grief and reminiscence. Ashes to ashes, mud to mud. There’s magnificence in our humanity. Peer down within the cool, darkish ash; there’s dying there. Watch the particles raise and sway within the wind; there’s but life . . .
On Ash Wednesday we’re marked on our foreheads with a reminder of our mortality. The identical palms we increase up and wave on Palm Sunday every year are made to know the sting of dying – we burn them. And the next 12 months, in an ever-curious act, we decide up the ashes and we mark ourselves with them.
What does it imply that we don’t simply speak concerning the ashes, and even reverently observe them, however that we bodily smear them throughout our faces? Maybe, within the marking, we strategy solidarity. We keep in mind that the identical destiny that haunts you, haunts me. The identical magnificence that birthed you, lives in me. And that this comes as a mark on the physique. I feel, reminds us that the Lenten journey of self-examination is deeply entwined with the bodily world. As we mark ourselves with these ashes, we remind ourselves that no grief is solitary. That what has stricken you can be carried by me. We start our Lenten journey collectively, reminding each other that we’re these whose flesh grows again. We’re those that stay. It’s not straightforward, however we cling to this: God has all the time seen sacred potential within the mud.
Wilderness by Daniel Snoke & Keith Watts, Half 4
Ev’ry stain and imperfection
You’re making wholly new
For our marks shall be reflections
Of the scars you carry too
Although the wilderness is lonely
Although we wander and we roam
To your presence is our solely
Path to like that leads us residence
Blessed is his identify
Jesus Christ we sing
Worthy to be praised
Hallelujah!
Prayer
(Black Liturgies by Cole Arthur Riley)
God of the Ashes,
As we speak, allow us to maintain the stress of the story of our making – born of the dust, superbly linked to the earth we stroll on. And but, possessing the information of our personal mortality – that our widespread decay can’t be escaped. As we start Lent, assist us to grow to be sincere concerning the methods our societies and selfhoods are marred by injustice, cruelty, neglect, and greed. Assist us to see our personal function within the degeneration of the world; that as we push again evil round us, we would additionally admit these secret evils that dwell in us. As we identify how we’ve been complicit within the ashes of this world, assist us to bear them in solidarity and hope. Amen.
Breathe
Inhale: I’ll carry the ashes.
Exhale: God, convey relaxation to the struggling.
Inhale: There’s breath in these ashes.
Exhale: No dying is remaining.
Imposition of Ashes & Praying within the Wilderness
Worshippers can have time to roam to totally different prayer stations.
Prayer station 1: Imposition of Ashes
Because it was additionally Valentine’s Day, we blended pink glitter in with the ashes.
(Sound of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel throughout Imposition of Ashes)
Prayer station 2: Communion
MATERIALS: cupcake liners, grapes, gluten free crackers
Prayer station 3: Sand Drawing
MATERIALS: squeeze bottles, coloured sand
Prayer station 4: Sand Etching
MATERIALS: sand, skewers
Prayer station 5: Sand Molding
MATERIALS: kinetic sand
Prayer station 6: Lighting prayer candles
Neighborhood Prayer from Walter Brueggemann
Ruler of the Evening, Guarantor of the day,
Today — a present from you.
Today — like none different you will have ever given,
or we now have ever acquired.
This Wednesday dazzles us with reward and newness and chance.
This Wednesday burdens us with the duties of the day,
for we’re already midway residence
midway again to committees and memos,
midway again to calls and appointments,
midway on to subsequent Sunday,
midway again, half frazzled, half expectant,
half turned towards you, half moderately not.
This Wednesday is a good distance from Ash Wednesday,
however all our Wednesdays are marked by ashes —
we start today with that style of ash in our mouth:
of failed hope and damaged guarantees,
of forgotten youngsters and frightened ladies,
we ourselves are ashes to ashes, mud to mud;
we are able to style our mortality as we roll the ash round on our tongues.
We’re in a position to ponder our ashness with
some confidence, solely as a result of our each Wednesday of ashes
anticipates your Easter victory over that dry, flaky style of dying.
On this Wednesday, we submit our ashen approach to you —
you Easter parade of newness.
Earlier than the solar units, take our Wednesday and Easter us,
Easter us to pleasure and vitality and braveness and freedom;
Easter us that we could also be fearless in your reality.
Come right here and Easter our Wednesday with
mercy and justice and peace and generosity.
We pray as we watch for the Risen One who comes quickly. Amen.
Track
Graves into Gardens by Elevation
You flip mourning to dancing
You give magnificence for ashes
You flip disgrace into glory
You’re the one one who can
I searched the world however it couldn’t fill me
Useless, empty reward and treasures that fade
Are by no means sufficient
Then, you got here alongside and put me again collectively
And each need is now happy right here in your love
(Refrain) Oh there’s nothing higher than you
There’s nothing higher than you
Lord there’s nothing
Nothing is healthier than you
I’m not afraid to point out you my weak spot
My failures and flaws, Lord, you’ve seen all of them
And you continue to name me good friend
‘Trigger the God of the mountain is the God of the valley
There’s not a spot your mercy and style
Received’t discover me once more
(Bridge 1) You flip mourning to dancing
You give magnificence for ashes
You flip disgrace into glory
You’re the one one who can
(Bridge 2) You flip graves into gardens
You flip bones into armies
You flip seas into highways
You’re the one one who can
Blessing from Jan Richardson
All these days
you felt like mud,
like dust,
as if all you needed to do
was flip your face
towards the wind
and be scattered
to the 4 corners
or swept away
by the smallest breath
as insubstantial—
Did you not know
what the Holy One
can do with mud?
That is the day
we freely say
we’re scorched.
That is the hour
we’re marked
by what has made it
by way of the burning.
That is the second
we ask for the blessing
that lives inside
the traditional ashes,
that makes its residence
contained in the soil of
this sacred earth.
So allow us to be marked
not for sorrow.
And allow us to be marked
not for disgrace.
Allow us to be marked
not for false humility
or for pondering
we’re much less
than we’re
however for claiming
what God can do
throughout the mud,
throughout the dust,
throughout the stuff
of which the world
is made,
and the celebs that blaze
in our bones,
and the galaxies that spiral
contained in the smudge
we bear.
Doxology
Reward God from whom all blessings circulate
Reward God, all creatures right here under
Reward God, ye heavenly host above
Reward God, the Trinity of Love
Right here a easy intergenerational worship service for Ash Wednesday that focuses on the theme of sand, ashes, and wilderness.
Welcome
Track
Lord Have Mercy by Christ Church East Bay
(V1) Ever begotten and solely Son
Train us, expensive Shepherd, our lives to dwell
Deep in your shadows, we cross by way of hell
(Refrain) Lord, have mercy
Christ, have mercy
Solely say the phrase
And we will be healed
(V 2) Blessed and hidden in Love’s delight
Your Holy Spirit will voice our cry
Life within the Father, exalted the Son
Name to Worship
The mud that shapes the journey,
the cross that guides it,
the colour that surrounds it,
the sunshine that fades by way of it,
the phrase that foretells it,
the wilderness that invitations it.
That is Lent, and into its wilderness God calls us.
Come, siblings, Christ is heading for Jerusalem.
Readings + Tracks
Wilderness by Daniel Snoke & Keith Watts, Half 1
Ev’ry failure that we stock
Is a load you lengthy to take
And redeem it in your glory
With the lightness of your grace
Although the wilderness is lonely
Although our hope could seem to put on
Nonetheless the wilderness is holy
For we discover you meet us there
Genesis 3 (choose verses ceb model)
The snake was probably the most clever of all of the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He stated to the lady, “Did God actually say that you simply shouldn’t eat from any tree within the backyard?”
The lady stated to the snake, “We might eat the fruit of the backyard’s bushes however not the fruit of the tree in the midst of the backyard. God stated, ‘Don’t eat from it, and don’t contact it, or you’ll die.’”
The snake stated to the lady, “You gained’t die! God is aware of that on the day you eat from it, you will notice clearly and you’ll be like God, understanding good and evil.” The lady noticed that the tree was lovely with scrumptious meals and that the tree would offer knowledge, so she took a few of its fruit and ate it, and in addition gave some to her husband, who was along with her, and he ate it.
To the person he stated, “Since you listened to your spouse’s voice and also you ate from the tree that I commanded, ‘Don’t eat from it,’ cursed is the fertile land due to you; in ache you’ll eat from it every single day of your life. Weeds and thistles will develop for you, at the same time as you eat the sphere’s vegetation; by the sweat of your face you’ll eat bread—till you come back to the fertile land, since from it you have been taken; you’re soil, to the soil you’ll return.”
Wilderness by Daniel Snoke & Keith Watts, Half 2
Ev’ry trial and temptation
Is a cross you name to bear
That we all know extra of your endurance
And to really feel your loving care
Although the wilderness is lonely
Although our religion could seem to bend
Within the wilderness you carefully
Guard our hearts unto the top
Matthew 6:1-6 (The Message)
“Be particularly cautious if you end up attempting to be good so that you simply don’t make a efficiency out of it. It is perhaps good theater, however the God who made you gained’t be applauding.
“Whenever you do one thing for another person, don’t name consideration to your self. You’ve seen them in motion, I’m certain—‘playactors’ I name them—treating prayer assembly and avenue nook alike as a stage, performing compassionate so long as somebody is watching, enjoying to the crowds. They get applause, true, however that’s all they get. Whenever you assist somebody out, don’t take into consideration the way it appears to be like. Simply do it—quietly and unobtrusively. That’s the manner your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out.
“And while you come earlier than God, don’t flip that right into a theatrical manufacturing both. All these folks making an everyday present out of their prayers, hoping for fifteen minutes of fame! Do you suppose God sits in a field seat?
“Right here’s what I would like you to do: Discover a quiet, secluded place so that you gained’t be tempted to role-play earlier than God. Simply be there as merely and truthfully as you may handle. The main focus will shift from you to God, and you’ll start to sense his grace.
Wilderness by Daniel Snoke & Keith Watts, Half 3
Ev’ry stain and imperfection
You’re making wholly new
For our marks shall be reflections
Of the scars you carry too
Although the wilderness is lonely
Although we wander and we roam
To your presence is our solely
Path to like that leads us residence
Studying from Black Liturgies by Cole Arthur Riley
“Ashes to ashes, mud to mud.” When God spoke these phrases within the backyard, did their voice crack? Did their palms tremble because the ten knelt to make garments that may cowl the glory they birthed? These phrases got here to us as disgrace entered the world – and out of disgrace, all method of struggling. They weren’t a proclamation of punishment however a reminder of Eve and Adam’s finitude. It’s a poem of grief and reminiscence. Ashes to ashes, mud to mud. There’s magnificence in our humanity. Peer down within the cool, darkish ash; there’s dying there. Watch the particles raise and sway within the wind; there’s but life . . .
On Ash Wednesday we’re marked on our foreheads with a reminder of our mortality. The identical palms we increase up and wave on Palm Sunday every year are made to know the sting of dying – we burn them. And the next 12 months, in an ever-curious act, we decide up the ashes and we mark ourselves with them.
What does it imply that we don’t simply speak concerning the ashes, and even reverently observe them, however that we bodily smear them throughout our faces? Maybe, within the marking, we strategy solidarity. We keep in mind that the identical destiny that haunts you, haunts me. The identical magnificence that birthed you, lives in me. And that this comes as a mark on the physique. I feel, reminds us that the Lenten journey of self-examination is deeply entwined with the bodily world. As we mark ourselves with these ashes, we remind ourselves that no grief is solitary. That what has stricken you can be carried by me. We start our Lenten journey collectively, reminding each other that we’re these whose flesh grows again. We’re those that stay. It’s not straightforward, however we cling to this: God has all the time seen sacred potential within the mud.
Wilderness by Daniel Snoke & Keith Watts, Half 4
Ev’ry stain and imperfection
You’re making wholly new
For our marks shall be reflections
Of the scars you carry too
Although the wilderness is lonely
Although we wander and we roam
To your presence is our solely
Path to like that leads us residence
Blessed is his identify
Jesus Christ we sing
Worthy to be praised
Hallelujah!
Prayer
(Black Liturgies by Cole Arthur Riley)
God of the Ashes,
As we speak, allow us to maintain the stress of the story of our making – born of the dust, superbly linked to the earth we stroll on. And but, possessing the information of our personal mortality – that our widespread decay can’t be escaped. As we start Lent, assist us to grow to be sincere concerning the methods our societies and selfhoods are marred by injustice, cruelty, neglect, and greed. Assist us to see our personal function within the degeneration of the world; that as we push again evil round us, we would additionally admit these secret evils that dwell in us. As we identify how we’ve been complicit within the ashes of this world, assist us to bear them in solidarity and hope. Amen.
Breathe
Inhale: I’ll carry the ashes.
Exhale: God, convey relaxation to the struggling.
Inhale: There’s breath in these ashes.
Exhale: No dying is remaining.
Imposition of Ashes & Praying within the Wilderness
Worshippers can have time to roam to totally different prayer stations.
Prayer station 1: Imposition of Ashes
Because it was additionally Valentine’s Day, we blended pink glitter in with the ashes.
(Sound of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel throughout Imposition of Ashes)
Prayer station 2: Communion
MATERIALS: cupcake liners, grapes, gluten free crackers
Prayer station 3: Sand Drawing
MATERIALS: squeeze bottles, coloured sand
Prayer station 4: Sand Etching
MATERIALS: sand, skewers
Prayer station 5: Sand Molding
MATERIALS: kinetic sand
Prayer station 6: Lighting prayer candles
Neighborhood Prayer from Walter Brueggemann
Ruler of the Evening, Guarantor of the day,
Today — a present from you.
Today — like none different you will have ever given,
or we now have ever acquired.
This Wednesday dazzles us with reward and newness and chance.
This Wednesday burdens us with the duties of the day,
for we’re already midway residence
midway again to committees and memos,
midway again to calls and appointments,
midway on to subsequent Sunday,
midway again, half frazzled, half expectant,
half turned towards you, half moderately not.
This Wednesday is a good distance from Ash Wednesday,
however all our Wednesdays are marked by ashes —
we start today with that style of ash in our mouth:
of failed hope and damaged guarantees,
of forgotten youngsters and frightened ladies,
we ourselves are ashes to ashes, mud to mud;
we are able to style our mortality as we roll the ash round on our tongues.
We’re in a position to ponder our ashness with
some confidence, solely as a result of our each Wednesday of ashes
anticipates your Easter victory over that dry, flaky style of dying.
On this Wednesday, we submit our ashen approach to you —
you Easter parade of newness.
Earlier than the solar units, take our Wednesday and Easter us,
Easter us to pleasure and vitality and braveness and freedom;
Easter us that we could also be fearless in your reality.
Come right here and Easter our Wednesday with
mercy and justice and peace and generosity.
We pray as we watch for the Risen One who comes quickly. Amen.
Track
Graves into Gardens by Elevation
You flip mourning to dancing
You give magnificence for ashes
You flip disgrace into glory
You’re the one one who can
I searched the world however it couldn’t fill me
Useless, empty reward and treasures that fade
Are by no means sufficient
Then, you got here alongside and put me again collectively
And each need is now happy right here in your love
(Refrain) Oh there’s nothing higher than you
There’s nothing higher than you
Lord there’s nothing
Nothing is healthier than you
I’m not afraid to point out you my weak spot
My failures and flaws, Lord, you’ve seen all of them
And you continue to name me good friend
‘Trigger the God of the mountain is the God of the valley
There’s not a spot your mercy and style
Received’t discover me once more
(Bridge 1) You flip mourning to dancing
You give magnificence for ashes
You flip disgrace into glory
You’re the one one who can
(Bridge 2) You flip graves into gardens
You flip bones into armies
You flip seas into highways
You’re the one one who can
Blessing from Jan Richardson
All these days
you felt like mud,
like dust,
as if all you needed to do
was flip your face
towards the wind
and be scattered
to the 4 corners
or swept away
by the smallest breath
as insubstantial—
Did you not know
what the Holy One
can do with mud?
That is the day
we freely say
we’re scorched.
That is the hour
we’re marked
by what has made it
by way of the burning.
That is the second
we ask for the blessing
that lives inside
the traditional ashes,
that makes its residence
contained in the soil of
this sacred earth.
So allow us to be marked
not for sorrow.
And allow us to be marked
not for disgrace.
Allow us to be marked
not for false humility
or for pondering
we’re much less
than we’re
however for claiming
what God can do
throughout the mud,
throughout the dust,
throughout the stuff
of which the world
is made,
and the celebs that blaze
in our bones,
and the galaxies that spiral
contained in the smudge
we bear.
Doxology
Reward God from whom all blessings circulate
Reward God, all creatures right here under
Reward God, ye heavenly host above
Reward God, the Trinity of Love
Right here a easy intergenerational worship service for Ash Wednesday that focuses on the theme of sand, ashes, and wilderness.
Welcome
Track
Lord Have Mercy by Christ Church East Bay
(V1) Ever begotten and solely Son
Train us, expensive Shepherd, our lives to dwell
Deep in your shadows, we cross by way of hell
(Refrain) Lord, have mercy
Christ, have mercy
Solely say the phrase
And we will be healed
(V 2) Blessed and hidden in Love’s delight
Your Holy Spirit will voice our cry
Life within the Father, exalted the Son
Name to Worship
The mud that shapes the journey,
the cross that guides it,
the colour that surrounds it,
the sunshine that fades by way of it,
the phrase that foretells it,
the wilderness that invitations it.
That is Lent, and into its wilderness God calls us.
Come, siblings, Christ is heading for Jerusalem.
Readings + Tracks
Wilderness by Daniel Snoke & Keith Watts, Half 1
Ev’ry failure that we stock
Is a load you lengthy to take
And redeem it in your glory
With the lightness of your grace
Although the wilderness is lonely
Although our hope could seem to put on
Nonetheless the wilderness is holy
For we discover you meet us there
Genesis 3 (choose verses ceb model)
The snake was probably the most clever of all of the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He stated to the lady, “Did God actually say that you simply shouldn’t eat from any tree within the backyard?”
The lady stated to the snake, “We might eat the fruit of the backyard’s bushes however not the fruit of the tree in the midst of the backyard. God stated, ‘Don’t eat from it, and don’t contact it, or you’ll die.’”
The snake stated to the lady, “You gained’t die! God is aware of that on the day you eat from it, you will notice clearly and you’ll be like God, understanding good and evil.” The lady noticed that the tree was lovely with scrumptious meals and that the tree would offer knowledge, so she took a few of its fruit and ate it, and in addition gave some to her husband, who was along with her, and he ate it.
To the person he stated, “Since you listened to your spouse’s voice and also you ate from the tree that I commanded, ‘Don’t eat from it,’ cursed is the fertile land due to you; in ache you’ll eat from it every single day of your life. Weeds and thistles will develop for you, at the same time as you eat the sphere’s vegetation; by the sweat of your face you’ll eat bread—till you come back to the fertile land, since from it you have been taken; you’re soil, to the soil you’ll return.”
Wilderness by Daniel Snoke & Keith Watts, Half 2
Ev’ry trial and temptation
Is a cross you name to bear
That we all know extra of your endurance
And to really feel your loving care
Although the wilderness is lonely
Although our religion could seem to bend
Within the wilderness you carefully
Guard our hearts unto the top
Matthew 6:1-6 (The Message)
“Be particularly cautious if you end up attempting to be good so that you simply don’t make a efficiency out of it. It is perhaps good theater, however the God who made you gained’t be applauding.
“Whenever you do one thing for another person, don’t name consideration to your self. You’ve seen them in motion, I’m certain—‘playactors’ I name them—treating prayer assembly and avenue nook alike as a stage, performing compassionate so long as somebody is watching, enjoying to the crowds. They get applause, true, however that’s all they get. Whenever you assist somebody out, don’t take into consideration the way it appears to be like. Simply do it—quietly and unobtrusively. That’s the manner your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out.
“And while you come earlier than God, don’t flip that right into a theatrical manufacturing both. All these folks making an everyday present out of their prayers, hoping for fifteen minutes of fame! Do you suppose God sits in a field seat?
“Right here’s what I would like you to do: Discover a quiet, secluded place so that you gained’t be tempted to role-play earlier than God. Simply be there as merely and truthfully as you may handle. The main focus will shift from you to God, and you’ll start to sense his grace.
Wilderness by Daniel Snoke & Keith Watts, Half 3
Ev’ry stain and imperfection
You’re making wholly new
For our marks shall be reflections
Of the scars you carry too
Although the wilderness is lonely
Although we wander and we roam
To your presence is our solely
Path to like that leads us residence
Studying from Black Liturgies by Cole Arthur Riley
“Ashes to ashes, mud to mud.” When God spoke these phrases within the backyard, did their voice crack? Did their palms tremble because the ten knelt to make garments that may cowl the glory they birthed? These phrases got here to us as disgrace entered the world – and out of disgrace, all method of struggling. They weren’t a proclamation of punishment however a reminder of Eve and Adam’s finitude. It’s a poem of grief and reminiscence. Ashes to ashes, mud to mud. There’s magnificence in our humanity. Peer down within the cool, darkish ash; there’s dying there. Watch the particles raise and sway within the wind; there’s but life . . .
On Ash Wednesday we’re marked on our foreheads with a reminder of our mortality. The identical palms we increase up and wave on Palm Sunday every year are made to know the sting of dying – we burn them. And the next 12 months, in an ever-curious act, we decide up the ashes and we mark ourselves with them.
What does it imply that we don’t simply speak concerning the ashes, and even reverently observe them, however that we bodily smear them throughout our faces? Maybe, within the marking, we strategy solidarity. We keep in mind that the identical destiny that haunts you, haunts me. The identical magnificence that birthed you, lives in me. And that this comes as a mark on the physique. I feel, reminds us that the Lenten journey of self-examination is deeply entwined with the bodily world. As we mark ourselves with these ashes, we remind ourselves that no grief is solitary. That what has stricken you can be carried by me. We start our Lenten journey collectively, reminding each other that we’re these whose flesh grows again. We’re those that stay. It’s not straightforward, however we cling to this: God has all the time seen sacred potential within the mud.
Wilderness by Daniel Snoke & Keith Watts, Half 4
Ev’ry stain and imperfection
You’re making wholly new
For our marks shall be reflections
Of the scars you carry too
Although the wilderness is lonely
Although we wander and we roam
To your presence is our solely
Path to like that leads us residence
Blessed is his identify
Jesus Christ we sing
Worthy to be praised
Hallelujah!
Prayer
(Black Liturgies by Cole Arthur Riley)
God of the Ashes,
As we speak, allow us to maintain the stress of the story of our making – born of the dust, superbly linked to the earth we stroll on. And but, possessing the information of our personal mortality – that our widespread decay can’t be escaped. As we start Lent, assist us to grow to be sincere concerning the methods our societies and selfhoods are marred by injustice, cruelty, neglect, and greed. Assist us to see our personal function within the degeneration of the world; that as we push again evil round us, we would additionally admit these secret evils that dwell in us. As we identify how we’ve been complicit within the ashes of this world, assist us to bear them in solidarity and hope. Amen.
Breathe
Inhale: I’ll carry the ashes.
Exhale: God, convey relaxation to the struggling.
Inhale: There’s breath in these ashes.
Exhale: No dying is remaining.
Imposition of Ashes & Praying within the Wilderness
Worshippers can have time to roam to totally different prayer stations.
Prayer station 1: Imposition of Ashes
Because it was additionally Valentine’s Day, we blended pink glitter in with the ashes.
(Sound of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel throughout Imposition of Ashes)
Prayer station 2: Communion
MATERIALS: cupcake liners, grapes, gluten free crackers
Prayer station 3: Sand Drawing
MATERIALS: squeeze bottles, coloured sand
Prayer station 4: Sand Etching
MATERIALS: sand, skewers
Prayer station 5: Sand Molding
MATERIALS: kinetic sand
Prayer station 6: Lighting prayer candles
Neighborhood Prayer from Walter Brueggemann
Ruler of the Evening, Guarantor of the day,
Today — a present from you.
Today — like none different you will have ever given,
or we now have ever acquired.
This Wednesday dazzles us with reward and newness and chance.
This Wednesday burdens us with the duties of the day,
for we’re already midway residence
midway again to committees and memos,
midway again to calls and appointments,
midway on to subsequent Sunday,
midway again, half frazzled, half expectant,
half turned towards you, half moderately not.
This Wednesday is a good distance from Ash Wednesday,
however all our Wednesdays are marked by ashes —
we start today with that style of ash in our mouth:
of failed hope and damaged guarantees,
of forgotten youngsters and frightened ladies,
we ourselves are ashes to ashes, mud to mud;
we are able to style our mortality as we roll the ash round on our tongues.
We’re in a position to ponder our ashness with
some confidence, solely as a result of our each Wednesday of ashes
anticipates your Easter victory over that dry, flaky style of dying.
On this Wednesday, we submit our ashen approach to you —
you Easter parade of newness.
Earlier than the solar units, take our Wednesday and Easter us,
Easter us to pleasure and vitality and braveness and freedom;
Easter us that we could also be fearless in your reality.
Come right here and Easter our Wednesday with
mercy and justice and peace and generosity.
We pray as we watch for the Risen One who comes quickly. Amen.
Track
Graves into Gardens by Elevation
You flip mourning to dancing
You give magnificence for ashes
You flip disgrace into glory
You’re the one one who can
I searched the world however it couldn’t fill me
Useless, empty reward and treasures that fade
Are by no means sufficient
Then, you got here alongside and put me again collectively
And each need is now happy right here in your love
(Refrain) Oh there’s nothing higher than you
There’s nothing higher than you
Lord there’s nothing
Nothing is healthier than you
I’m not afraid to point out you my weak spot
My failures and flaws, Lord, you’ve seen all of them
And you continue to name me good friend
‘Trigger the God of the mountain is the God of the valley
There’s not a spot your mercy and style
Received’t discover me once more
(Bridge 1) You flip mourning to dancing
You give magnificence for ashes
You flip disgrace into glory
You’re the one one who can
(Bridge 2) You flip graves into gardens
You flip bones into armies
You flip seas into highways
You’re the one one who can
Blessing from Jan Richardson
All these days
you felt like mud,
like dust,
as if all you needed to do
was flip your face
towards the wind
and be scattered
to the 4 corners
or swept away
by the smallest breath
as insubstantial—
Did you not know
what the Holy One
can do with mud?
That is the day
we freely say
we’re scorched.
That is the hour
we’re marked
by what has made it
by way of the burning.
That is the second
we ask for the blessing
that lives inside
the traditional ashes,
that makes its residence
contained in the soil of
this sacred earth.
So allow us to be marked
not for sorrow.
And allow us to be marked
not for disgrace.
Allow us to be marked
not for false humility
or for pondering
we’re much less
than we’re
however for claiming
what God can do
throughout the mud,
throughout the dust,
throughout the stuff
of which the world
is made,
and the celebs that blaze
in our bones,
and the galaxies that spiral
contained in the smudge
we bear.
Doxology
Reward God from whom all blessings circulate
Reward God, all creatures right here under
Reward God, ye heavenly host above
Reward God, the Trinity of Love
