Ash Wednesday: Re-Turning

Lectionary Cycle: Year C

Candle Lighting: Light a white candle for Christ (preferably the Christ candle from Advent and Christmas).

Question: Why do we light this candle?

Response:

We light this candle to begin a holy Lent.
To turn our faces, our hearts, our lives
to the face, heart and life of God.

Scripture: Joel 2: 1-2a, 12-13

Prayer:

You are integrity.
You will keep Your Word
of graceful judgement.
Your justice seeks the saving of all,
bringing low, lifting up.
Make us tremble
in our finitude,
in our darkness,
in our belovedness.
Make us tremble in awe.
Break our minds, our hearts, our bodies, our will
open
to You,
to others
as You have done for us. Amen.

Singing: Choose an appropriate hymn to sing together, such as:

Dust and Ashes Touch Our Face, Brian Wren, 1986
Wonder and Stare, The Iona Community, 1988

Proclamation:

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. - 2 Corinthians 5: 20b-21

~

Meditation:

When the bible speaks of the “heart” it is not limited to only the emotions, as tends to be the modern understanding of the word. Here, “will”would be a better interpretation, a word that connotes a holistic blend of the mind with the heart in action. With this understanding, what might it mean for you, for your family, for the church, to return to the LORD with all our will?

What might it mean to rend our will?