MORNING-
I’ve never really paid much attention to the church calendar, but one of the rocks in my head I have been thinking about recently is how disconnected me and my church and denomination are from much of the visible church because we don’t pay much attention to the church calendar.

So here it is Ash Wednesday and now I have to decide what I am going to do. I admit I wasn’t very sure what the historical and theological significance of Ash Wednesday meant so I have given a read at Wikipedia to try and get a better understanding. Basically, Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent and so has an emphasis on sin and repentance and death. The tradition is that the priest marks your forehead with a cross made of ashes to remind us that we came from dust and to dust we will go. As long as I get some of the gospel too I could see how this would encourage my faith in Christ.

AFTERNOON
So I went to the Ash Wednesday service at the Episcopal Church around the corner. I liked it. The liturgy had lots and lots of scripture including readings from Joel, Psalm 103, II Corinthians, and Matthew. After the Imposition of Ashes the liturgy had us recite Psalm 51 and then something called the Litany of Penitence.

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Litany of Penitence

The Celebrant and People together, all kneeling

Most holy and merciful Father:
We confess to you and to one another,
and to the whole communion of saints
in heaven and on earth,
that we have sinned by our own fault
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, and mind, and
strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We
have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven.
Have mercy on us, Lord.

We have been deaf to your call to serve, as Christ served us.
We have not been true to the mind of Christ. We have grieved
your Holy Spirit.
Have mercy on us, Lord.

We confess to you, Lord, all our past unfaithfulness: the
pride, hypocrisy, and impatience of our lives,
We confess to you, Lord.
Our self-indulgent appetites and ways, and our exploitation
of other people,
We confess to you, Lord.

Our anger at our own frustration, and our envy of those
more fortunate than ourselves,
We confess to you, Lord.

Our intemperate love of worldly goods and comforts, and
our dishonesty in daily life and work,
We confess to you, Lord.

Our negligence in prayer and worship, and our failure to
commend the faith that is in us,
We confess to you, Lord.

Accept our repentance, Lord, for the wrongs we have done:

for our blindness to human need and suffering, and our
indifference to injustice and cruelty,
Accept our repentance, Lord.

For all false judgments, for uncharitable thoughts toward our
neighbors, and for our prejudice and contempt toward those
who differ from us,
Accept our repentance, Lord.

For our waste and pollution of your creation, and our lack of
concern for those who come after us,
Accept our repentance, Lord.

Restore us, good Lord, and let your anger depart from us;
Favorably hear us, for your mercy is great.

Accomplish in us the work of your salvation,
That we may show forth your glory in the world.

By the cross and passion of your Son our Lord,
Bring us with all your saints to the joy of his resurrection.

The Bishop, if present, or the Priest, stands and, facing the people, says

Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
desires not the death of sinners, but rather that they may turn
from their wickedness and live, has given power and
commandment to his ministers to declare and pronounce to
his people, being penitent, the absolution and remission of
their sins. He pardons and absolves all those who truly
repent, and with sincere hearts believe his holy Gospel.
Therefore we beseech him to grant us true repentance and his
Holy Spirit, that those things may please him which we do on
this day, and that the rest of our life hereafter may be pure
and holy, so that at the last we may come to his eternal joy;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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All in all there - was a lot of scripture, many reminders of my sinfulness and need of Christ and reminders of the work of Jesus on my behalf.

Can’t get too much of that.

Scott

ME WITH ASHES