Ash Wednesday
6 February 2008
THEME AND SUGGESTED
SERMON TITLE: MYSTERY AND MERCY OF
REPENTANCE
LECTIONARY TEXTS
Joel 2: 1-2, 12-17, Psalm 51: 1-17, Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-21
Joel 2:1-18
Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let
all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of YAHWEH is
coming, it is near— 2a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds
and thick darkness! Like blankets 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. 3Fire devours in front of them, and
behind them a flame burns. Before them the land is like the garden of
Eden, but after them a desolate wilderness, and nothing escapes them.
4They have the appearance of horses, and like war-horses they charge.
5As with the rumbling of chariots, they leap on the tops of the
mountains, like the crackling of a flame of fire devouring the stubble,
like a powerful army drawn up for battle. 6Before them peoples are in
anguish, all faces grow pale. 7Like warriors they charge, like soldiers
they scale the wall. Each keeps to their own course, they do not swerve
from their paths. 8They do not jostle one another, each keeps to its own
track; they burst through the weapons and are not halted. 9They leap
upon the city, they run upon the walls; they climb up into the houses,
they enter through the windows like a thief. 10The earth quakes before
them, the heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the
stars withdraw their shining. 11YAHWEH utters in a mighty voice at the
head of this army; how vast is God’s host! Numberless are those
who obey the commands of the Holy One. Truly the day of the LORD is
great; terrible indeed—who can endure it?
12Yet even now, says YAHWEH, return to me with all
your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 13rend 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. 14Who knows whether God will not turn and
relent, and leave behind a blessing, a grain offering and a drink
offering for your God? 15Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call
a solemn assembly; 16gather 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. 17Between the
vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of YAHWEH, 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?’”
18Then the LORD became jealous for the chosen land,
and had pity on its people.
Psalm 51
1Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2Wash
me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3For I know
my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4Against you, you
alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you
are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass
judgment. 5Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother
conceived me.
6You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach
me wisdom in my secret heart. 7Purge me with hyssop, and I shall
be clean; wash me, and I shall be purer than snow. 8Let me
hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed
rejoice. 9Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my
iniquities. 10Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and
right spirit within me. 11Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. 12Restore to me the joy
of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit. 13Then I
will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to
you.
14Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, O God of my
salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance. 15O
Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. 16For
you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering,
you would not be pleased. 17The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken
spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not
despise.
18Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; rebuild the
walls of Jerusalem, 19then you will delight in right sacrifices, in
burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on
your altar.
Matthew 6:1-21
6“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be
seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father/Mother in
heaven. 2“So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before
you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that
they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received
their reward. 3But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know
what your right hand is doing, 4so that your alms may be done in secret;
and the One who is and sees in secret will reward you.
5“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they
love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so
that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received
their reward. 6But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the
door and pray to the One who sees in secret and will reward you.
7“When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the
Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their
many words. 8Do not be like them, for God knows what you need before you
ask.
9“Pray then in this way: Our Father/Mother in
heaven, hallowed be your name. 10Your dominion come. Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven. 11Give us this day our daily bread. 12And
forgive us our trespasses, as we also have forgiven those who trespass
against us. 13And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us
from evil. 14For if you forgive others their trespasses, God will also
forgive you; 15but if you do not forgive others, neither will God
forgive your trespasses.
16“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal,
like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others
that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their
reward. 17But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face,
18so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by the one who is
and sees in secret and will reward you.
19“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth
and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; 20but store up
for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes
and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure
is, there your heart will be also.
A CALL TO
WORSHIP
ONE
God of the wilderness
You scatter certainty from our imaginations
And call us to feast on fleeting glimpses of your spirit.
May we dare to seek you in this place,
That our emptiness may be filled with your presence
And our longings be satisfied by your mercy.
ALL
God of mystery and mercy
Grant us new life with you
as we draw near with repentant hearts during this journey of Lent.
Amen.
A CONTEMPORARY LESSON
Come, Come Whoever You Are
by Sufi poet Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi (circa 1200 CE)
Come, come, whoever you are,
Wonderer, worshipper, lover of leaving.
It doesn't matter.
Ours is not a caravan of despair.
Come, even if you have broken your vow
a thousand times
Come, yet again, come, come.
MUSIC
Hymns:
Come, Come Whoever You Are
#188 in Sing the Living Tradition (UU Hymnal)
Dear God, Embracing Humankind
#502 in the New Century Hymnal
Grant Us Wisdom to Perceive You
#510 in the New Century Hymnal
Eternal Spirit of the Living Christ
#520 in the New Century Hymnal
Choir music:
Create in Me a Clean Heart, HealeyWillan
SATB a capella or accompanied.
Relates to Psalm. Pepper 933697
Give Me a Clean Heart, Margaret Pleasant Douroux.
NCH 188. Psalm.
Slow Black Gospel in 6/8, with rich, sophisticated harmony.
Lord, For Thy Tender Mercies’ Sake, Richard
Farrant
SATB. Pepper 3243623.
One of the easiest polyphonic pieces a church choir can do.
A CONFESSION
As this season of Lent begins, O God, we confess to
you that we do, indeed, need to return to you. We’ve
wandered and lost focus, allowed ourselves to be lost or at least
diverted from your ways. We have done what we wish we hadn’t
and have left undone what would bring us and our world to health and
wholeness and to unity with your Spirit.
Now we long to hear the sound of the trumpet that
calls us to bring our wandering lives to you. We wait for your
mercy to pour over us – for your kindness to restore our
souls. Penetrate our inmost being, Author of Life; know us with
your love; create purity within – a palate on which you can paint
the beauty of your Mystery. Amen.
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