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Index:
1. Introduction
2. Liturgical Order of Service
3. Scripture Lessons
4. Suggested Hymns
5. About Ashes For Ash Wednesday Services
6. Sample News ReleaseSection One: Introduction
The liturgical season of Lent in the Christian Church begins on Ash Wednesday.
The observance of Ash Wednesday became widespread throughout Christendom during the 7th Century and provides an opportunity for the worshiping community to engage in corporate penitence and confession... to prepare for the Season of Lent... and to look forward to the hope of Easter.
During the Ash Wednesday Service, it is traditional for ashes to be placed on the foreheads of the faithful as the worship leader intones the words from Genesis: "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return."
In medieval times, it is recorded that a popular sign in public places read, "Remember you are dying." It was a reminder of the reality of death, but more than that, a reminder to live fully that day. So, too, is Ash Wednesday a reminder that from ashes we have come and to ashes we return. It is also an opportunity to examine the kind of life that we are leading ... what is the quality of our lives, what is the quality of our actions, our thoughts, our relationships?
Section Two: Order of Service
Opening Hymn: (see attached hymn list for suggestions)
Scripture Readings: (see attached scriptures; allow a time for meditation between
each reading, in silence or with quiet music)Meditation or Homily:
Hymn or Special Music:
Litany of Confession:
One: We hear today the call of God, "Return to me with all your heart."
Many: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
One: We pray for our world, where violence, poverty and despair destroy lives day after day. For our complicity, our silence, our disinterest, we pray to you, O Holy One,
Many: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
One: We pray for the earth, for the atmosphere, the rivers, the animals, the forests, whose very existence is threatened as a result of our actions. For our selfishness, our short-sightedness, our denial, we pray to you, Creator of All,
Many: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
One: We pray for our community, for the prejudices that we still level against one another, for the ways we exclude those just a little different than we are. For our fears, our insecurities, our bigotry, we pray to you, Hope of All People,
Many: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
One: We pray for our friends, our lovers, and all those whose lives we touch. For the times when we have not treated them as we would want to be treated ourselves, for our disrespect, our impatience, our self-centeredness, we pray to you, Healer of All,
Many: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
One: We pray for ourselves today. For the times we have sold ourselves short, put ourselves down, abandoned our dreams, fallen prey to our fears, we pray to you, O Compassionate One,
Many: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
One: For all that we have done and all that we have left undone, we ask your forgiveness, praying:
Many: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
Assurance of Pardon:
The good news is that our God is a God of infinite compassion, forgiveness and love. God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Know that you are forgiven, by the mercies of God. Know that our God makes all things new.
Blessing of the Ashes:
Sovereign God, bless these ashes that they may be for us signs of our responsibility for what we have done and for what we will do. May they remind us of our penitence and our humbleness. May they keep us aware of your love and your forgiveness. We pray in the name of Christ, our Savior and our Hope.
Distribution of Ashes:
Invite people to come forward and receive the ashes. Either silence or quiet music are appropriate. Make the sign of the cross with the ashes, saying words such as:
Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return. The old dies and is gone;
the new has come.Create in [name] a clean heart and put a new and right spirit within her/him.
Hymn or Special Music:
Rite of Cleansing:
Some churches practice the tradition of leaving the ashes on so that participants leave bearing the sign of the cross; other churches wash off the ashes as a sign that our sins have been forgiven and removed. The ashes may be washed off with a clean damp cloth during the hymn or as participants are leaving the church. If you choose to remove the ashes, the following words would be appropriate:
Christ has made all things new. You are forgiven. Go in peace. A clean heart is yours.
Benediction:
Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Peace, not as the world gives. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." Go in the peace of Christ. Amen.
The leader can then invite the congregants to remain in prayer as long as they wish, departing from the sanctuary as they feel ready.
Section Three: Scripture Lessons
Hebrew Scripture Lesson: Joel 2:1-2, 12-17a
God calls the people to fasting and repentance.
Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of God is coming, it is near,
a day of shadow and gloom, a day of clouds and dense shadow!
Like a blanket there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people;
their like has never been from of old, nor will be again after them through the years
of all generations.
"Yet even now," says the Sovereign, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments."
Return to the Sovereign, your God, for God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and repents of evil.
Who knows whether God will not turn and repent, and leave a blessing behind, a cereal offering and a drink offering for the Sovereign, your God?
Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; Call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber. Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of God, weep and say, "Spare your people, O Sovereign, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations."Psalm 51:1-12
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundance mercy blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!
For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless in your judgment.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my parents conceive me.
Behold, you desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be cleaner than snow.
Fill me with joy and gladness; let the bones which you have broken rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
Cast me now away from your presence, and take not your holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.Epistle Lesson: Corinthians 5:20b-6:2, (3-10)
Paul writes to the Corinthians concerning the ministry of reconciliation.
We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake God made Christ to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Christ we might become the righteousness of God. Working together with God, then, we entreat you not to accept the grace of God in vain. For God says, "At the acceptable time I have listened to you, and helped you on the day of salvation."
Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. We put no obstacle in any one’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way; through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, tumults, labors, watching, hunger; by purity, knowledge, forbearance, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.Gospel Lesson: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Jesus tells the disciples to lay up treasure in heaven. Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you will have no reward from God your Father and Mother who is in heaven.
Thus, when you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret; and God who sees in secret will reward you.
And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to God who is in secret; and God who sees in secret shall reward you.
And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by God who is in secret; and God who sees in secret will reward you.
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Section Four: Suggested Hymns
The Church's One Foundation
Give Me A Clean Heart
Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
Near To The Heart of God
Again, We Keep This Solemn Fast
Sweet Hour of Prayer
Take Time To Be Holy
Standing In The Need of Prayer
O How God Loves You And Me
Lord, Listen To Your Children Praying
Section Five: About The Ashes For Ash Wednesday Services
Ashes are made by burning the palms from last year's Palm Sunday celebration and mixing them with a drop or two of oil. A small amount of anointing oil works well for this.
If you have misplaced or not saved the palms from last year, ask another church if they have extra that you might use. You could also purchase palm leaves from a florist or greenhouse, bless them, leave them to dry in the sun, and then burn them. Remember to put a few extra fronds in a safe place this year for use next year.
Section Six: Sample Press Release
Copy the following text onto your church letterhead, replacing all sections in parentheses with your local information. Double-space the text, and add your local contact information at the end, to give reporters a way to follow-up for additional information. Be creative with your press mailing list. Send your news release to all of the local religion editors at your mainline newspapers... to the public service directors at your local radio stations... and to the editors of all gay newspapers and magazines that serve your area. Be sure your press release arrives with plenty of time before the news deadline -- you may need to call to find actual deadline dates. Feel free to edit or add to this sample news release as appropriate to your ministry setting.
Title: (Church Name) Metropolitan Community Church To Hold Ash Wednesday Service
(Your Town) -- (Church Name) Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), which meets at (Street Location) will hold its annual community-wide Ash Wednesday Service on (Date) beginning at (Time).
According to (Name of Senior Pastor), Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the church's Season of Lent, and looks forward to the celebration of Easter. The Ash Wednesday Service will feature traditional hymns, special music and a time for personal reflection and meditation.
(Church Name) MCC is a member congregation of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (UFMCC), a Christian denomination with a positive, affirming ministry to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered communities. UFMCC provides 300 congregations in 15 countries for its 42,000 members, and for the more than 225,000 persons who attend UFMCC's services and programs annually.
For additional information on (Church Name) MCC, contact the church office at (Area Code/Phone Number) or by e-mail at (Church E-Mail Address). (OPTIONAL: Information on the church's services and program may also be found on the Internet at (http://www/Your Church Website Address). (END OF PRESS RELEASE)
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, CONTACT:
The Rev. Justin Tanis, Director of Clergy Development, or
James N. Birkitt, Jr., Director of Communications
UFMCC, 8704 Santa Monica Blvd., 2nd Floor, West Hollywood, CA 90069
Tel. (310) 360-8640 Fax: (310) 360-8680 E-mail: UFMCCHQ@aol.com
website: http://www.ufmcc.com
