Ash Wednesday Home Liturgy
Prepare your home for family worship by lighting some candles and finding a quiet place. If you’d like, you can even turn on some quiet instrumental music. Don’t forget your Bibles. You may want to print off copies of this liturgy for everyone. You’ll also need a few pens and pieces of paper. Read the following together before you begin.
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the season of Lent: a time of penitence, fasting, and prayer, in preparation for the great feast of the resurrection. The season of Lent began in the early days of the church as a time of preparation for those seeking to be baptized at the Easter Vigil. The forty days refer to our Lord’s time of fasting in the wilderness; and since Sundays are never fast days, Ash Wednesday is the beginning of the Lenten fast.
Throughout the Old Testament, ashes are used as a sign of sorrow and repentance; and Christians have traditionally used ashes to indicate sorrow for our own sin, and as a reminder that the wages of sin is death. Like Adam and Eve, we have disobeyed and rebelled against God, and are under the same judgment: “dust you are, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19). In a traditional ash wednesday service, ashes are applied to the worshippers forehead in the shape of a cross or sprinkled on top of the head. In Scripture, ashes symbolize mortality, mourning, judgement, and repentance. Regardless of whether ashes are used or not, it is significant that we begin Lent by understanding our mortality, mourning sin and brokenness in the world, considered God’s just judgement against sin, and turning away from sin back to God.
The aim of Ash Wednesday is threefold: to meditate on our need for a Savior; to renew our commitment to daily repentance; and to remember with confidence and gratitude that Jesus has conquered sin and death. This liturgy will have plenty of time for silent reflection on the Scripture and prayer together. Let’s begin with a call to worship.
Call To Worship
Read Joel 2:1-2, 12-13 aloud together. Take a moment of silence to consider the significance of your need for your Christ.
Prayer for Grace
Read this Prayer aloud together.
Almighty and Everlasting God: As we enter into this season, Have mercy on us, we pray. Create in us new and contrite hearts That we may earnestly repent of our sins. And grant us your Holy Spirit, that we may have the strength to deny ourselves and to be resolute in times of temptation. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, One God, forever and ever. Amen.
Time of Lament
Think through any hardships, difficulties, sins, or injustices that you wish to lament. Write them down on your piece of paper, and then pray this prayer together:
Triune God, in our humble state before you, we do not understand all your work in the world. We look out and see destruction, pain, hurt, injustice, and sin—both in our lives and in the lives of others. Tonight we lament the following wrongs before you: (share your list here). Please come quickly and make straight what is crooked. We trust you will do it, and we pray give us faith and patience enough to endure until you make all things new. Amen.
Confession of Sin
Read Psalm 51 together. Once you are done, take a few moments to privately confess your sin before God before partaking in this prayer of confession, with a chosen leader reading and everyone else reading in bold.
For all our unfaithfulness and disobedience; for the pride, vanity, and hypocrisy of our lives; Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.
For our self-pity and impatience, and our envy of those we think more fortunate than ourselves; Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.
For our unrighteous anger, bitterness, and resentment; for all lies, gossip, and slander against our neighbors; Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.
For our sexual impurity, our exploitation of other people, and our failure to give of ourselves in love; Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.
For our self-indulgent appetites and ways, and our intemperate pursuit of worldly goods and comforts; Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.
For our dishonesty in daily life and work, our ingratitude for your gifts, and our failure to heed your call. Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.
For our blindness to human need and suffering, and our indifference to injustice and cruelty; Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.
For our wastefulness and misuse of your creation, and our lack of concern for those who come after us; Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.
For all false judgments, for prejudice and contempt of others, and for all uncharitable thoughts toward our neighbors; Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.
For our negligence in prayer and worship; for our presumption and abuse of your means of grace; Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.
For seeking the praise of others rather than the approval of God; Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.
For our failure to commend the faith that is in us; Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.
Assurance of Pardon
Read Isaiah 53 aloud together. As you do, reflect on the miracle of the incarnation and the fact that Jesus suffered as a man for our sake. Then, pray this prayer of thanksgiving together:
Father, we thank you that in your covenant love you have not forgotten us. Christ Jesus, we thank you that took on the likeness of sinful flesh for our sake, suffering and dying so that we might live. Holy Spirit, we thank you that you have led us into truth and sealed our mortal bodies for everlasting life. Praise and thanksgiving belong to our triune God!
Reflection
Meditate on Ecclesiastes 3:19-20. Share aloud what aspects of everyday make you feel your own mortality.
For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return.
Now read and meditate for a few moments on 2 Corinthians 5:16-21. When you are done, encourage one another with this profession of faith:
We are sinful dust, and return to dust. But in Christ, we are a new creation, reconciled to God. Praise him!
Benediction
Have a leader give this benediction to all present.
May God the Father, who gives good gifts to his children, give us a contrite heart. May God the Son, who bore our sins in his body on the cross, heal us by his wounds. May God the Holy Spirit, who leads us into all truth, comfort us in the truth of the gospel.
What now?
This liturgy is meant to mark the beginning of Lent, a season of repentance and fasting leading up to Easter. Lent lasts 40 days (not including Sundays, which are days of feasting!). Typically some type of fast is kept during lent, as well as more time set aside for devotion and prayer. To participate in Lent more fully, consider these two steps:
1. Work through a Lent Devotional. Change up your devotional rhythms by adding a resource that will help you focus on the themes of the lent season. Here is a free online one I've used before. I am using this one this year, and I've heard good things about this one.
2. Consider a fast of some kind. Fasting and participating in church seasons does not save us, but it can help us follow Jesus. This could be a good season to fast from certain types of food, indulgences, or entertainment. Any kind of fast that will help you focus on repentance and your own mortality and death will help you consider Christ's own humanity and suffering.
If you have any questions about Lent or the church calendar, reach out to a pastor.