5 March 2025

WORSHIP RESOURCES

 

Ash Wednesday

2 Corinthians 5:20b—6:10 (A,B,C)

Having Nothing, Possessing Everything

 

Additional Scriptures

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17; Psalm 51:1-17; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21; Doctrine and Covenants 164:9d-f

 

Preparation

Instead of a sermon, the message comes through actions by the leaders and those in attendance. On a table, place a bowl of ashes and another small bowl of oil. If possible, cover the table with a gray cloth. A large vase or urn also is needed. The leader will need a spoon and a towel. Ushers will need small pieces of paper or cards and something to write with for handing out to participants. You will need a Helper to take the pieces of paper and place them in the urn.

 

Prelude

 

Welcoming Hymn

“God of the Ages”      CCS 7

OR “How Can We Name a Love”    CCS 2

 

Welcome

We no longer want or need to inflict harsh judgment, to lash out, to gaze with blind superiority, to take without thought, or to promote divisiveness and negativity in the world. We are here to heal. We are here to unite and celebrate diversity in a common quest for peace. We are Community of Christ.

 

Call to Worship: Doctrine and Covenants 164:9d-f

 

Hymn

“The Glory of These Forty Days”                CCS 451

OR “Tell Me the Story of Jesus”   Stanzas 1 and 2       CCS 623

 

Invocation

 

Response

 

Reflection

 

“Salvation Avenue”

Salvation Avenue. Deep in the heart of every child is

the hunger for Holy-ness.

Bring me your needy, your broken, your wounded.

Those who are starving, dying of thirst.

Come to me.

Forbid them not.

You are my children, my brothers and sisters, my little ones, beautiful in the light of truth and glory.

 

Salvation Avenue. A street unfolding, unrolling before me.

On the right I see the world and those who have been caught, as I was caught, in the moment, in the desire, in the need, the want, the hope that the next thing is the thing.

To the left, the misery, the wounds, the emptiness in
eyes hooded, dark, dim.

Pain, misery, separation, desolation. Hoping. Hoping. Lost.

 

Salvation Avenue. Moving along and looking beyond the horizon toward a light so bright.

Eyes dazzled, nerves jangling, tingling, alive and accepting sensation.

Feeling the warmth of the sun, the Son. Salvation Avenue.

 

Salvation Avenue. Moves with me. Through the onrush of the beckoning world I see a river.

Flowing with me. Moving with me.

The river becoming ever clearer as I move, becoming the movement that I feel.

Life. A river. A river of life moving along with the avenue leading toward the light.

The light, the life. Salvation Avenue.

 

Salvation Avenue. More, many, different, alike.

Becoming aware of the river of life moving toward the light.

A light, a life, an outstretched open arm embrace accepting all in the river, in the street.

Limping, crawling, running, walking, being carried, pushed in wheelchairs, buggies, prams.

On stretchers, gurneys, but moving. Moving toward the light, the life, the sun, the Son.

Salvation Avenue.

                                                                                    —Dean L. Robinson

    Used with permission.

 

The Heart of Ash Wednesday

Ushers distribute two small cards or pieces of paper on which each person may be invited to write. Participants stay seated to reflect and hold their papers for a little while. Meantime, the leader spoons a little oil into the ashes and stirs.

 

Leader:            Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of our forty-day journey to confront our own mortality and confess our sins before God within the community of faith.

Reader:            2 Corinthians 5: 20-21

 

Leader:            Now is the time to explore our frailty, to self-examine, in our quest to work together in healthy and responsible ways to build the peaceable kingdom. What frailties do you have? What particular sin or hurtful or unjust characteristic do you have that blocks your ministry? Write it on one piece of paper.

Reader:            2 Corinthians 6: 1-7

 

Leader:            What is your ministry? What characteristic do you have that helps people or creation? After a short period of thinking, write down your answer on the second paper.

Reader:            2 Corinthians 6: 8-10

 

Leader:            Please come to the front with your papers when you are ready. Once here, place your papers in the urn. You will find ashes mixed with oil on the table. Ashes in the form of a cross reminds us of our vulnerability and our desire to stand before God and labor in the vineyard. If desired, take some of the ash mixture and draw a cross on your forehead, the back of your hand, or ask someone to do it for you. Please come forward.

 

Arrange to assist those who are unable to come forward. When everyone has had a chance to add their papers to the urn and impose ashes.

 

Leader:            Discipleship and ministry requires self-reflection to know when we separate ourselves from God and one another. We also need to be aware of our pathways to repentance, by seeing our unique way to help God and others. The ashes in the symbol of the cross remind us that we are made from the earth and that we belong to the earth, to God, and to one another. The papers in the urn will remain throughout Lent as a reminder of our Ash Wednesday reflection. We have faith that God will help us take action to help build the peaceable kingdom. We are Community of Christ.

 

 

 

Disciples’ Generous Response

Generosity Hymn

“Jesus Walked This Lonesome Valley”  CCS 452

OR “Take the Path of the Disciple”       CCS 558

 

Statement

                        When we share generously, we help God’s love and compassion grow endlessly.

                       

            Blessing of Mission Tithes

God, Creator, my heart yearns to know you intimately, responsibly. My heart wants to hear your voice so I can have the gratitude to witness every way I am able. Forgive me, please, my unkindness, my separation from you, my separation from your creation. Help me to change. Amen

 

If you have participants joining the worship online, remind them that they can give through www.CofChrist.org/give or through eTithing at www.eTithing.org (consider displaying these URLs).

 

            Receiving of Local and Worldwide Mission Tithes

 

Prayer for Peace

Peace Hymn

“Lead Me, Lord”                                sing twice          CCS 450

OR “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me”                            CCS 553

 

Light the peace candle.

 

Peace Prayer

Spirit of the Active God,

We are your people, and you are our God.

People, your people, stand cold in the street. Yet

people, your people, stand beside the oppressed.

 

People, your people, sit hungry at the table. Yet

people, your people, sit with the abused.

 

People, your people, shout angrily at their adversaries. Yet

people, your people, shout protests against injustice.

 

People, your people, refuse forgiveness. Yet

people, your people, refuse to rest until peace is present.

 

People, your people, dismantle your creation. Yet

people, your people, dismantle unfair systems.

 

People, your people, cultivate animosity in communities. Yet

people, your people, cultivate food for the hungry.

 

God, forgive us for the sins we’ve done, not realized we’ve done, and unintentionally done. We repent of our failures to show compassion and love to your creation. Turn our hearts to you, that we stand, sit, shout, refuse, dismantle, and cultivate on the side of peace, hope, joy, and love. In the name of Jesus, the redeemer. Amen.                               

—Tiffany and Caleb Brian

 

Ministry of Music or Congregational Hymn

“It’s Me, It’s Me, O Lord”        CCS 208

OR “What Comfort Can Our Worship Bring”     CCS 199

 

Reflection

“Out of the Darkness”

Out of the darkness I come

with new energy, a new and fresh perspective.

 

Out of the darkness I come

nourished by rest and an abiding love of God.

 

Out of the darkness I come

into the light of inspiration and vision.

 

Out of the darkness I come

with gratitude for a patient God

who invites me everyday into His presence.

 

Out of the darkness I come

only to experience mercy and compassion,

only to experience encouragement and empowerment

and to be sent forth into the world to share the great love of Christ.

 

Out of the darkness I come.   

       —Bruce Crockett

      Used with permission.

 

Pastoral Prayer for the Lenten Journey

 

Closing Hymn

“What Wondrous Love Is This”    CCS 454

OR “Bless Now, O God, the Journey”    CCS 559

 

Postlude


 

SERMON AND CLASS HELPS

Year C—Letters
Ash Wednesday

2 Corinthians 5:20b—6:10

 

Exploring the Scripture

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. Lent is a season of spiritual introspection and openness. It offers a time to explore our frailty and brokenness as we seek to understand and deepen our life as disciples. Soul-searching and consideration of life’s frailty are marked by opportunities for silence and focused self-examination. On this day, some are marked with ashes on their forehead—a sign to recognize their mortality.

Our scripture text—written by Paul to the church in Corinth—is for disciples, congregations, pastors, and Christians everywhere. The text invites each to self-examination focused on unity and division. Major themes urge readers “not to accept the grace of God in vain” (6:1) and explore the cost of Christian discipleship.

The church in Corinth is divided as it struggles over which leader to follow or to whose voice people will listen. Their relations with Paul are strained. They struggle to respect his authority, guidance, and ministry. Paul reminds them they are recipients of God’s grace and are now God’s representatives. Paul’s petition is for reconciliation and unity among themselves and with him.

The phrase “made him to be sin who knew no sin” (v. 5:21) explains that Jesus carried the effects of human sin through his crucifixion.

Verse 6:2a speaks of an indefinite time “on a day of salvation.” Paul then becomes specific, “See, now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation!” (v. 6:2b). There are two Greek words for time: chronos (chronological or clock time) and kairos (special or significant moments). Paul uses kairos to mark this as a significant moment.

For Paul, the plea is urgent. Life passes quickly; our lives are limited. Now is the time for those blessed with God’s grace to act. They should not reject God’s amazing gift of grace. The call is urgent.

Paul defends his ministry in verses 3–10. He means to highlight his credibility among his detractors. He details his suffering because of his ministry (v. 4–5). In doing so, he expresses his vulnerability, like a display of ashes on his forehead. In verses 6–7, Paul discusses a series of virtues. Some describe what it means to be a Christian disciple; some are more specific to struggles endured in his apostolic role of spreading the gospel.

Paul’s list of opposites pairs (v. 5:21, 6:8b–10) portrays discipleship’s different reality. Unlike worldly success, a disciple’s success is found through faithfulness to Christ’s call despite obstacles, hardships, and suffering.

From Paul’s love for the Corinthians, he invites them to work for reconciliation and unity. Forgiveness and reconciliation are God’s work. If we represent God, our work also should seek forgiveness and healing. Paul endured despite his suffering.

Disciples who choose violence create cyclic violence. The disciple’s duty for forgiveness and reconciliation also includes global brokenness and division. Our actions to forgive and reconcile open us to God’s transformation and healing between individuals, congregations, peoples, and nations. Through forgiveness, the people can become the body of Christ—their salvation still has meaning.

On Ash Wednesday, we recognize our limited time as we face mortality. Now, at the beginning of Lent, is the time to be reconciled to one another and God through Christ.

Central Ideas

1.     As recipients of God’s grace, we are God’s representatives.

2.     Now is the time for those blessed with God’s grace to act.

3.     A disciple’s success is found through faithfulness to Christ’s call despite obstacles, hardships, and suffering.

Questions for the Speaker

1.     What marks kairos (special or significant moments) for you and your congregation?

2.     How do you reflect God’s grace in your life as a disciple?

3.     What virtues best describe your discipleship?

4.     What signs of vulnerability or mortality do we see among our neighbors?

5.     When have actions to forgive and reconcile provided opportunities for God’s transformation and healing?


 

 

SACRED SPACE: A RESOURCE FOR SMALL-GROUP MINISTRY 

Year C—Letters
Ash Wednesday

2 Corinthians 5:20b—6:10

 

Gathering

Welcome

The Lenten season begins with Ash Wednesday, an ancient holy day in the Christian calendar. In scripture, ashes signify grief, sin, and human mortality, as well as joy, forgiveness, and victory over death. Christians often wear a smudge of ashes on the first day of Lent as a symbol of repentance. The ashes traditionally are created by burning palm branches used in Palm Sunday celebrations the previous year.

 

Prayer for Peace

Ring a bell or chime three times slowly.

Light the peace candle.

Gracious God,
It is you, in the dawning
In the renewal,
In the arrival,
In the new day.
In the deepest night

And it is in your grace that we seek rest so we can build peace. May each step we take be for peace. May each breath we take be in love. May each thought we think honor you. Amen.

—Jana Horner

Spiritual Practice

Silent Spiritual Reflection

Take a few moments to quiet yourself. Listen as I read a poem by Jan Richardson.

When I finish, we will have a minute of silent reflection as the words rest in us.

I will ring a chime when the time of reflection is concluded.

A Blessing for Ash Wednesday

To receive this blessing, all you have to do is let your heart break.
Let it crack open. Let it fall apart so that you can see its secret chambers,
The hidden spaces where you have hesitated to go.

Your entire life is here, inscribed whole upon your heart’s walls:
Every path taken or left behind, every face you turned toward or turned away,
Every word spoken in love or in rage, every line of your life you would prefer
To leave in shadow, every story that shimmers with treasures known and you
You have yet to find.

It could take you days to wander these rooms. Forty at least.
And so let this be a season for wandering, for trusting the breaking, for tracing the
Rupture that will return you to the One who waits, who watches, who works within
The rending to make your heart whole.

—Jan Richardson

http://paintedprayerbook.com/2012/02/15/day-1ash-wednesday-rend-your-heart/

 

Spend one minute in silent reflection. End the reflection time with a chime or bell. Invite people to share their reflections on the poem.

 

Sharing Around the Table

2 Corinthians 5:20b–6:10 NRSVue

So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ: be reconciled to God. For our sake God made the one who knew no sin to be sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

As we work together with him, we entreat you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says,

“At an acceptable time I have listened to you,
    and on a day of salvation I have helped you.”

Look, now is the acceptable time; look, now is the day of salvation! We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: in great endurance, afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; in purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of 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 are well known, as dying and look—we are alive, as punished and yet not killed, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing everything.

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. Lent is a season of spiritual introspection and openness. It offers a time to explore our frailty and brokenness as we seek to understand and deepen our life as disciples. Soul-searching and consideration of life’s frailty are marked by opportunities for silence and focused self-examination. On this day, some are marked with ashes on their forehead—a sign to recognize their mortality.

Paul again visits those in Corinth. Their relations are strained. They struggle to respect his authority, guidance, and ministry. Paul reminds them they are recipients of God’s grace and are now God’s representatives. Paul’s petition is for reconciliation and unity among themselves and with him.  He shares this with urgency and vulnerability.

God’s desire, and indeed our desire as Community of Christ, is God’s shalom—peace, healing, reconciliation, and wholeness for all creation. During Ash Wednesday we recognize our mortality. During Lent we often let go of something temporal, in hopes of focusing on something more sacred. Perhaps we can use this time to focus on God’s shalom, the healing, wholeness, peace, reconciliation, and forgiveness.

 

Questions

1.     When have actions to forgive and reconcile provided opportunities for God’s transformation and healing?

2.     What needs do you see in your community calling for peace and reconciliation?

3.     How do you live discipleship?

 

Sending

Generosity Statement

Faithful disciples respond to an increasing awareness of the abundant generosity of God by sharing according to the desires of their hearts; not by commandment or constraint.

—Doctrine and Covenants 163:9

The offering basket is available if you would like to support ongoing, small-group ministries as part of your generous response.

The offering prayer for Lent is adapted from A Disciple’s Generous Response.

Ever-present God, forgive us when we are less than loving, less than hope-filled, less than you have created us to be. Your mercy and grace are always with us. May we find strength in your presence, and may we respond to your love with generous spirits. Amen.

Invitation to Next Meeting

 

Closing Hymn

Community of Christ Sings 207, “Creator of Sunrises”

 

Closing Prayer

 

Optional Additions Depending on Group

  • Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper
  • Thoughts for Children

 

 

Thoughts for Children

Materials:

·       little bags of ash for each person

Say: Today is Ash Wednesday. In many faith traditions, people have ashes applied to their foreheads in the shape of a cross on this day. Ashes symbolize humility and remind wearers that they are human, mortal, and imperfect.

Ashes are not used just on Ash Wednesday. They can be used for other things, too. Some gardeners spread ashes in their soil to help plants get more nutrients and grow bigger.

Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent. During Lent, we prepare ourselves for Easter and reflect on our relationship with God. As we prepare, we learn and grow. Just as ashes can help plants grow, being humble before God can help us grow!

I am going to give you each a little bag of ashes. When you get home, find a plant and spread the ashes around it. As you spread the ashes, ask God to help you to be humble and grow during the season of Lent.

 


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