Ash Wednesday
Vespers
Create in me a clean heart, O God
And put a new and right spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
And do not take your holy spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
And sustain in me a willing spirit.
Psalm 51:10-12
The Journey Begins...
Welcome
to Ash Wednesday worship at First Church Somerville. We will begin our worship service this
evening with a period of individual reflection, guided by four tables with an
image and activity. You may wish to
visit only one table, or several. Or,
you may simply wish to take time to sit quietly with your own thoughts,
listening to the musical meditations of Linnea Millard on piano.
Traditionally,
the forty-day season of Lent begins with confession on Ash Wednesday. As we prepare to journey towards a closer
relationship with God, we step back and consider the ways in which we have put
distance between ourselves and God.
Separation
is one way to understand sin; reunion is one way to understand
forgiveness. But there are a hundred
other ways as well, and each might strike us differently at different
times. Each of the tables in our chapel
tonight suggests another image or metaphor for sin and forgiveness.
There
is space at the bottom of each page where you might wish to jot down some
thoughts. If you don’t feel you are
ready to write anything now, you might save this booklet and use it later. Or, you might want to return to what you
write tonight at some later point, continuing your reflections and prayers.
At the end of approximately 20
minutes, we will gather together for a short Vespers service, adding our
collective confession to our individual reflections. You will find an order of worship for this
service at the end of this booklet.
First Table: Earth
Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are
our potter; we are all the work of your hand.
Isaiah 64:8
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Come, go down to the potter’s house, and
there I will let you hear my words.” So
I went down to the potter’s hous, and there he was working at his wheel. The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled
in the potters hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to
him.
Then the word of the Lord came to me: Can I not do with you, O house of
Jeremiah 18:1-6
Reflection: One of the ways in which sin is described in
the Bible is as a “hardness of heart.”
Do you ever feel that your heart is hard, that it is inflexible, or
judgmental? Do you find that your
compassion for others is limited? Do you
keep your guard up in your relationships with others and/or with God? Reflect on the way in which this is
true. Do you think God can mold you,
help you to change?
Action: Take a piece of clay. Warm it in your hands and knead it until it
becomes pliable. Give it a new
shape—perhaps a small bowl which could symbolize receptivity to God and to God’s
forgiving love. As you shape the clay,
imagine God shaping you in the same way.
Second Table: Wind
In the day that the LORD God made the earth an the heavens, when
no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet
sprung up—for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there
was no one to till the ground; but a stream would rise from the earth, and
water the whole face of the ground—then the LORD God formed humanity from the
dust of the ground, and breathed into their bodies the breath of life; and they
became living beings. And the LORD God
planted a garden in
Genesis 2:4b-8 (with editing)
Reflection: As we exhale our body expels stale air; as we
inhale our body takes in fresh air for our lungs. Think of exhaling as expelling the bad—the
sin—and inhaling as receiving God’s breath—the breath of creation—again. What can you let go? Just as your lungs can take in more are after
a full exhalation, how much more of God’s love and forgiveness can you inhale
after releasing sin?
Action: Find a comfortable position. Close your eyes and concentrate on your
breathing. Breathe slowly and fully from
your diaphragm; when you do this, your stomach should expand outward and your
chest should not rise significantly. You
may want to offer your breath as a prayer—as you exhale, name something that
you would like to let go, and as you inhale, say “Thank you, God” for the
forgiveness you can so readily receive.
Third Table: Water
Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go, wash in the
2 Kings 5:10-14
Reflection: One of the most ancient metaphors for sin is
dirt. And while this image has its
limits (surely sin is not just a matter of a clean soul contaminated by contact
with the earth), it has its strengths as well.
When we go to get washed up, we can get clean. God’s forgiveness is as simple and
straightforward as that—Naaman almost misses his chance to be healed because he
wants a more complicated solution to his problem. Know that God’s river of forgiveness is as
close and accessible to you.
Action: Using one of the markers on the table, draw a
dot or shape on one of the small rocks.
As you do so, you might wish to give that mark the name of a sin, which
you would like to confess to God. Put
the rock into the fountain on the table.
Watch it be made clean, knowing that God’s forgiveness also cleanses
you. You may take the clean stone with
you as a reminder, or you may leave it in the fountain.
Fourth Table: Fire
But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when
he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap; he will sit
as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi
and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the LORD
in righteousness.
Malachi 3:2-4
Reflection: Jewelers and scientists both know that one of
the ways to purify a material is with fire.
All of the impurities burn away, and what is left is purified metal or a
sterilized instrument. The process of
confession and forgiveness can work in a similar fashion. What impurities do you hold onto? You may think of a hurtful behavior, a
distraction, an attitude, or something else.
Action: Take a slip of paper from the table and
write on it something that you consider to be an “impurity” in your life. Fold the paper, light the paper by the candle
and place it into the metal bowl. Please
be careful, and do not hold onto the paper for too long.
Notice
how quickly and easily the fire consumes the paper. So too, God easily purifies your soul through
confession and forgiveness.
Vespers Service
Gathering Song “Just As I Am”
Leader: Once again, as the season of Lent begins, we
are summoned by a gracious and merciful God.
People: We respond to God’s steadfast love, calling
us into blessed community.
Leader: Let all the people gather for
self-examination; let all come in awe before the Author of Life.
People: God’s love and forgiveness penetrates our sin
and despair. With reverence and wonder,
we gather in Jesus’ name, trusting in his promise to be among us.
Meditation Rev. Heather
Kirk-Davidoff
Call to Confession Gregory Morisse
All:
God of justice and of mercy, we pray for you to enter our hearts. Help us
to come to you in a spirit of gratitude. Comfort us with the certainty of your
love. Enable us to hear you word; to be both challenged and inspired. Empower
us to act in faith, compassion and courage as we go from here. These things we
pray, O God, in hope; but also in repentance. We seek you, feeling less than
fully worthy. And so we pray, O God, for forgiveness.
Leader: We confess to you, God of justice that we
have not always stood up for the needs of righteousness, seeking instead to
stand in some shadow of safety and comfortableness.
People: God,
have mercy.
We confess to you,
God of justice, that too often we see things as they are, or long have been,
and accept them as the way they are meant to be.
God, have
mercy.
We confess to you,
God of justice, that far too often our fears over that which seems different
and unknown have kept us from being loving and being loved by another child of
God.
God, have
mercy.
We confess to you,
God of justice, that we have allowed the void of our own ignorance to be filled
by the hatefulness of others.
For all these
things we seek your forgiveness.
Lord, hear our
prayer. Lord, have mercy.
God of mercy, we
seek forgiveness for what we have done to others in the name of “order,” and
for all the times we have shut out the “other.”
God, hear our
prayer.
God of mercy, we
seek forgiveness for the arrogance which tells us that only we are made in your
image, and for the many ways we have put down, or kept down, those who are
different from us.
God, hear our
prayer.
God of mercy, we
seek forgiveness for believing old “truths” long after they have become lies,
and for failing to proclaim new revelations of your truth in our time.
God, hear our
prayer.
God of mercy, we
seek forgiveness for we know that we are neither perfect nor the same, and too
often we seek the latter and not the first.
God, hear our
prayer.
God of justice and
of mercy, have mercy upon us, and hear our prayer.
Duet “Dust
and Ashes Touch Our Face”
Marking With Ashes
During the song, we will pass a bowl of
ashes mixed with oil. If you would like,
you may mark yourself with the ashes, either on your forehead or on your
hand. If you do not wish to participate
in this ancient ritual of repentance, simply pass the bowl to your neighbor.
Assurance Of Pardon
Leader: Ours is a God of earth!
People: Like a potter, God has molded us into being,
and continues to work in our lives.
Creation continues, and in forgiveness, God has remade us, shaping us
into a new, more receptive form.
Leader: Ours is a God of wind!
People: At creation, God filled us with his
breath. We continue to breathe. We have exhaled our sin and are filled again
with a holy wind, the Breath of Life.
Leader: Ours is a God of water!
People: We have been washed in the holy rivers. We are baptized anew with water, born
anew. Our bodies have been cleansed, our
spirits refreshed.
Leader: Ours is a God of Fire!
People: Like a fine jewel or precious metal, we have
been placed in the fire and made pure. The
Holy Fire of God has rekindled our spirits.
Leader: The Grace of God is abundant and present in
our lives. God lifts us above our
transgressions and cleanses us from our sin.
In Christ we are restored to the wholeness God intends for us. Open your mouths and declare God’s
praise. Open your lives to accept the
transformation that comes with forgiveness.
All: Thanks be to God! Hallelujah!
Amen!
Hymn “God
of Grace and God of Glory”