Ash Wednesday
Grace Presbyterian Church
Seeking to equip people to live as Christian disciples wherever God has placed them.
Welcome And Announcements
Prelude Have mercy on me O Lord God J. S. Bach
Call to Worship
Opening Prayer
Scripture Lesson Joel 2:12-16c
Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord, your God?
Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the aged; gather the children.
Time for Silent Reflection
Hymn Red 200* “Lord, Who Throughout these Forty Days”
Lord, who throughout these forty days
for us didst fast and pray,
teach us with you to mourn our sins
and close by you to stay.
As you with Satan did contend,
and did the victory win,
O give us strength in you to fight,
in you to conquer sin.
As you did hunger and did thirst,
so teach us, gracious Lord,
to die to self, and so to live
by your most holy Word.
And thro’ these days of penitence,
and thro’ your Passiontide,
forevermore, in life and death,
O Lord, with us abide.
Abide with us, that through this life
of doubts and hope and pain,
an Easter of unending joy
we may at last attain!
Call to Confession Isaiah 58: 6-9a
Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.
Silent Prayer of Confession
Promise of Repentance Isaiah 58: 9b-12
If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.
Offertory Forty days and forty nights Charles Callahan
Doxology Old 100th
Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise him, all creatures here below;
Praise him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Scripture Lesson 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10
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 he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
As we work together with him, we urge 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.”
See, now is the acceptable time; see, 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: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by 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 see—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.
Time for Silent Reflection
Hymn Red 445* “Just As I Am without One Plea”
Just as I am, without one plea
but that thy blood was shed for me,
and that thou bidd’st me come to thee,
O Lamb of God, I come! I come!
Just as I am, and waiting not
to rid my soul of one dark blot,
to thee whose blood can cleanse each spot,
O Lamb of God, I come! I come!
Just as I am, though tossed about
with many a conflict, many a doubt,
fightings and fears within, without,
O Lamb of God, I come! I come!
Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind,
sight, riches, healing of the mind,
yea, all I need in thee I find,
O Lamb of God, I come! I come!
Just as I am, thou wilt receive,
wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;
because thy promise I believe,
O Lamb of God, I come! I come!
Scripture Lesson Matthew 6:1-6, 16- 21 (selections)
‘Beware of practising your piety before others in order to be seen by them…‘So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you…‘And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites…
‘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…‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store 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 your heart will be also.
Time for Silent Reflection
Invitation to Lenten Devotion
Imposition of Ashes
Hymn Red 540* “Take Time to be Holy”
Take time to be holy,
speak oft with thy Lord;
abide in him always,
and feed on his Word.
Make friends of God’s children;
help those who are weak,
forgetting in nothing
his blessing to seek.
Take time to be holy,
the world rushes on;
spend much time in secret
with Jesus alone;
by looking to Jesus,
like him thou shalt be;
thy friends in thy conduct
his likeness shall see.
Take time to be holy,
let him be thy guide,
and run not before him,
whatever betide;
in joy or in sorrow
still follow thy Lord,
and, looking to Jesus,
still trust in his Word.
Take time to be holy,
be calm in thy soul,
each thought and each motive
beneath his control;
thus led by his Spirit
to fountains of love,
thou soon shalt be fitted
for service above.
Blessing and Departure
——————————————————————————————————————–
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84531485041?pwd=UXRMUGJIOFVOWUh4cFFRK3BoenVsQT09
Meeting ID: 845 3148 5041
Passcode: 391303
Phone In 19292056099,,84531485041# US (New York)
https://gracemontclair.org/covid-19/worship/