Everything you need for Ash Wednesday, February 17 online worship.
Preparations for Worship:
- Do your best to eliminate distractions like the phone, TV, etc.
- Worship actively! Whether you are by yourself or with others, try reading the parts of the service aloud (responses, lessons, and prayers).
- This service is for children too. Help them participate. Ask those who have that ability to read a prayer or lesson aloud. Take a moment to describe what’s happening. Ask questions. Encourage little ones to draw what they are hearing while you all listen. Unlike our more typical Sunday worship at church, you can pause at any time for questions and discussion.
- Before you begin, load each of the videos below. (You might first have to get past a distracting ad.)
- Pause for a moment of quiet meditation. Then pray:
“Heavenly Father, I have come to worship you. Draw near to me in your gracious Word, and assure me of your loving kindness. Curb my wandering thoughts, that with undivided attention I may hear your voice and speak your praise. Through Jesus Christ. Amen.”
Brothers and sisters in Christ, God created us to know joy in communion with him, to love all humanity, and to live in harmony with all creation. But sin separates us from God, our neighbors, and creation, and so we do not enjoy the life our Creator intended for us. By our sin we grieve our Father, who does not desire us to come under his judgment but to turn to him and live. Therefore, God in his mercy has sent our Lord Jesus Christ to take our place under the law, to suffer for us, and to die the death we deserve. God made Jesus, who had no sin, to be sin for us so that in him, we might become the righteousness of God.
During the 40 days of Lent, we fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of God. The time of Lent reminds us that to know Christ and the power of his resurrection, we must also know the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. As disciples of the Lord Jesus, we are called to struggle against everything that leads us away from love of God and neighbor.
I invite you, therefore, to confess your sins, ask our Father for forgiveness, and commit yourselves to this struggle. Let us be silent. Let us be still. Let us pause now for a time of reflection and self-examination.
CONFESSION OF SINS
We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Let us search our hearts, the actions of our days, the thoughts of our minds, the words of our mouths. Let us in meditation confess sins that burden our hearts and diminish faith. God’s Word says, “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me…Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and You forgave the guilt of my sin.’” (Psalm 32:3-5)
Most holy and merciful Father,
I confess that I am by nature dead in sin. For faithless worrying and selfish pride, for sins of habit and sins of choice, for the evil I have done and the good I have failed to do, you should cast me away from your presence forever. Like the disciples, I have boldly declared loyalty to you only to fail to proclaim your name; I have foolishly listened to the devil’s lies only to be crushed with guilt and shame.
We have not loved you with our whole heart and mind and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven others as we have been forgiven.
Have mercy on us, Lord.
We have been deaf to your call to serve as Christ served us. We have not been true to the mind of Christ. We have grieved the Holy Spirit.
Have mercy on us, Lord.
We confess to you, Lord, all our past unfaithfulness. The pride, hypocrisy, and impatience in our lives
We confess to you, O Lord.
Our self-indulgent appetites and ways, our manipulation of other people
We confess to you, O Lord.
Our anger when our selfish aims are denied and our envy of those more fortunate than ourselves
We confess to you, O Lord.
Our love of worldly goods and comforts and our dishonesty in daily life and work
We confess to you, O Lord.
Our negligence in worship and prayer and our failure to show the faith that is in us
We confess to you, O Lord.
Forgive us, Lord, for the wrongs we have done. For all false judgments, for uncharitable thoughts toward others, and for our prejudice and contempt for those who differ from us,
Forgive us, O Lord.
Restore us, good Lord, and let your anger depart from us.
Hear us, Lord, for your mercy is great.
Accomplish in us, O God, the work of your salvation
That we may show forth your glory in the world.
By the cross and suffering of your Son, O Lord,
Bring us with all your saints to the joy of his resurrection.
Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, does not desire the death of sinners but rather that they turn from their wickedness and live. Therefore, I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son † and of the Holy Spirit. During these days of Lent, let us implore God to give us renewal and his Holy Spirit. May we continue to abide in the true faith and at the last be received by him through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
LESSON – ISAIAH 59:12-20
12 For our offenses are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us. Our offenses are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities: 13 rebellion and treachery against the LORD, turning our backs on our God, fomenting oppression and revolt, uttering lies our hearts have conceived. 14 So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter. 15 Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice. 16 He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him. 17 He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak. 18 According to what they have done, so will he repay wrath to his enemies and retribution to his foes; he will repay the islands their due. 19 From the west, men will fear the name of the LORD, and from the rising of the sun, they will revere his glory. For he will come like a pent-up flood that the breath of the LORD drives along. 20 “The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins,” declares the LORD.
LESSON – 2 CORINTHIANS 5:20-6:2
We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 6:1As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. 2 For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.
DEVOTION – LUKE 18:9-14
LENT CONFESSION OF FAITH
This is what the Bible teaches and, therefore, what we believe. We believe in Jesus Christ; He is the true God from all eternity — almighty, all-knowing, present in all places. He is a man from Nazareth — weak in the flesh, fearful of future sorrow, tortured by pain. He was tempted like us, yet like we will never know. But he triumphed over temptation; he refrained from his full might and glory; he submitted humbly to the Father’s will; he chose death, to give us life. We believe that our sins anger God, each one of them: big and small, public and private, those that hurt others, those that don’t appear to hurt anyone, those we don’t even remember.
We believe that Jesus lived and died for the sins of the world. He resisted every temptation; he reached out in love, to anyone in need; he remained pure in every thought, not just to be a good person, not just to be a good example, but to be mankind’s perfect Savior and Substitute, to live the Law in our place, so that the Law will not condemn us. He submitted to shame; he suffered unjust punishment; he sacrificed Himself, not to prove a point, not just to show us how to obey, but to take mankind’s sentence for sin, as our perfect Savior and Substitute.
He is our sure hope and salvation. This is what the Bible says; therefore, this is what we believe.
OFFERING
Offerings may be given on-line at tithe.ly/risensavior, mailed to the church, or dropped off at the church.
Our members have joined together in faith and love to do the Lord’s work in this community and around the world. Guests need not feel obligated to participate in this offering which supports our ministry.
PRAYER OF THE CHURCH
Almighty God, merciful heavenly Father, in Your great and abundant compassion, You sent Your only-begotten Son into our flesh, where He took up our sins and iniquities, our sorrows and infirmities to carry them to the cross in our place and on our behalf. In our flesh, Your Son revealed Your glory chiefly in showing mercy and pity, revealing to us poor sinners Your love and grace.
We who are but dust confess unto You that we do not deserve the least of all the steadfast love, tender mercy, and abiding truth which You have revealed in the person of Your Son. For we sinners have rebelled against Your will, turned every one to our own ways, and exalted ourselves more than we have honored You. Deceiving ourselves, we have confused our plans and purposes for Yours. Relying on our wisdom, we have depended upon our reason and senses instead of your Commandments. Trusting ourselves, we have neglected Your Word, our worship has grown half-hearted, and our prayers have grown cold. Forgive us, renew us, and heal us for the sake of the bitter sufferings and death of Your beloved Son and the merit that He alone has won for us through His holy life and humble obedience and His innocent suffering and death.
Neither look upon our poor merits nor upon our many iniquities, but remember us solely for the sake of Christ Jesus, our Savior and Redeemer.
In this season of Lent that lies before us, grant us humble and contrite hearts, right and willing spirits, and disciplined and obedient bodies. Give us zeal to amend our sinful lives and to live in a manner that befits the grace You have showered upon us.
Enrich us with Your Word of grace, of pardon, and of peace, won for us through the Passion and death of Christ our Savior.
Grant comfort, health, and protection to the sick, weak, the suffering, and the sorrowing.
According to Your good and gracious will, grant healing to them and all who are ill and injured, comfort to the grieving, deliverance to those in peril, and peace to the troubled.
Silence for prayer
Grant us these and all Your gifts out of the fullness of Your fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, remembering us solely according to Your loving-kindness; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
THE LORD’S BLESSING
The grace of our Lord + Jesus Christ and the love of God and the
fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Amen.