Ash Weds 2026

Blessed be the Lord who forgiveth all of our sin.

Almighty and everlasting God, who hates nothing than thou hast made, thus forgive the sins of all those who are penitent.

Create and make in us few and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sin and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigneth, who liveth and reigneth with me, thee, and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

Amen.

Please join me in reciting the great the things.

Holy God, Creator of heaven and earth.

Have mercy on us.

Holy and mighty Redeemer of the world.

Have mercy on us.

Holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity, one God.

Have mercy on us from all evil and mischief, from pride, vanity and hypocrisy, from envy, hatred, and malice, and from all evil intent.

Savior to the sloth, worldliness and love of money, from hardness of heart and contempt for your word and your loss.

Savior and deliver us.

From sins of body and mind, from deceits of the world, from flesh and the devil.

Savior delivered us.

From famine and disaster, from violence, murder, and dying unprepared.

Savior deliver us.

In all times of sorrow, in all times of joy, in the hour of our death and in the day of judgment.

Savior deliver us.

By the mystery of your holy incarnation, by your birth, childhood and obedience, by your baptism, fasting and temptation, Savior to the cross, by your ministry and word and work, by your mighty acts of power, by the preaching of your reign, Savior to the cross, by your agony in trial, by your cross and passion, by your precious death and burial, Savior to the cross, by your mighty resurrection, by your glorious ascension, and by your ascending of the Holy Spirit.

Savior to the cross.

Hear our prayers before Christ, God, hear our heart of practice.

Govern and direct your Holy Church, build the love and truth, and grant that unity which is your will.

Hear us of Christ.

Give us the fullness to preach the gospel of the whole world, and to make disciples of all the nations.

Hear us of Christ.

Enlighten your bishops, priests, and deacons with knowledge and understanding, that by their teaching and their lives they may proclaim your word.

Hear us of Christ.

Give your people grace to witness to your word and bring forth the fruit of your spirit.

Hear us, O Christ.

Bring into the way of truth all who have error and are deceived.

Hear us, O Christ.

Strengthen those who stand, comfort and help the faint-hearted, raise up the fallen, and finally be down Satan under our feet.

Hear us to Christ.

Guide the leaders of the nations into the ways of peace and justice.

Hear us.

Give your wisdom and strength the Donald, the President of the United States, dread the governor of this state, and fill the mayor of this city, that in all things they may do your will for your glory and the common good.

Hear us.

Give to the Congress of the United States, the members of the President's Cabinet, those who serve in our state legislature, and all others of authority and grace to walk always and the ways of truth.

Hear us of Christ.

Bless the justices of the Supreme Court, and all those who administer the law, that they may act with integrity and do justice for all your people.

Hear us so Christ.

Give us the will to use the resources of the earth to your glory and for the good of all.

Hear us, O Christ.

Bless and keep all your people.

Hear us, O Christ.

Comfort and liberate the lonely, the bereaved, the oppressed.

Hear us, O Christ.

Keep in safety those who travel and all who are in peril.

Hear us, O Christ.

Heal the sick in body, mind, or spirit.

Provide for the homeless, the hungry, and the destitute.

Hear us, of Christ.

Guard and protect all children who are in danger.

Hear us, O Christ.

Shower your compassion on prisoners, hostages, and refugees, and all who are in trouble.

Hear us, so price.

Forgive our enemies, persecutors and slanderers, and turn their hearts.

Hear us, so Christ.

Hear us as we remember those who have died, and grant us with them a share of our eternal glory.

Hear us, of Christ.

Give us true repentance.

Forgive us our sins of negligence and ignorance and our deliberate sins.

And grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit to amend our lives according to your word.

Holy God, holy heart, holy Lord, have mercy on us.

I bet you please receive the complete blessing.

The lesson is taken from the book of Job.

Blow the trumpet in Zion, and cry the alarm on my holy mountain.

Let all the inhabitants of the land quake, for the day of the holy God is coming.

It is near.

Yet even now, says the Holy One, return to me with all your hearts, with fasting, with weeping, and with lamenting.

Tear your hearts and loft your clothing.

Return to the Holy One, your God, for God is gracious and loveless as a mother, slow to anger, and abides in faithful love, and reluctant to impose arm.

Who knows whether God will not turn and relent and leave a blessing behind, for a grain offering and a drink offering to the Holy One, your God?

Blow the trumpet with Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the Egypt, gather the children, even breastfeeding babies.

Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her canopy.

Between the portico and the altar, let the priests, the ministers of the Holy One, weep.

Let them say, Spare your people, Holy One, and do not offer your heritage as a mockery, a byword among the nations.

Why should it be said among the peoples, Where is their God?

Fear not, O land, be glad and rejoice, for the Holy One has done great things.

Fear not, O animals of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness are green, the tree gives up its fruit, and the fig tree and the vine give their rain riches.

The word of the Lord.

The Psalm appointed for this evening is Psalm 19.

Please read responsibly by the half verse.

Mother of the mountains, you have been our refuge.

From one generation to another.

Before the mountains were born, or you ride the land and earth into birth.

From age to age, you turn mortal flesh back to the dust and say, For a thousand years of your sight are like yesterday, when it is past.

In the morning it is green and flourishes.

When you are angry, all our days are gone.

The span of our life is seventy years, perhaps in strength, even eighty.

So teach us to number our days.

The first human, Adam, became a living soul.

The last Adam became a spirit that gives life.

But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual.

The first human was from the earth, dust.

The second human is from heaven.

As was one as was the one of dust, so are those who are of dust.

And as is the one of heaven, so are those who are of heaven.

Just as we have born the image of the one of dust, we will also bear the image of the one of heaven.

The word of the Lord.

Jesus said, Now beware of practicing your justice before their people, so orders to be seen by them.

Surely, lest you have no reward from your Creator in heaven.

So when you give alms, do not trumpet before yourself as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, in order that they may be praised by other people.

Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.

But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, in order that your alms may be secret, and your creator who sees in secret will reward you.

When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners, in order that they may be seen by other people.

And truly I tell you, they have received their recompense.

But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Creator who is in secret, and your creator who is in secret will reward you.

And when you fast, do not be sullen like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces in order to show other people that they are fasting.

Truly I tell you, they have received their reward, but when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, in order that your fasting may be seen, not by others, but by your creator who is in secret.

And your creator who sees in secret will reward you.

This is the gospel of the Lord.

Praise be to the Lord Christ.

In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Please be seen, friends.

Well, a holy land to all of you.

We had a little debate.

Is it happy land?

Is it holy land?

Somebody saw Ashes today and was like, Do I say happy land?

I thought that was funny.

When I was on the call this morning, sometimes I'm on like conversations with other clergy throughout the country.

I've been doing it for a while, and um they always have these reflections.

And today we were talking about like Flint and the Ash Wednesday sermon and all of that, and people were uh sharing all these like really creative ways to reimagine Ash Wednesday.

And I thought I'm used to being weird, but I was debating whether or not I was just gonna come out here and just look at all of you and say, You're all gonna die.

And then I was gonna turn around and sit down.

Like that was gonna be it.

Like, you're gonna die.

Like, I don't love every part of this service.

Like, the part of it, I mean, I think a lot of it can do shame.

Like, I'm so wretched and horrible and all that, blah, blah, blah.

Like, you know, that's not how I like to talk about this thing we're doing called human egg and our relationship with God.

And I think that one of the most amazing things that people in the incarnation of God's love, where we say that we're made in the image of God beautifully, and that nothing can separate us from the love of this God, is that we once a year together, like gather, and we like go up to kids and babies and 90-year-olds and crossfitters and triathletes and people with cancer, and we say, you're gonna die.

You're gonna die.

And I think this is one of the most important things that we can do.

Because we live in a culture that is trying to convince us that like we're not gonna die, and like that's the goal.

Like, we're winning.

If we don't die, if we take enough pictures and we have enough influence that we'll live forever?

Like, who wants that?

Like, truly.

I mean, this isn't about like, oh, we're all gonna die and don't worry, you're gonna go to heaven, and everything's gonna be better because you're gonna have more followers.

It's gonna be more fantastic.

No.

It's like, stop taking yourself so seriously.

Like, you're not that important.

You're gonna die.

Like, the world's been around for billions of years, and a hundred years from now, nobody is going to remember you.

Oh, and by the way, the rest of the year we tell you how amazing and important you are.

But like, if we only have that, then we're not whole.

We're not experiencing what it means to be a human.

There's this rabbi, you know, he's actually only been around for, well, he died, not been around.

He died in the 18th century.

But he's relatively new in the Jewish tradition.

And he says that, like, every morning a faithful Jewish person should get up and put two notes in their pockets.

Right?

In one, it should say, For my sake, the world was created.

And in the other pocket, it should say, You are but dust and ashes.

And the wisdom of life is knowing which pocket to reach into when the time comes.

And I just want to hold up that there's something that the ancestors have said is really important about this day.

I mean, yes, we are gonna travel and lent and we're gonna have all kinds of stuff, but this day is a day where we turn towards death and we say, okay, okay, I'm gonna die.

And that's okay.

That's how this is supposed to go.

And in a way that we can't imagine there's relief and peace be enjoying that, and accepting that, and recognizing that, and that we're all in that together.

So my friend you're gonna die.

That's okay.

That's how we're gonna have a lot of people.

The first Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord's passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the church to prepare for them by a season of penitence and fasting.

The season of Lent provided a time in which converts to the faith were prepared for holy baptism.

It was also a time when those who, because of notorious sin, had been separated from the body of the faithful, were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to the fellowship of the church.

Thereby the whole congregation was put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the gospel of our Savior, and of the need which all Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith of God.

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of the Holy Light, by self-examination and repentance, by prayer, fasting and self-denial, and by reading and meditating on God's holy word, and to make a right beginning of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us now kneel before the Lord, our Maker, our deeper.

Almighty God, you have created us out of the dust of the earth.

Grant that these ashes may be to us a sign of our mortality and penitence, and that we remember that it is only by your gracious gift that we are.

Give an everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Savior.

I now invite those who are interested to come and kneel at the rail for the imposition of ashes.

We don't have to do anything but come and kneel, and we will come around and offer you ashes.

Your great compassion, block out my offenses, wash me through and through from my wickedness, and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me.

Against you only have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight.

And so you are justified when you speak, and upright in your judgment.

Indeed, I have been wicked from my birth, a sinner from my mother's beam.

For behold, you look for truth deep within me, and will make me understand wisdom and secretly.

Purge me from my sin and I shall be pure.

Wash me and I shall be clean indeed.

Make me hear of joy and gladness, that the body unbroken may rejoice.

Hide your face from my sins and blot out my iniquities.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving kindness.

In your great compassion, blot out my offenses.

Wash me through and cheat from my wickedness, and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.

Against you only have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight.

And so you are justified when you speak, and upright in your judgment.

Indeed, I have been wicked from my birth, a sinner from my mother's teeth.

For behold, you look for truth deep within me, and will make me understand wisdom secretly.

Purge me from my sin and I shall be pure.

Wash me and I shall be clean.

Make me pure the joy and gladness, that I have grown to hide your face from my sins, and allow you my iniquities.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving kindness.

Your great compassion for my tendencies to wash me fruit from my wickedness, and to cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is against you only have I sinned, and I escaped your spirit.

And so you are justified when you speak, and upright from your judgment.

Indeed, I have been wicked from my heart, a sinner from my eyes.

For behold, you look for deep truth within me.

And this is a secret.

Purge me from my sin, and I shall be cruel.