The Seal of a New Beginning

A SERVICE OF WORSHIP FOR ASH WEDNESDAY

 

GREETING:

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

May the love of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

And may the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Bless the Lord who forgives all our sins.

Amen.

 

OPENING PRAYER: Please join me in prayer

O merciful Father, in compassion for your sinful children, you sent you Son Jesus Christ to be the Savior of the world. Grant us grace to feel and to lament our share of the evil that made it necessary for him to suffer and to die for our salvation. Help us by self-denial, prayer, and meditation to prepare our hearts for deeper repentance and a better life. And give us a true longing to be free from sin, through the deliverance won by Jesus Christ our Redeemer. Amen.

 

HYMN: “The Old Rugged Cross” (#429)

 

SCRIPTURE LESSON Joel 2:1–2, 12–17 (New Revised Standard Version)

Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near—
² a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness!
Like blackness spread upon the mountain a great and powerful army comes; their like has never been from of old, nor will be again after them in ages to come….

¹² Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; ¹³ 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.
¹⁴ 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?

¹⁵ Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast;
call a solemn assembly; ¹⁶ gather the people.
Sanctify the congregation; assemble the aged; gather the children, even infants at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her canopy.

¹⁷ Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep.
Let them say, “Spare your people, O Lord, and do not make your heritage a mockery, a byword among the nations.
Why should it be said among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”

 

SCRIPTURE LESSON 2 Corinthians 5:20–6:10 (NRSV)

²⁰ 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. ²¹ For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

6 As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. ² 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! ³ We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, ⁴ but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, ⁵ beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; ⁶ by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, ⁷ truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; ⁸ in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; ⁹ as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; ¹⁰ as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

 

HYMN: “I Surrender All” (#252)

 

SERMON LESSON Ephesians 4:21-23, 30-32 (NRSV)

²¹ For surely you have heard about him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus. ²² You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, ²³ and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, ²⁴ and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

³⁰ And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. ³¹ Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, ³² and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.

 

SERMON: The Seal of a New Beginning

Introduction:

               Lent is a season of forty days, not counting Sundays, which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday. In between Ash Wednesday and Holy Saturday, we find ourselves gathered in the upper room around the table with Jesus and his disciples as he begins to offer himself as a holy and living sacrifice on Maundy Thursday. Then we walk with him and pray with him in the Garden of Gethsemane in the place known as the Mount of Olives. This is the place where we either fall asleep next to the disciples or we stay awake to hear these words, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39).

Following Maundy Thursday is Good Friday. Good Friday, although is not so good when we read about the beatings and the pain Jesus endured as he travelled to Golgotha in agony, defeat, and suffering, and then later died on the cross, does provide us with a glimpse of hope—a glimpse of restorative and redemptive hope: a message that goodness will come soon in the form of resurrection. Before we get to experience the signs and wonders of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday and Holy Saturday, though, we must prepare our lives for what is to come on Easter Sunday.

Lent comes from the Anglo-Saxon word lencten, which means “spring”—a season of preparation for many things in our life. During Springtime, flowers are planted and then begin to bloom, soil is overturned in the fields, birds begin to make homes in the surrounding trees, people are seen outdoors, and the sun greets us earlier in the morning. During Springtime, God’s creation is preparing for the beauty that waits to bloom before our very eyes. The beginning of Lent signifies the pain we must endure before we can at last experience a victory in Jesus Christ.

This evening, we come together to prepare ourselves for the Easter Season; and we do so, by receiving a mark, a seal, of protection and love which reminds us that the time has come to confess our sins before God and those around us. This evening, is the time when we realize what Natalie Sleeth promised in her hymn, “Hymn of Promise”: “In our end is our beginning, in our time infinity. In our doubt there is believing. In our life eternity. In our death, a resurrection. At the last a victory. Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see” (“Hymn of Promise,” 1986). This evening, we prepare ourselves for the victory that is to come; and we do so by shedding the old and putting on the new, something God alone can see.

Opening Prayer:

Let us pray: Dear Heavenly Father, as we receive your seal of protection this evening, help us to remember that today marks the beginning of what is to come—a victory. Guide us towards forgiveness and nurture us with your love. Amen.

Body:

               We began this evening by hearing the words of Joel, a prophet of the Old Testament. He proclaimed to the people, “Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near…” (Joel 2:1-2). Joel is encouraging his people to blow the trumpet, to make a joyful noise, to sound the alarm that something new is about to happen. The day of the Lord is coming: a day when earth will rejoice, the people will join together in praise and acclamation, and a day that will bring new beginnings. Joel wants the people of Zion to experience the good news that is coming. But then, his words of encouragement and adoration change.

Joel says, probably in voice that is filled with excitement yet fear and trembling, “[A] day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness [is near]! Like blackness spread upon the mountain a great and powerful army comes” (Joel 2:2). Joel knows that defeat and pain must arrive before the battle is won. Joel knows that darkness will cover the earth. Joel knows that suffering must be endured before the trumpets can truly be heard from the mountain. Joel knows what we know today: we know the day of the Lord is coming, but we know that devastation, mourning, and weeping must lead the way. However, we also know that there is hope in a time of darkness, in our end is our beginning, there are opportunities to catch a glimpse of Heaven’s light when clouds cover our path, and there are moments when the Lord gives us guidance to seek salvation and to return to him with our whole heart.

Joel continues, “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” (Joel 2:12-13). Joel is giving us a heads up, a warning, about what is to come: he is sounding the alarm. Joel wants us to return to the Lord, to rend our hearts, before things get worse. He seeks refuge for us in the gracious, merciful, and steadfast love of our Lord. Before we can seek the Lord’s love, we must shed the old and put on the new. We must ask the Lord for forgiveness and be reconciled before him.

Paul, when writing to the people of Corinth during the formation of Christian communities in Greco-Roman cities, is aware that people need to return to the Lord. The people in Corinth need to “be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20). When we choose reconciliation after enduring “afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger,” we accept the grace of God not in vain but in means of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:4-5). When we choose reconciliation, we come to love our neighbor and enemy as we love ourselves. When we choose reconciliation, we receive “knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, love, truthful speech, and the power of God” (2 Corinthians 6:6-7). When we choose to be reconciled by God, when we ask God to forgive us of our sins, we gain a deeper meaning of the words that Jesus cried out from the cross in the Gospel of Luke, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).

At a time of near death, when each breath was a struggle and caused excruciating pain, Jesus, looking out into the crowd—maybe catching the eyes of some looking at him from a distance, prayed to his Father to forgive them. Jesus forgave the soldiers, the High Priests who sentenced him to death, the people who screamed out, “Crucify Him, Crucify Him,” Pilate who presented him to the people as “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews,” and Jesus even forgave you and forgave me. At a time of near death, Jesus prayed that we would be set free from our transgressions and sins in hope that we would forgive those who trespass against us. At a time of death, Jesus wanted us to be marked with a seal of love and protection. He wanted us to experience forgiveness.

Just as Jesus wanted us to be made new in his salvation and protected by his love after being reconciled and redeemed, so does the Apostle Paul. Paul’s heart is wide open for you. This is evident in is proclamation to the citizens of Ephesus. Paul writes, “You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness…. [You] were marked with a seal for the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:22-24, 30). You were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. The sign of the cross that is placed on either you forehead or hand is a seal for the day of redemption. It is a seal that invites you to cast away the things of old and to put on the things of new. It is a seal that encourages you to leave the old, the sins and wrongdoings at the foot of the cross, and to ask Jesus to forgive you so that you will be made new. It is a seal in which protects you from bitterness, wrath, anger, and slander (Ephesians 4:31). It is a seal that reminds us to be “kind to one another, tenderhearted [towards one another], [to forgive] one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:32). It is a seal, just like in the case of Cain who was marked by God, of eternal protection and forgiveness. It is a seal of love, of newness of life, of restoration, and of salvation.

Conclusion:

This Ash Wednesday, I challenge you to do more than what the tradition says to do: to fast or to give something up for 40 days. Instead, I challenge you to shed away the old and to put on the newness of Christ’s love, to seek forgiveness as you forgive others, to leave your pains and sorrows—to surrender all—at the foot of the cross so that Jesus’s salvation has room to live in your heart, to embrace reconciliation and redemption, and I challenge you to remind yourself every day during the Lenten Season that the seal you receive today, the ashes, is a mark that prepares you for a new beginning.

Ash Wednesday is more than simply saying I am going to give this up or that up. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of promising the Lord that you will take the time to prepare the way, you will take the time over the next 40 days to prepare your heart for the resurrection of Jesus, and that you will take the time to help lead others to Jesus. Don’t give anything up this Lenten Season; instead, do something new that makes you a better disciple than you were yesterday. The seal for the day of redemption begins today, all you have to do is blow the trumpet and sound the alarm that you are ready to seek forgiveness and be saved. Are you ready to be forgiven by Jesus Christ? Are you ready for a new beginning? Amen.

 

INVITATION TO THE OBSERVANCE OF LENTEN DISCIPLINE

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

the early Christians observed with great devotion

the days of our Lord’s passion and resurrection,

and it became the custom of the Church that before the Easter celebration

there should be a forty–day season of spiritual preparation.

During this season converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism.

It was also a time when persons who had committed serious sins

and had separated themselves from the community of faith

were reconciled by [repentance] and forgiveness,

and restored to participation in the life of the Church.

In this way the whole congregation was reminded

of the mercy and forgiveness proclaimed in the gospel of Jesus Christ

and the need we all have to renew our faith.

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church,

to observe a holy Lent:

by self–examination and repentance;

by prayer, fasting, and self–denial;

and by reading and meditating on God’s Holy Word.

To make a right beginning of repentance,

and as a mark of our mortal nature,

let us now be in silence before our Creator and Redeemer [asking him to forgive us of our sins].

 

THANKSGIVING OVER THE ASHES

Let us pray: 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 [repentance]

so that we may remember that only by your gracious gift

are we given everlasting life;

through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

 

IMPOSITION OF ASHES

If you would like to receive Ashes, I invite you forward to receive them. If you prefer to remain seated, I will come to you. You are invited to receive the seal of Christ’s protection and love…

Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

Or they say:

Repent, and believe the gospel.

 

CONFESSION AND PARDON Let us Pray:

May the almighty and merciful God,

who desires not the death of a sinner

but that we turn from wickedness and live,

accept your repentance, forgive your sins,

and restore you by the Holy Spirit to newness of life.

 

THE LORD’S PRAYER Please join me by praying the words that Jesus taught us:

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 today 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 for ever. Amen.

 

HYMN “Were You There” (#561)