Koonung Heights Uniting Church
Service of Worship at Home
Ash Wednesday – 14 February 2024 – 7pm or whenever possible
You may like to light a candle during your time of worship.
Feel free to text the Peace to other members of the congregation.
Acknowledgement:
As we gather this evening, I acknowledge
the Wurundjeri WoiWurrung People of the Kulin nations.
I pay my respects to their elders, past and present,
and to all future leaders and generations.
Gathering:
Welcome to this reflective Ash Wednesday service. Come from the rush of the day to this moment of quiet. Know that you are among friends and that God is here.
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, and is traditionally a day when we come before God to confess those things which we feel bad about or know to be wrong. Yet this action is not about berating ourselves, but is intended to be an act of humility before God, confessing while knowing that God loves us and offers forgiveness.
From the book of Genesis we read … “God formed the human from the dust of the ground and breathed into their nostrils the breath of life, and the human became a living being …” (Gen 2:7)
You are dust.
Take a breath
and in a moment of silence
recall the gift of life.
We Sing: “Bless the Lord, my soul” (TiS 706)
Bless the Lord, my soul, and bless God’s holy name.
Bless the Lord, my soul, who leads me into life.
Call to Worship:
Within the purple shadows
we find ourselves holding breath
for the season changes
and the road narrows.
We have turned from the mount of transfiguration
to the valley of the cross.
The story is heavier,
the questions louder,
the footsteps slower,
the words thinner
and we meet …
waiting for a God who makes a choice
and invites us to follow.
Prayer of Adoration and Confession:
Holy God,
we gather this evening to mark the beginning of Lent:
this season of waiting,
this season of patience,
this season of reflection,
as we journey to the cross.
We come to take our place at the table,
recognising we are unclean,
both inside and out.
We have neglected justice
and we have not loved God.
We have ignored others who need our attention,
and failed to give with generous hearts.
Lord, in your mercy, forgive us.
Help us to practise justice and love
as we draw closer to you this Lenten season.
We long to renew our faith;
to return to you.
Build our community
as we build our relationship with you over the coming weeks.
We pray in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
Poem: Tune My Heart
Tune my heart.
Like an old violin,
like a worn down piano,
I have been left out in all manners of weather;
I have been left alone for far too long.
So like a concertmaster with a steady hand,
tune me up.
Listen and learn
the cracked keys,
the broken strings.
Memorize the forgotten intervals
that even I did not know.
And then, when we’re ready,
when this creaky heart is tuned,
teach me a new song.
© Rev Sarah Speed
Reflection:
As we begin the season of Lent, let us turn inward and tune our hearts. Before an orchestra plays together, they must all tune their instruments – the cacophony of this process may be very loud and can create lots of dissonance, but it’s a necessary step in the process of creating harmonies and melodies. And so, this Lent, I wonder how can we tune the instrument of our hearts so that they align with God?
I have never tuned a piano, which I understand takes hours, but I have tuned a guitar. It can take a while too. It requires a steady hand, repeatedly striking the same note, a listening ear and the intimacy of familiarity. Musicians say they love their instruments, and I understand why, because tuning an instrument needs some of the things love does. Maybe that’s why we pray to God, “Tune my heart,” because we are desperate to be pulled into alignment. We are desperate to add our voice to the song, to get lost in a dance, to be in harmony with the melody of the universe.
Loving God, I pray you will show me the notes to sing.
We Sing: “Bless the Lord, my soul” (TiS 706)
Bless the Lord, my soul, and bless God’s holy name.
Bless the Lord, my soul, who leads me into life.
Bible Reading: Psalm 51:1-17 – Prayer for Cleansing and Pardon
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy,
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
and blameless when you pass judgment.
5 Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.
6 You desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodshed, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you have no delight in sacrifice;
if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.
17 The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Reflection:
Lent is a journey that takes all of us to a beautiful destination – resurrection morning – but before we get there, we have a way to journey, and part of that journey is recognising our personal need to journey. Part of that journey means we need to be honest in recognising sin and what it costs. Sin costs Christ shame, torture and death.
Like other psalms, Psalm 51 is a lament, but unlike other psalms the psalmist is lamenting their own sinfulness. It is dramatic, and the names in the heading of some biblical translations tell us that this psalm is ‘A Psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.’
The story of David, Bathsheba, Uriah and Nathan has many overtones, but in the final act it ends up being more about God’s grace and forgiveness and willingness to offer second chances to David. Psalm 51 is similar … it is more about the grace of God than the failure of humanity, and this is good news to all of us who stand in a long line of those who can get it so wrong.
Personal Reflection:
I invite you to a moment of personal reflection. Some of us welcome times of silence while others have a need to fill the silence. You will have found a paper on your chair when you came in tonight. It includes a guiding question and a prayer. I invite you to spend about five minutes with this as your prompt.
We Sing: “Bless the Lord, my soul” (TiS 706)
Bless the Lord, my soul, and bless God’s holy name.
Bless the Lord, my soul, who leads me into life.
Imposition of Ashes:
Lent is a time for us to return to our Creator who formed us from the dust of the earth. Our lives are finite, so we want to spend every precious moment in tune with God, living whole, abundant lives—the kind of lives we were created to lead. So, in recognition of our origins in the earth, in acknowledgment of our finite days, we come to receive ashes and remember: dust we are, and to dust we shall return.
I invite you to come forward if you wish to receive ash on your hand or forehead.
In repentance walk the way of the cross. God, in love, promises to lift you to new life.
Prayer:
Holy Creator,
you fashioned us from the dust and called us good, so very good.
Your fingerprints remain all over us.
Don’t let us forget that we come from the earth,
we will return to the earth, and every day in between is a gift from you.
Gifts aren’t meant to be encased in glass boxes and set high on a shelf,
lest they show any signs of use.
No, you gave us this life in the hopes that we would live it fully,
using it up and letting it develop signs of wear and tear,
a marvellous canvas that proves we have lived.
Thankyou for this beautiful life,
beautiful not because it’s perfect, but because it’s real.
Journey with us, accompanying us as the path winds.
Lift our heads to witness the majesty tucked around every detour –
if we look closely, we might see your fingerprints,
and if we listen deeply, we just might hear your voice calling us good, so very good.
Amen.
Blessing:
Beloved,
as you leave this place,
may you know that you are blessed,
and that you always belong to God.
God, trusting in this good news.
Amen.
We Sing: “Bless the Lord, my soul” (TiS 706)
Bless the Lord, my soul, and bless God’s holy name.
Bless the Lord, my soul, who leads me into life.
Thanks to all those who have assisted in preparation for this liturgy with encouragement, prayers and conversation. I have also utilised the following resources: Sanctified Art (Wandering Heart) and Spill the Beans (Issue 49)