One: It is love which calls us here.
All: That love which may see its own shadow
yet continues to bring light to all.
One: It is love which gathers us to this place.
All: That love which whispers in our hearts,
the love which sings in our silent souls.
One: It is love which surrounds us in these moments.
All: That love which is fresh with each breath,
the love which endures forever.
Song
Prayer
When we choose to go off
pursuing our foolish choices,
your love is never held back.
Like a father sitting by a window,
staring down the street for us
to turn the corner towards home,
your love waits by your side,
God who never abandons us.
If we turn our backs
chasing after those pied pipers
of politics, pride, and prejudice,
your love never wavers.
Like a sibling who is more patient
with us than we can imagine,
your love lets go of all frustration,
Jesus who walks with us.
As we continue to persist
in shaping you in our image,
your love waits for us
to come to our senses.
Like a mother who sits by the bed
and listens to our worries,
your love gathers us to your heart,
Spirit who is always patient.
You always put up with us,
you never stop believing in us,
your hopes for us never stop,
you go through everything for us,
God in Community, Holy in One,
and so we lift our family prayer to you,
(The Lord’s Prayer)
Readings
Isaiah 54:7-10
Psalm 136:1-3
Song
I Corinthians 13
John 15:9-17
Spoken or silent reflection
Invitation to the Lenten life of love
Here is the place where
ashes and love collide,
as we are called once more
to journey with Jesus to Jerusalem,
where dreams will turn to dust
as love is silenced by betrayal and death.
When ashes and love collide,
we are challenged to remember
that his wilderness experience
models for us how to choose good over evil,
how to turn our backs on the voices
that call us to utter cruel words,
how to find the strength to work
for justice and care for the forgotten,
how to set aside our personal desires
so we can serve the most vulnerable,
how to draw on the ancient traditions
of silence, engaging with scripture, and prayer.
As ashes and love collide,
we remember our baptism into faith,
we come to the Table of grace,
we are marked as Christ’s own,
we come to be embraced by God’s
love which never, ever ends.
Call to Reconciliation
As we begin our journey to Easter, we must be honest with our lives. We must speak of how often our faith fails us, how reluctant we are to not only deny ourselves, but to do more for others. Let us pray together saying,
Unison Prayer for Forgiveness
If it was only for a moment, God of our lives, it might not be too bad. But we abandon you far too often, far too easily. We are impatient people, not suffering those we consider to be foolish. We are jealous of what others have. We persist in demanding things be done according to our whims. We like to boast about all we have done. And the lists of the wrongdoings of others? Oh, we run out of space, trying to keep track of them.
Here at the crossroads of love and ashes, we pray for your forgiveness, God whose heart we break. Hear our faltering words, and whisper to us of your mercy. Take all our foolish choices and toss them in your bin of forgetfulness. Mark us with the ashes of the One who shows us how to be your people, Jesus, our Sibling, our Lord, our Friend. Amen.
Silence is kept
Assurance of Pardon
One: God will not leave us alone but walks at our side. God’s grace marks us as Beloved children. God’s love lasts far longer than that very short memory God has of our foolish lives. This is indeed good news.
All: It is God’s compassion which welcomes us. It is God’s peace which surrounds us. It is the constant love of God which embraces us with mercy. Thanks be to God, we are forgiven. Amen.
Imposition of the ashes
Here are the ashes formed
not only from palm branches,
but from dreams that were lost,
hopes which were never fulfilled,
choices which turned to dust,
losses which overwhelmed us
with grief and terrible loneliness.
Here is the love we long for,
found in the remains of the cheers
we offered to Jesus when he first
came into our lives, but we soon
turned our backs on him, forgetting
the life which he offered to us and
continues to hold out for us.
Here, in this place and moment,
God takes the ashes and the love,
using them to mark us as God’s own,
constantly surrounded by that love
which is never held back from us,
comforting us with that hope which
is as constant as the rising of the sun,
embracing us in the gifts of peace,
reconciliation, justice, and generosity,
to help us to live as God’s people.
As we are touched with both
the ashes of memories and
the everlasting gift of love,
God of our every moment,
remind us that just as you
shaped us from creation’s dust,
it is from your love that we come
and when our time ends,
it is to your love we will return. Amen.
(in the silence, those who wish may come forward to have the sign of the cross placed on their foreheads or back of their hands. The ashes are from palms used in previous Palm Sunday services, mixed with oil representing God’s love poured upon us).
Invitation to the Table
Communion Song
Great Prayer of Thanksgiving
One: The God of ashes is with us.
All: The God of steadfast love is here.
One: At this beginning of a familiar journey
may we offer our hearts to our God.
All: We bring hearts which are broken for healing,
we bring hearts full of grace for sharing.
One: In the silence of our hearts,
in the stillness of our souls,
we would offer praise to our God.
All: For here, even though we may struggle
to find the words, God already knows them.
All: It is God’s compassion which welcomes us. It is God’s peace which surrounds us. It is the constant love of God which embraces us with mercy. Thanks be to God, we are forgiven. Amen.
Imposition of the ashes
Here are the ashes formed
not only from palm branches,
but from dreams that were lost,
hopes which were never fulfilled,
choices which turned to dust,
losses which overwhelmed us
with grief and terrible loneliness.
Here is the love we long for,
found in the remains of the cheers
we offered to Jesus when he first
came into our lives, but we soon
turned our backs on him, forgetting
the life which he offered to us and
continues to hold out for us.
Here, in this place and moment,
God takes the ashes and the love,
using them to mark us as God’s own,
constantly surrounded by that love
which is never held back from us,
comforting us with that hope which
is as constant as the rising of the sun,
embracing us in the gifts of peace,
reconciliation, justice, and generosity,
to help us to live as God’s people.
As we are touched with both
the ashes of memories and
the everlasting gift of love,
God of our every moment,
remind us that just as you
shaped us from creation’s dust,
it is from your love that we come
and when our time ends,
it is to your love we will return. Amen.
(in the silence, those who wish may come forward to have the sign of the cross placed on their foreheads or back of their hands. The ashes are from palms used in previous Palm Sunday services, mixed with oil representing God’s love poured upon us).
Invitation to the Table
Communion Song
Great Prayer of Thanksgiving
One: The God of ashes is with us.
All: The God of steadfast love is here.
One: At this beginning of a familiar journey
may we offer our hearts to our God.
All: We bring hearts which are broken for healing,
we bring hearts full of grace for sharing.
One: In the silence of our hearts,
in the stillness of our souls,
we would offer praise to our God.
All: For here, even though we may struggle
to find the words, God already knows them.
One:
Love.
While theologians ponder
and scientists try to find that
very point, that precise moment,
we know that it is love which
caused you to bring all of creation
out of the chaos on emptiness,
God of unparalleled imagination.
You spoke, and Word
crafted multi-hued butterflies,
pushed mountains toward the sky,
hurled galaxies as far as possible.
You whispered, and Spirit
moved upon seas and ponds,
drifted as mist in the morning,
breathed life into those shaped
in the image of love.
We could have remained in the arms
of your love which never lets go,
but we turned our backs on you
choosing the shallow life sin offered
as we handed ourselves over to death.
But you would not forget
nor would you leave us
to our ever-foolish lives.
Into the ashes of our failures,
of our crushed dreams, of our death,
you sent your Beloved
to come and walk the dusty
roads of life and mortality.
So, in these moments of silence,
with all marked with your love,
we offer you our songs of thanksgiving:
All:
Holy, holy, holy are you, God who abides in us.
We join all creation in singing your wonder.
Hosanna in the highest!
Blessed is the One who comes to call us friends.
Hosanna in the highest!
One:
Love.
That is who you gifted to us,
God of all time.
Unimaginable love shared
with us in the One who dared
to become just like us,
knowing our pain,
experiencing our fears,
weeping our tears.
Steadfast love offered
to us through Jesus who
constantly shared your love
in the stories which were told,
in conversations with others,
in all the meals together.
Transformative love seen
through the final parts of
that life which was always for others,
in the refusal to claim glory,
in the brokenness of body and spirit,
in the greatest love for all your people.
Resurrection love was the surprise
of grace and hope you give us
bringing forth Jesus from the ashes
of death’s destroyed power.
As we prepare to leave to follow
the One who leads us from life to death
and beyond to your steadfast love,
we speak of faith’s mystery:
All:
In love, Christ came to us.
With love, Christ gave himself.
Through love, Christ was raised.
For love, Christ will come again.
One:
Love.
It is here at this Table
we will find your love,
taste your grace,
know the meaning of the ashes.
Pour out your Spirit on the gifts
of the bread as well as the cup
and on all who are gathered.
In hope, may the bread
which represents the brokenness
of your steadfast love
strengthen us to go to serve,
to be more patient,
to offer more kindness,
to set aside arrogance,
and to lift up the fallen.
In grace, may this cup
which reminds us of the spirit
of love which never gives up,
enable us to go out and
learn from the forgotten,
find joy in speaking truthfully,
bring justice to the forgotten.
All:
And when all time ends
as our joy is made complete
in that love which has endured
from the very beginning of creation,
we will join with our siblings
in singing your glory forever and ever,
God in Community, Holy in One. Amen.
© 2024 Thom M. Shuman
Venmo: @Thom-Shuman
Love.
While theologians ponder
and scientists try to find that
very point, that precise moment,
we know that it is love which
caused you to bring all of creation
out of the chaos on emptiness,
God of unparalleled imagination.
You spoke, and Word
crafted multi-hued butterflies,
pushed mountains toward the sky,
hurled galaxies as far as possible.
You whispered, and Spirit
moved upon seas and ponds,
drifted as mist in the morning,
breathed life into those shaped
in the image of love.
We could have remained in the arms
of your love which never lets go,
but we turned our backs on you
choosing the shallow life sin offered
as we handed ourselves over to death.
But you would not forget
nor would you leave us
to our ever-foolish lives.
Into the ashes of our failures,
of our crushed dreams, of our death,
you sent your Beloved
to come and walk the dusty
roads of life and mortality.
So, in these moments of silence,
with all marked with your love,
we offer you our songs of thanksgiving:
All:
Holy, holy, holy are you, God who abides in us.
We join all creation in singing your wonder.
Hosanna in the highest!
Blessed is the One who comes to call us friends.
Hosanna in the highest!
One:
Love.
That is who you gifted to us,
God of all time.
Unimaginable love shared
with us in the One who dared
to become just like us,
knowing our pain,
experiencing our fears,
weeping our tears.
Steadfast love offered
to us through Jesus who
constantly shared your love
in the stories which were told,
in conversations with others,
in all the meals together.
Transformative love seen
through the final parts of
that life which was always for others,
in the refusal to claim glory,
in the brokenness of body and spirit,
in the greatest love for all your people.
Resurrection love was the surprise
of grace and hope you give us
bringing forth Jesus from the ashes
of death’s destroyed power.
As we prepare to leave to follow
the One who leads us from life to death
and beyond to your steadfast love,
we speak of faith’s mystery:
All:
In love, Christ came to us.
With love, Christ gave himself.
Through love, Christ was raised.
For love, Christ will come again.
One:
Love.
It is here at this Table
we will find your love,
taste your grace,
know the meaning of the ashes.
Pour out your Spirit on the gifts
of the bread as well as the cup
and on all who are gathered.
In hope, may the bread
which represents the brokenness
of your steadfast love
strengthen us to go to serve,
to be more patient,
to offer more kindness,
to set aside arrogance,
and to lift up the fallen.
In grace, may this cup
which reminds us of the spirit
of love which never gives up,
enable us to go out and
learn from the forgotten,
find joy in speaking truthfully,
bring justice to the forgotten.
All:
And when all time ends
as our joy is made complete
in that love which has endured
from the very beginning of creation,
we will join with our siblings
in singing your glory forever and ever,
God in Community, Holy in One. Amen.
© 2024 Thom M. Shuman
Venmo: @Thom-Shuman
