Words and Voice: Jon Swales
Music: Cello & Piano Music 'Blue Nights' by Juan Sanchez
Prayer 40: Ash Wednesday
Almighty God,
The Creator of All that is,
You created us from the dust of the earth,
And breathed upon us and gave us the gift of life.
In our fragility and weakness,
We marvel at the precious gift of life,
And the calling you have placed upon us to
Tend and keep your cosmic temple.
Almighty God,
The Creator of All that is,
Dust we are and to dust we will return,
Yet you dignified us with the gift of love.
A love in which dust is taken up in your divine embrace,
A love in which the word became flesh and dust became divine.
A love in which the fire of your presence sanctifies dust.
Almighty God,
Humanity as dust,
Has been granted the possibility and potential to reflect your glory,
But we embarked to the far country, &
Squandered our inheritance,
Lord have mercy.
In our arrogance, we erected Babel, &
Have forgotten who we truly are,
And what we are called to be.
Lord have mercy.
Yet we now reap what we have sown,
And find ourselves,
Cast Adrift as Homesick Exiles
East of Eden and lost in sin and shame.
Lord have mercy.
Almighty God,
We have misused our power and privilege,
And have plundered and pillaged,
This world of your yours,
This world of ours,
This world which we share with a host of non-human worshippers.
Lord have mercy.
And so in this context of rising temperatures,
As we face our own existential threat.
Knowing the gods of consumerism and economic systems will not save,
We remember,
We lament,
We repent
Lord have mercy.
And so in the context of rising seas,
As we face ecological ruin,
Knowing the gods of individualism and technology will not save,
We remember,
We lament,
We Repent,
Lord have mercy.
We remember your great love,
We lament our prideful arrogance,
We repent and turn to you the wellspring of love.
We receive ash upon our head as a reminder of our mortality,
Shaped as a cross.
Knowing that we are signed and sealed,
In the self-giving love of Jesus
We receive ash upon our head as a reminder of our mortality,
Shaped as a Cross,
Knowing that we are called afresh to embrace and enact,
The self-giving love of Jesus.
Almighty God,
On this day when we are reminded of our fragility,
We too are reminded of your faithfulness.
On this day when we are reminded of our mortality,
We too are reminded of your grace.
Almighty God,
The Creator of All that is
You created us from the dust of the earth,
And breathed upon us and gave us the gift of life.
In our fragility and weakness,
We marvel at the precious gift of life,
And the calling you have placed upon us to
Tend and Keep your cosmic temple.
Almighty God,
The Creator of All that is.
Dust we are and to dust we will return,
Yet you dignified us with the gift of love.
...
Almighty God,
Grant that these ashes may be to us a sign of our
mortality and penitence,
that we may remember in the context of climate breakdown
that it is only by your gracious gift that we are given
everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Savior.
Amen.