Having the Identity of a Servant: Ash Wednesday

This service was created as a part of a Lent series though it could be used alone. For the rest of the series go to "Having the Identity of a Servant: Series Homepage". 

The season of Lent traditionally begins with a service of repentance. Attendees are invited to receive on their foreheads the mark of the cross, made from ashes. We often think of these ashes as a mark of our penitence, but they also mark us as people who live in the way of the cross. What would it mean if we wore ashes on our foreheads every day? When we don’t wear ashes, do the people around us know that we are Christ followers?

This season of Lent, we want to be especially attentive to the ways we co-labor with Christ in lives of servanthood. In Scripture, people called to a particular vocation were often symbolically anointed on the forehead using oil. The prophet Isaiah was marked on the lips with a live coal.

This service blends the traditional Ash Wednesday service with the biblical practice of anointing people for service. Our focus is Isaiah’s account of his calling, which teaches us that repentance is a prerequisite for being commissioned as a servant of God. 

This worship outline is intended to get people asking questions that will be explored later in the series. What does it mean that we are coworkers with Christ? What work are we called to do? How much are you willing to give up for that work? Are you willing to give up your life? 

God Calls Us to Worship and Repent

Call to Worship: Selections from Joel 2 

[for two readers with a congregational refrain (bold text)]

Blow the trumpet in Zion;
      sound the alarm on my holy hill.

Let all who live in the land tremble,
      for the day of the LORD is coming.

It is close at hand—
      a day of darkness and gloom,
      a day of clouds and blackness.

Spare your people, Lord.

“Even now,” declares the LORD,
      “return to me with all your heart,
      with fasting and weeping and mourning.”

Rend your heart
      and not your garments.
Return to the LORD your God,
      for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
      and he relents from sending calamity.

Spare your people, Lord.

Who knows? He may turn and relent
      and leave behind a blessing—
grain offerings and drink offerings
      for the LORD your God.

Blow the trumpet in Zion,
      declare a holy fast,
      call a sacred assembly.
Gather the people,
      consecrate the assembly; . . .
Let them say, 
“Spare your people, LORD.
      Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn,
      a byword among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
      ‘Where is their God?’”
—Joel 2:1–2a, 12–16a, 17

Opening Song: “Song of the Prophets” (St. 1, 7, 18) ^Morgan

Greeting

On this Ash Wednesday, we set aside the distractions that prevent us from hearing this urgent call from God. The trumpet that blows in Zion sounds for all of us; it disrupts our lives’ well-worn patterns and demands that we return, repent, and be renewed. The God who persistently calls us greets us today with ready grace, mercy, and peace.
 

We Respond

Call to Confession

We plan to journey with Christ this Lent as co-laborers taking up the mantle of servanthood. But we take time today to remember that the work to which we are called is holy, like the one who calls us, and we are unfit and incapable of doing this work on our own. It is right that we fall on our knees before our holy God. And so we pattern our repentance after the prophet Isaiah, who was first called to repentance and then commissioned for service:

Reading: Isaiah 6:1–5

Song: “Only a Holy God” ^{Farren et al.}

Silent Prayer of Confession

Assurance of Pardon: Isaiah 6:6–7
 

GOD SPEAKS TO US

Prayer for Illumination

Prayer for Illumination 

Holy God, 
as we come now to the reading of your word, 
we ask you to illuminate our hearts and minds 
by the power of your Holy Spirit. 
May the light of your word 
brighten the Lenten path ahead of us 
as we journey in steps of Christ towards the cross. Amen. 
—Bethany Besteman, Reformed Worship, © 2024 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-ShareAlike. Used by permission. 

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:20–6:10

Sermon: “Coworkers in Christ”
 

WE RESPOND

Response to the Sermon

“Throughout These Lenten Days and Nights” ^Germenian

Including Children in Ash Wednesday Worship
Consider inviting the children to come forward and get a close look at the ashes. Ask wondering questions such as “I wonder why we use ashes to remind us to say we are sorry” or “I wonder what it would be like if we walked around with crosses on our foreheads all the time” or “I wonder if people know we are Christians even when we don’t have ashes on our foreheads.” 

Imposition of Ashes

We begin our journey to Easter with the sign of ashes.
This ancient sign speaks of the frailty and uncertainty of human life,
calls us to heartfelt repentance,
and urges us to place our hope in God alone.
The ashes remind us that we are called to live lives of the cross—
lives marked by love of God and of neighbor.

Almighty God,
you have created us out of the dust of the earth.
May these ashes remind us of our mortality and penitence
and the call to live as servants.
May they teach us again that only by your gracious gift
are we given everlasting life
through Jesus Christ, our Savior.
Amen.
—The Worship Sourcebook, second edition, © 2013 Faith Alive Christian Resources (TWS I.4.4.2, adapted). Reprinted by permission.

[During the imposition of ashes, a song may be sung. Some suggestions are given below. The worship leader(s) imposing the ashes say to each person: Repent, believe, and be reconciled to God.] 

Song Options

“Spirit of God, Who Dwells Within My Heart” ^Croly
“Give Me a Clean Heart” ^Douroux
“Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days” ^Hernaman 
 

GOD SENDS US OUT TO SERVE

Sending 

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 
“Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
—Isaiah 6:8

Sending Song: “Isaiah 6” (below)

[Sung to the tune EVENTIDE, by William Henry Monk, P.D.] 

Here we beheld you seated on your throne,
robed by the light with angels ringed around.
Here we fell down before our God in awe,
“Oh, holy Lord, we cannot keep your law.”

Coal from your altar purified our lips;
sin was atoned, and guilt from us was stripped.
Then from the light a voice like dove wings beat:
“Whom shall I send, and who will go for me?”

Boldly we stand, and eagerly we cry,
your sinner-saints redeemed by fire on high,
“Send us to sing, to work, to pray, to love,
all in the name of Jesus Christ above.”

“Go to the lost and tell them they are found.
Freedom proclaim to all in chains fast bound.
Go to the weary, lift their eyes to see,
full and abundant life is found in me.”
—Bethany Besteman, © 2024 Bethany Besteman, Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-ShareAlike. Used by permission.

Blessing/Benediction 

HOW SHALL WE RESPOND THIS WEEK? 

Fasting - Read Isaiah 58. Where do you find yourself in this passage? What might a true fast look like for you or your household?  

Prayer - Pray that the Spirit might reveal your heart and help you discern God’s call on your life to be Christ’s coworker. What does it mean to truly fast and be “all in” for God?

Around the Kitchen Table - During Lent, designate a chair at your kitchen table or in the living room as a “Christ chair,” a symbol of Christ’s presence in your midst. Consider how you might show to others that you are Christ’s coworker without saying anything. 

Ideas for Including Children and Teens - If you decide to set aside a “Christ chair,” encourage your children to think of ways to decorate the chair so it further represents Christ’s presence in your midst. For Ash Wednesday, consider using black crepe paper or construction paper to make a cross on the chair. This marks the chair as “Christ’s chair,” calls us to repentance, and points ahead to the end of the Lenten journey.