Ash Wednesday Evening Service 8pm
This week we mark the start of Lent with our Ash Wednesday service at 8pm. At this service we receive the sign of cross in ashes on our foreheads, a sign of turning away from all that keeps us from God and turning towards our true God-given identity as God’s people.
Lent, the time of preparation for Holy Week and Easter, is a time for reflection, prayer, study, fasting and charity. The 40 days of Lent echo the 40 days Christ spent in the wilderness exploring his identity and his calling. We too use this time to rediscover who we are and what we were made for. Our readings both explore repentance, not merely an act of confession of sins but a reorientation, a commitment to our true identity as children of God and a rediscovery of our calling to justice, mercy and love. Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 calls the whole people to time of fasting and mourning but more importantly to “return to the Lord with all your hearts”. In our gospel, Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21, Jesus eschews the outward signs of piety, encouraging a true change of heart. We are reminded that our identity is grounded not in the things of the world but in God and that it is here, in the “treasures stored up in heaven”, that our hearts will find fulfilment.
This image shows last year’s palm crosses being burnt to make the ash for this year's service.
FIRST READING
Joel 2.1-2, 12-17
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—
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness!
Like blackness spread upon the mountains
a great and powerful army comes;
their like has never been from of old,
nor will be again after them
in ages to come.
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.
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?
Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sanctify a fast;
call a solemn assembly;
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.
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?”’
GOSPEL READING
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Beware of practising your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
‘So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
‘And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not bring us to the time of trial,
but rescue us from the evil one.
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
‘And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
