Develop a Discipleship System
Call to Worship
We come, aware of our sin, of all the ways we miss the mark.
God welcomes you with compassion.
We come, longing for restoration, to be made new.
God surrounds you with grace and forgiveness, reconciling you to God and one another.
We come, thirsting for reconciliation, to draw close to God and one another.
God embraces you with love, reuniting us with God and one another.
ALL: Sustain in us, O God, a willing spirit to return to the joy of our salvation as we journey together through the season of Lent.
Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, August 2024.
Opening Prayer
Gracious God, out of your love and mercy you breathed into dust the breath of life, creating us to serve you and our neighbors. Call forth our prayers and acts of kindness, and strengthen us to face our mortality with confidence in the mercy of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
From Ash Wednesday Liturgy (page 1) posted at https://ms.augsburgfortress.org/downloads/Ash%20Wednesday%20ELW%20Liturgy%20Sample.pdf.
Litany
(Begin with a blast from a shofar or trumpet)
Leader: Get ready; get ready to return to God. Place your trust in God and God alone!
(Trumpet or shofar is played again.)
Leader: Return to the Lord!
People: It is not always easy to return to God; we have had our way for so long.
Leader: Blow the trumpet. Sound the alarm. Call the young and the old; tell everyone that the Lord is coming.
People: It is not easy to talk about the Lord to people who have heard our preaching so many times.
Leader: Call for a fast.
People: Fasting is not easy; we hunger for so many things.
Leader: Nobody said it would be easy. But we must return to the Lord. The Coming of the Lord is near!
People: We commit to turn from our old ways.
Leader: Nobody said it would be easy.
People: We will turn our lives over to the One who makes a way.
Leader: Nobody said it would be easy.
People: Nobody said it would be easy.
All: Nobody said it would be easy, but we must return to the LORD!
Written by Darlene A. Moore in The Africana Worship Book, Year C (Nashville: Discipleship Resources, 2008), 63.
Prayer of Confession
(inspired by Psalm 51)
On this first day of Lent
we pause, look within,
and examine our consciousness.
Have mercy on us, O God,
according to your steadfast love.
Where we have neglected prayer,
been apathetic in worship,
found reasons to avoid generosity,
or lacked compassion:
Have mercy on us, O God,
according to your steadfast love.
Where we have colluded
in the oppression of those
who become invisible in their suffering,
and ignored on the streets:
Have mercy on us, O God,
according to your steadfast love.
Where anxiety has eroded
the gift of Your peace, and where
we have cared too much
about what others think:
Have mercy on us, O God,
according to your steadfast love.
Words of assurance
As Lent begins, know that God understands
how we struggle to stay open and compassionate.
The invitation is not to focus on our inadequacies
but on God’s gift of grace and love
which transforms our hearts and minds.
That gift is given to us again, here and now.
Be encouraged.
Amen.
Written by Ann Siddall, in Lent to Easter liturgies: Year C. Posted on the website of the Stillpoint Spirituality Centre, https://stillpointcentre.com.au/. Re-posted on the re:Worship blog at https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2013/08/confession-based-on-psalm-51.html.
Benediction
Created from dust,
held together by God’s extravagant love,
we turn away from sin,
and leave today embracing God’s love.
From “An Ash Wednesday Liturgy” written by Tim Graves and posted on LiturgyBits. You can find the whole liturgy here: https://liturgybits.wordpress.com/2017/03/08/an-ash-wednesday-liturgy/.
