How do I plan an Ash Wednesday service?

In remembering our own mortality, sinfulness, and need for a Savior, Ash Wednesday services remind us of human frailty and can include the imposition of ashes on our foreheads.

If there is to be a resurrection, there must first be a burial. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the forty-day season of Lent, a season of penitence, of burying oneself in preparation for the promised new life and resurrection of Easter morning.

On Ash Wednesday, people often choose something to avoid—usually an indulgence or a temptation—during the forty days of Lent. This follows 1 Peter's injunction to eschew sinful ways and pursue the holiness of Christ. However, holiness is not robustly defined when it focuses only on the absence of bad behavior. Isaiah 58 makes it clear that holiness is the presence of charity, compassion, and justice. Rather than challenging people to give up a pleasure, challenge them to take on a passion for righteousness.

When is Ash Wednesday?

46 days before Easter. The season of Lent is 40 days long but does not count Sundays. So, 40 days plus 6 Sundays before Easter.

What color do we use for Ash Wednesday?

We can use purple for Ash Wednesday, which is also the color used throughout Lent.

What objects or symbols do we use for Ash Wednesday?

While the ashes get top billing on this important day in the church year, don't forget the other two elements involved: oil to create a paste with the ashes, and the sign of the cross with which the ashes are imposed. The three together outline the core gospel message. The ashes say, "We are mortal, and we are broken." The cross says, "There is redemption in Christ." The oil anoints, saying (in the words of Jesus), "Go now and leave your life of sin." The imposition of ashes symbolizes sin, salvation, and service with just two small swipes of a thumb.

What themes do we use for Ash Wednesday?

• Repentance
• Frailty and Mortality
• Ashes

See also:

• Lent
• Maundy Thursday
• Good Friday
• Holy Saturday
• Easter Vigil
• Easter Sunday

Bible passage ideas for Ash Wednesday

Ashes

Ashes have a long history in biblical and church traditions. In scripture, ashes or dust symbolize frailty or death (Genesis 18:27), sadness or mourning (Esther 4:3), judgment (Lamentations 3:16), and repentance (Jonah 3:6). Some traditions also consider ashes to be a purifying or cleansing agent. All of these images are caught up in the church's use of ashes as a symbol appropriate for Lent. In Christ's passion we see God's judgment on evil; in our penitence we express sorrow and repentance for our sins; in our rededication we show that we are purified and renewed.

• Genesis 3:19, to dust you shall return
• Genesis 18:27, I who am but dust and ashes
• Esther 4, wailing for the Jews
• Job 42:1–6, repent in dust and ashes
• Psalm 90, God turns us back to dust
• Psalm 103, as for mortals, their days are like grass
• Isaiah 40:6–8, God never fades; people fade and wither like grass
• Isaiah 61, a garland in place of ashes
• Lamentations 3, we will waste away
• Daniel 9:1–19, seeking an answer from God by prayer with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes
• Jonah 3, the King of Ninevah sits in ashes
• 1 Peter 1:22–24, through Christ, we are born anew and are no longer perishable like grass

Call to repent

Ash Wednesday is a day for telling the truth—often the hard truth—about who we are. It is a day for telling the truth—the gracious truth—that Jesus entered into our human condition and set his face toward the Holy Week work of redemption. Ash Wednesday starts the season of Lent, a season of repentance that must begin with an open, Spirit-guided search of one's heart. What is true, and do my words, my choices, my lifestyle tell that truth?

Repentance is not for the faint of heart. Repentance is more than feeling guilty for an evening. It is more than employing mood lighting in the sanctuary and singing somber songs. Repentance, by strict definition, is not a feeling at all. Repentance is not even a word to be spoken, necessarily. Repentance is an active, 180-degree shift. It is turning away from what is wrong toward what is right, turning away from what brings death toward what might bring new life. As the church season shifts from the glories and light of Epiphany to the realities and reckonings of Lent, how will our choices reflect this turning? How will our lives be turned from self to Christ?

• 2 Chronicles 6:37–38, God's people are challenged to turn to God
• Isaiah 55:6–9, call upon the Lord
• Ezekiel 14:6, God calls Ezekiel to preach repentance
• Isaiah 58:1–12, a different kind of fast of repentance
• Joel 2:12–17, rend your hearts
• Matthew 3:1–6, John the Baptist calls for repentance
• Matthew 4:12–17, Jesus begins to preach
• Matthew 5:6, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness
• Matthew 6:1–6, 16–21, alms, prayer, and fasting
• Matthew 11:28–29, an easy yoke
• Mark 6:6–13, Jesus' disciples preach a message of repentance
• Luke13:1–9, repent and bear fruit
• John 1:14–15, Jesus calls listeners to repent
• Acts 2:38-41, repent and be baptized
• Acts 3:19-26, Peter calls for repentance
• Ephesians 2:1–10, grace through faith
• 2 Corinthians 5:20–6:2, Christ became sin for us
• 1 Peter 1–2:3, Be holy, for I am holy
• Revelation 2:5, 16, 21–22, New Testament churches are called to repent

Penitential Psalms

The psalms give us models for how to repent.

• Psalm 6, petition for God to not rebuke us in anger
• Psalm 32, when we confess our sin, we are forgiven of our guilt
• Psalm 38, asking God to help us
• Psalm 51, asking God for mercy
• Psalm 102, asking the Lord to hear our prayers
• Psalm 130, crying to God from the depths
• Psalm 139, God knows our innermost thoughts
• Psalm 143, asking God to listen to our cries for mercy

Service ideas for Ash Wednesday

"Our identity is not tied to what we own or what we give to each other; it is tied to our relationship with God through Jesus Christ! We need to observe Ash Wednesday because it makes us look at ourselves through the lens of our faith." Sermon Preparation or Illustration by Marvin A. McMickle from the African American Lectionary

"Let us be marked not for false humility or for thinking we are less than we are but for claiming what God can do within the dust, within the dirt, within the stuff of which the world is made and the stars that blaze in our bones and the galaxies that spiral inside the smudge we bear." Poetry by Jan Richardson from The Painted Prayerbook

"Wash us clean, God of mercies, and deliver us from bloodshed. Help us to hear your voice calling us back, remind us of your love bringing us home, and renew our spirits that we might believe the covenant again." Prayer of Confession by Katherine Lee Baker from Faithward