PRELUDE/ENTRANCE
GREETING/LIFE OF THE CHURCH
*OPENING SONG
“Humble Thyself in the Sight of the Lord" TFWS 2131
*CALL TO WORSHIP
Liturgist: Children of God, we gather to prepare for our journey through Lent, a journey of repentance and mercy. People: We gather to be renewed in God’s mercy.
Liturgist: We gather to confess, to tell the truth about sin and our dependence on God’s grace. People: We gather to call upon God’s mercy.
Liturgist: We gather to repent, to receive and cooperate with grace as we turn from sin and toward love of God and neighbor. People: We gather to live in the promise of God’s mercy.
Liturgist: People of God, we gather to worship God, whose steadfast mercy and love never fail! ALL: We gather to worship, trusting in God’s mercy as we follow Jesus on the road to new life.
Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, July 2025.
OPENING PRAYER
O God, who makes all things new, new stars, new dust, new life; take our hearts, every hardened edge and measured beat, and create something new in us. We need your newness, God, the rough parts of us made smooth; the stagnant, stirred; the stuck, freed; the unkind, forgiven.
And then, by the power of your Spirit, we need to be turned toward Love again. Amen.
Adapted from Pamela C. Hawkins, in The Awkward Season: Prayers for Lent (Nashville, TN: Upper Room Books, 2009), 30.
PROCLAMATION AND RESPONSE
A TIME FOR CHILDREN
SPECIAL MUSIC
FIRST SCRIPTURE Matthew 6:1-6; 16-21
SECOND SCRIPTURE Isaiah 58:1-12
MESSAGE
RESPONSE TO THE WORD
SONG OF RESPONSE
"Lord, I Want to Be a Christian" UMH 402
The Apostle’s Creed UMH 881
Imposition of Ashes
Confession and Pardon James 5:14-16
Ashes and Anointing
SENDING FORTH
*SONG OF DISMISSAL
"Sunday's Palms Are Wednesday's Ashes" TFWS 2138
*BENEDICTION
*PEACE "Shalom to You" UMH 666