Wednesday, February 14, 2018 ASH WEDNESDAY



Wednesday, February 14, 2018 
ASH WEDNESDAY  
worship: noon & 7 pm
joel 2:1-2, 12-17; ps. 51:1-17; 2 cor. 5:20b-6:10; matt. 6:1-6,
16-21

Return to the LORD, your God, who is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.
(gospel acclamation for ash wednesday, Joel 2:13)

            Lent begins with the rite of Confession and Forgiveness and the smudging with ashes, a visible sign of repentance, compunction, and humility, among other meanings. But the reading from the prophet Joel reminds us that all external ceremonies are as nothing unless they are accompanied by a new heart, a heart of compassion and concern for others, lived out in the actual, physical world. "Rend your hearts and not your garments," Joel calls out to us over the millenia. May it be so.

Create in us clean hearts, O God, and renew right spirits within us. Amen

·       veil crosses with deep purple cloth or unbleached muslin, a fast for the eyes.
·        listen to the tenor recitative and aria, “ye people rend your hearts/if with all your heart” from Mendelssohn’s “elijah.” (www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-FxzW1tQTU)

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