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ATTENTION TO THE WORD OF GOD
Scripture Readings
Joel 2:1-3, 12-14 (The Message)
Nancy Burns
1-3 Blow the ram’s horn trumpet in Zion! Trumpet the alarm on my holy mountain!
Shake the country up! God’s Judgment’s on its way—the Day’s almost here!
A black day! A Doomsday! Clouds with no silver lining!
Like dawn light moving over the mountains, a huge army is coming.
There’s never been anything like it and never will be again.
Wildfire burns everything before this army and fire licks up everything in its wake.
Before it arrives, the country is like the Garden of Eden.
When it leaves, it is Death Valley. Nothing escapes unscathed.
12 But there’s also this, it’s not too late—
God’s personal Message!—
“Come back to me and really mean it!
Come fasting and weeping, sorry for your sins!”
13-14 Change your life, not just your clothes.
Come back to God, your God.
And here’s why: God is kind and merciful.
He takes a deep breath, puts up with a lot,
This most patient God, extravagant in love,
always ready to cancel catastrophe.
Who knows? Maybe he’ll do it now,
maybe he’ll turn around and show pity.
Maybe, when all’s said and done,
there’ll be blessings full and robust for your God
Message in Music
“Change My Heart, O God"
by Eddie Espinosa
Adult Choir
(in-person service only)
"Change My Heart, O God"
by Eddie Espinosa
Mark & Jane Beatty
(pre-recorded service only)
2 Corinthians 5: 16-21
Jodie Kruger
16-20 Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life emerges! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.
21 How? you ask. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.
Silent reflection
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 (The Message)
Jodie Kruger
1 “Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won’t be applauding.
2-4 “When you do something for someone else, don’t call attention to yourself. You’ve seen them in action, I’m sure—‘playactors’ I call them—treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get applause, true, but that’s all they get. When you help someone out, don’t think about how it looks. Just do it—quietly and unobtrusively. That is the way your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out.
5 “And when you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for fifteen minutes of fame! Do you think God sits in a box seat?
6 “Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.
16-18 “When you practice some appetite-denying discipline to better concentrate on God, don’t make a production out of it. It might turn you into a small-time celebrity but it won’t make you a saint. If you ‘go into training’ inwardly, act normal outwardly. Shampoo and comb your hair, brush your teeth, wash your face. God doesn’t require attention-getting devices. He won’t overlook what you are doing; he’ll reward you well.
19-21 “Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.
Silent reflection
Hymn
“Live in Charity”
TFWS #2179 (five times)
Prayer of Confession
Jodie Kruger
(based on Psalm 51)
Liturgist: On this first day of Lent we pause, look within, and examine our consciousness.
People: Have mercy on us, O God, according to your steadfast love.
Liturgist: Where we have neglected prayer, been apathetic in worship, found reasons to avoid generosity, or lacked compassion:
People: Have mercy on us, O God, according to your steadfast love.
Liturgist: Where we have colluded in the oppression of those who become invisible in their suffering, and ignore on the streets:
People: Have mercy on us, O God, according to your steadfast love.
Liturgist: Where worry has eroded the gift of Your peace, and where we have cared too much about what others think:
People: Have mercy on us, O God, according to your steadfast love.
Words of Assurance
Liturgist: 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. May the peace of God be with you
People: and also with you.
(Written by Ann Siddall and posted on the website of the Stillpoint Spirituality Centre.)
Meditation
"Where Your Heart Will Be"
Pastor Jinyong Choi
Hymn
“Shepherd Me, O God”
TFWS #2058
Bill Crow, Nancy Burns, & Mark Johnson, soloists on verses
(in-person service only)
Thanksgiving over the Ashes
Pastor Jinyong Choi
Almighty God, you have created us out of the dust of the earth. Grant that these ashes may be to us a sign of our mortality and penitence, so that we may remember that only by your gracious gift are we given everlasting life; only by your mercy are we made new; only by your steadfast love can we live in the joy of your salvation now and forever; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
Imposition of Ashes
“Sanctuary”
TFWS #2164
(Sing until everyone has received ashes)
(Place your offering on the plate as you kneel for the imposition of ashes.)
Declaration of Forgiveness
Pastor: Beloved in Christ, you have received the mark of ashes — a sign of our mortality and our need for God’s grace. Remember this: God’s grace goes before us, calling us to repentance and drawing us home. The One who formed us from the dust has not abandoned us to dust. In Jesus Christ, God has entered our human condition and opened the way to forgiveness and new life. When we confess our sins, we do not beg a reluctant God — we turn toward the One whose mercy has already been reaching for us.
In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.
By the power of the Holy Spirit,
you are set free to live as God’s beloved—
renewed, restored, and being made holy.
People: Thanks be to God. Amen.
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