Ash Wednesday 14th February 2024

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The mark of the cross in ashes
The mark of the cross in ashes

Wednesday 14th February
Ash Wednesday

ORDER OF SERVICE

Welcome
The sacrifice of God is a broken spirit: a broken and contrite heart you will not despise.  
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. And also with you.
Let us pray for grace to keep Lent faithfully.

Collect for Ash Wednesday:
O Lord, grant that your faithful people may enter this season of penitence with faithfulness, and complete it with steadfast devotion; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen

First Reading:             Joel 2:1-2, 12-17

Second Reading:       2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10

Gospel:     Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Address

The Litany
God the Father, have mercy upon us.
God the Son, have mercy upon us.
God the Holy Spirit, have mercy upon us.
Holy, blessed and glorious Trinity, have mercy upon us.

From all evil and mischief, from pride, vanity and hypocrisy, from envy, hatred and malice, and from all evil intent, good Lord, deliver us.

From sloth, worldliness and love of money, from hardness of heart and contempt for your word and your laws, good Lord, deliver us.

From sins of body and mind, from the deceits of the world, the flesh and the devil, from error and false doctrine, good Lord, deliver us.

In all times of sorrow, in all times of joy, in the hour of death and at the day of judgement, good Lord, deliver us.

Govern and direct your holy Church: fill it with love and truth: and grant it that unity which is your will. Hear us, good Lord.

Give us boldness to preach the gospel in all the world, and to make disciples of all the nations. Hear us, good Lord.

Enlighten your ministers with knowledge and understanding, that by their teaching and their lives they may proclaim your word. Hear us, good Lord.

Give your people grace to hear and receive your word, and to bring forth the fruit of the Spirit. Hear us, good Lord.

Bring into the way of truth all who have erred and are deceived. Hear us, good Lord.

Strengthen those who stand: comfort and help the faint-hearted: raise up the fallen; and finally beat down Satan under our feet. Hear us, good Lord.

Give us true repentance, forgive us our sins of negligence and ignorance and our deliberate sins: and grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit to amend our lives according to your holy word. Holy God, holy and strong, holy and immortal,
have mercy upon us
.

Act of Penitence
Create in us clean hearts, O God, and renew a right spirit within us.

Let us confess our sins in penitence and faith.
Almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth, we confess to you that we have sinned in thought, word and deed. We have not loved you with all our being, we have not loved our neighbours as ourselves: we have disfigured your image in which we are made. In your mercy, forgive what we have been and what we have done, guide us and help us to amend our lives, and bring us to fullness of life in you, for the sake of your Son who died for us, Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Imposition of Ashes
Almighty God, you have compassion on all your children, and hate nothing you have made; you do not desire the death of sinners, but that they turn from their ways and live.
May these ashes be for us, who are redeemed through the cross of Christ, a sign of our death to sin, and the pledge of our life in Christ; who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen     

I invite you to receive the mark of Christ’s cross, with which we are signed at Baptism, and by which we are forgiven our sins and live to the glory. of God.

Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return. Turn away from sin and be faithful to Christ.
Amen.


Prayer
Lord God Almighty, your people are washed clean in the saving flood of baptism, and born again: As we follow the way of the cross, we ask you to unseal for us the wellspring of your grace, cleanse our hearts of all that is not holy, and cause your gift of new life to flourish in us; grant this through Jesus Christ your Son, who sets us free from sin, and lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, holy and mighty God, world without end. Amen.

Intercessions

The Peace
We are the Body of Christ. In the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. Let us then pursue all that makes for peace and builds up our common life. The peace of the Lord be always with you. And also with you.

Offertory
Yours, Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the splendour and the majesty; for everything in heaven and on earth is yours. All things come from you, and of your own do we give you.

The Lord is here. His Spirit is with us.
Lift up your hearts. We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to give him thanks and praise.

Father, we give you thanks and praise through your beloved Son Jesus Christ, your living Word through whom you have created all things;
Who was sent by you, in your great goodness, to be our Saviour; by the power of the Holy Spirit he took flesh and, as your Son, born of the blessed Virgin, was seen on earth and went about among us; He opened wide his arms for us on the cross; he put an end to death by dying for us and revealed the resurrection by rising to new life; so he fulfilled your will and won for you a holy people.
And now we give you thanks that through him you have given us the spirit of discipline, that we may triumph over evil and grow in grace.
Therefore with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven we proclaim your great and glorious name, for ever praising you and saying: 
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
Lord, you are holy indeed, the source of all holiness; grant that by the power of your Holy Spirit, and according to your holy will, these your gifts of bread and wine may be to us the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ; Who in the same night that he was betrayed, took bread and gave thanks; he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me.
In the same way, after supper, he took the cup and gave you thanks; he gave it to them, saying: Drink this all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for you and for many for forgiveness of sins. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.
Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.
And so Father, calling to mind his death on the cross, his perfect sacrifice made once for the sins of all men, rejoicing at his mighty resurrection and glorious ascension, and looking for his coming in glory, we celebrate this memorial of our redemption.
We thank you for counting us worthy to stand in your presence and serve you; we bring before you this bread and this cup. We pray you to accept this our duty and service, a spiritual sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.
Send the Holy Spirit on your people and gather into one in your kingdom all who share this one bread and one cup, so that we, in the company of all the saints, may praise and glorify you for ever, through him from whom all good things come, Jesus Christ our Lord; By whom, and with whom, and in whom, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honour and glory be yours, almighty Father, for ever and ever. Amen.

Breaking of the Bread:

The living bread is broken for the life of the world.
Lord, unite us in this sign

The Lord’s Prayer:
As our Saviour taught us, so we pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever. Amen.

We break this bread to share in the body of Christ.
Though we are many, we are one body, because we all share in one bread.

Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world: have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world: have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world: grant us peace.

Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
Happy are those who are called to his supper.
Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed.
Draw near with faith. Receive the body of our Lord Jesus Christ which he gave for you, and his blood which he shed for you. Eat and drink in remembrance that he died for you, and feed on him in your hearts by faith with thanksgiving.

THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE ELEMENTS

POST-COMMUNION:
Lord our God, grant us grace to desire you with our whole heart that so desiring, we may seek and find you; and so finding you, we may love you; and so loving you, may hate those sins from which you have delivered us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Almighty God, we thank you for feeding us with the body and blood of your Son Jesus Christ. Through him we offer you our souls and bodies to be a living sacrifice. Send us out in the power of your Spirit to live and work to your praise and glory. Amen.

BLESSING:
Christ give you grace to grow in holiness, to deny yourselves, take up your cross, and follow him; and the blessing of our God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always. Amen.

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord. In the name of Christ. Amen.

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