Ash Wednesday, Evening Prayer
GREETING
O God, purify my lips
that I may proclaim the good news of Jesus.
Saving God, let your healing waters flow over me.
Wash me in the blood of Christ Jesus.
DOXOLOGY
PSALM 137
We follow a crucified Lord. In his wounds we are made whole.
By the rivers of Babylon
we sat weeping,
remembering Zion.
There on the poplars
we hung our harps.
Our captors shouted
for happy songs,
for songs of festival.
“Sing!” they cried,
“the songs of Zion.”
How could we sing
the song of the Lord
in a foreign land?
Jerusalem forgotten?
Wither my hand!
Jerusalem forgotten?
Silence my voice!
if I do not seek you
as my greatest joy.
Lord, never forget
that crime of Edom
against your city,
the day they cried,
“Strip! Smash her to the ground!”
Doomed Babylon, be cursed!
Good for those who deal you
evil for evil!
Good for those who destroy you,
who smash your children at the walls.
EZEKIEL 36:24-28
God, you make all things new. Wash us, cleanse us, breathe your Spirit into us.
I will draw you from the nations,
gather you from exile
and bring you home.
I will wash you in fresh water,
rid you from the filth of idols
and make you clean again.
I will make you a new heart,
breathe new spirit into you.
I will remove your heart of stone,
give you back a heart of flesh.
I will give you my own spirit
to lead you in my ways,
faithful to what I command.
Then you will live in the land,
the land I gave your ancestors.
You will be my people
and I will be your God.
READING: Deuteronomy 26:16-19
This very day the Lord your God is commanding
you to observe these statutes and ordinances;
so observe them diligently with all your heart
and with all your soul. Today you have obtained
the Lord’s agreement: to be your God; and for
you to walk in God’s ways, to keep his statutes,
commandments and ordinances, and to obey
him. Today the Lord has obtained your agree-
ment: to be his treasured people, as was promised
you, and to keep the commandments; for God
set you high above all nations, in praise, in fame
and in honor; and for you to be a people holy
to the Lord your God, as was promised.
CANTICLE OF MARY
I myself will shepherd you, leading you home from exile.
I acclaim the greatness of the Lord,
I delight in God my savior,
who regarded my humble state.
Truly from this day on
all ages will call me blest.
For God, wonderful in power,
has used that strength for me.
Holy the name of the Lord!
Whose mercy embraces the faithful,
one generation to the next.
The mighty arm of God
scatters the proud in their conceit,
pulls tyrants from their thrones,
and raises up the humble.
The Lord fills the starving
and lets the rich go hungry
God rescues lowly Israel,
recalling the promise of mercy,
the promise made to our ancestors,
to Abraham’s heirs for ever
INTERCESSIONS
Faithful God, you bring us to the beginning of
another Lent. We pray that this holy season will
be for us a time of renewed fidelity to you:
~Renew and refresh us, O Lord.
~ In our service of the poor, sick, and ignorant:
~ In the daily events of our community life:
~ In our personal and communal prayer:
~ In our commitment to live poverty, celibacy,
and obedience:
~ In our quest for a more just social order:
THE LORD’S PRAYER
PRAYER
Faithful God, may the renewal of our covenant
with you, through prayer and fasting, bring us
closer to you and to your people. We ask your
help to remain faithful to our commitments and
to grow in generosity and courage. We make
this prayer in union with Jesus, whose passion,
death, and resurrection opened the way for
us. Amen.
BLESSING
Through Jesus Christ may we be set free from
sin’s captivity. Amen.
With Jesus Christ may we be sent forth as
witnesses to the love of God poured forth on
us. Amen.
In Jesus Christ may we be born to new life.
Amen.