Reflections on our Ash Wednesday Service
Reflections on our Ash Wednesday Service.
First, let me say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was very well done and “filling.” As always, when I am in a service like this, I get “impressions.” The following is the “impression” that came from last night’s service.
Isaiah 6:1-8 (I absolutely love the King James Version of this!)
In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
During the service we each wrote our sins, or struggles, or “issues” on a piece of paper, then the papers were collected and burned along with the saved palm leaves from last year’s Palm Sunday service, thus creating the “ashes” for the service. As these were being burned, I thought of Isaiah 6:5 “Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”
I watched as my “sins”- my “unclean lips” - were being burned along with those of the “people of unclean lips.” I watched the fire rise up sending its flames upward as hands; fingertips rising to God seeking, begging forgiveness. Then, as the “live coal” touched Isaiah’s mouth, searing and cleansing the sin, so the fire burned our sins creating the “dust and ashes” of our remorse which we were to wear. These ashes were created by “my” sins as well as “the people’s” sins. Therefore, I wore the ashes from my sins as well as my “brother’s” sins and my “sister’s” sins. They were intermingled; they were one Sin.
As I wear my sins, I wear my brother’s sins and my sister’s sins. As they wear their sins, they wear my sins. We each are to (as Paul told the Galatians) “Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.”
May I bring my sins to the altar and leave them. And may I bring Sin to the altar and leave it as well.
However, it cannot stop there. We each left with the sign of the cross in “dust and ashes” on our foreheads, knowing that our sins, past, present, and future, are forgiven, but it cannot stop there.
Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.”
And I must say, “Betty Newman heard the voice of the Lord” and I must answer “here am I, send me.”
And I ask, with the ashes on your forehead, signifying that not only are your sins forgiven, but your brother’s sins and your sister’s sins which are co-mingled with yours, are forgiven as well, will you then say (your name) “heard the voice of the Lord, and I said, here am I send me?”
Betty J. Newman ©2006
First, let me say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was very well done and “filling.” As always, when I am in a service like this, I get “impressions.” The following is the “impression” that came from last night’s service.
Isaiah 6:1-8 (I absolutely love the King James Version of this!)
In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
During the service we each wrote our sins, or struggles, or “issues” on a piece of paper, then the papers were collected and burned along with the saved palm leaves from last year’s Palm Sunday service, thus creating the “ashes” for the service. As these were being burned, I thought of Isaiah 6:5 “Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”
I watched as my “sins”- my “unclean lips” - were being burned along with those of the “people of unclean lips.” I watched the fire rise up sending its flames upward as hands; fingertips rising to God seeking, begging forgiveness. Then, as the “live coal” touched Isaiah’s mouth, searing and cleansing the sin, so the fire burned our sins creating the “dust and ashes” of our remorse which we were to wear. These ashes were created by “my” sins as well as “the people’s” sins. Therefore, I wore the ashes from my sins as well as my “brother’s” sins and my “sister’s” sins. They were intermingled; they were one Sin.
As I wear my sins, I wear my brother’s sins and my sister’s sins. As they wear their sins, they wear my sins. We each are to (as Paul told the Galatians) “Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.”
May I bring my sins to the altar and leave them. And may I bring Sin to the altar and leave it as well.
However, it cannot stop there. We each left with the sign of the cross in “dust and ashes” on our foreheads, knowing that our sins, past, present, and future, are forgiven, but it cannot stop there.
Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.”
And I must say, “Betty Newman heard the voice of the Lord” and I must answer “here am I, send me.”
And I ask, with the ashes on your forehead, signifying that not only are your sins forgiven, but your brother’s sins and your sister’s sins which are co-mingled with yours, are forgiven as well, will you then say (your name) “heard the voice of the Lord, and I said, here am I send me?”
Betty J. Newman ©2006
posted by Betty Newman at 7:43 AM
1 Comments:
Betty,
A very thoughtful and thought provoking post. I like the symbolism of the intermixing of the sins of the congregation for the ashes.
And I must say, "Wayne Cook heard the voice of the Lord, and I said here am I, send me."
May God continue to richly bless you.
Wayne
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