Ketton and Tinwell Benefice

The Liturgy for Ash Wednesday

The Ketton and Tinwell Churches Together Service for Ash Wednesday.

Service Video

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Order of Service

Welcome everybody to this Ketton and Tinwell Churches Together Service for Ash Wednesday. The first day of Lent, a day of penitence, in some Christian traditions marked by making the sign of the cross in Ash on our foreheads as a reminder to turn away from sin and be faithful to Christ.

As you may know the ash is made from burning last year’s palm cross- which is what I’m going to do now.

We listen tour first hymn today.

HYMN: There’s a wideness in God’s mercy

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you
and also with you.

INTRODUCTION
Brothers and sisters in Christ, since early days Christians have observed with great devotion the time of our lord’s passion and resurrection and prepared for this by a season of penitence and fasting.

By carefully keeping these days, Christians take to heart the call to repentance and the assurance of forgiveness proclaimed in the gospel and so grow in faith and devotion to our Lord.

I invite you therefore, in the name of the church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting and self denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy word.

THE COLLECT
Let us pray for grace to keep Lent faithfully
Almighty and everlasting God,
you hate nothing that you have made
and forgive the sins of all those who are penitent:
create and make in us new and contrite hearts
that we, worthily lamenting our sins
and acknowledging our wretchedness,
may receive from you, the God of all mercy,
perfect remission and forgiveness;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen

PSALM  51  

GOSPEL READING

Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John
Glory to you, O Lord.

John 8: 1-11

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’ They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus straightened up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ 11 She said, ‘No one, sir.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.’

This is the Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ.

SERMON
by Andy Fryall

Let us now call to mind our sin and the infinite mercy of God.

God the Father,
have mercy on us.
God the Son,
have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit,
have mercy on us.

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

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

From sins of body and mind;
from the deceits of the world, the flesh and the devil,
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.

By the mystery of your holy incarnation;
by your birth, childhood, and obedience;
by your baptism, fasting, and temptation,
Good Lord, deliver us.

By your ministry in word and work;
by your mighty acts of power;
and by your preaching of the kingdom,
Good Lord, deliver us.

By your agony and trial;
by your cross and passion;
and by your precious death and burial,
Good Lord, deliver us.

By your mighty resurrection;
by your glorious ascension;
and by your sending of the Holy Spirit,
Good Lord, deliver us.

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.

Silence is kept

Make our hearts clean, O God;
and renew a right spirit within us.
Father eternal, giver of light and grace,
we have sinned against you and against our neighbour,
in what we have thought,
in what we have said and done,
through ignorance, through weakness,
through our own deliberate fault.
We have wounded your love,
and marred your image in us.
We are sorry and ashamed, and repent of all our sins.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, who died for us,
forgive us all that is past;
and lead us out from darkness to walk as children of light.  Amen.

Although we can’t receive the ashes on our foreheads, we can receive the prayer which is spoken at that moment as a sign of our penitence. Let us take these words to heart:

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

HYMN: Lord Jesus Think on Me

PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION

We pray to the Lord for courage to give ourselves to him this Lent. Give your people courage in the face of the impact of the pandemic and strength to proclaim the message of hope which is in Christ Jesus.

We pray for Ketton Methodist Church, the Stamford Methodist Circuit, St Mary’s Ketton and All Saints Tinwell.

May the blood of Jesus bring forgiveness to your people
and help us to face the cost of proclaiming salvation.
Lord, meet us in the silence,
give us strength and hear our prayer.

Give your world the courage
to give up war, bitterness and hatred, and to seek peace.
We pray for Syria, the Yemen, Myanmar and displaced or persecuted peoples.

May the shoulders of the risen Jesus, once scourged by soldiers, bear the burden of political and military conflict in our world.

Lord, meet us in the silence,
give us strength and hear our prayer.

Give us the courage to give up quarrels, strife and jealousy in our families, neighbourhoods and communities.
May the presence of the risen Jesus,
his body once broken and now made whole,
bring peace and direction as we live with one another.
Lord, meet us in the silence,
give us strength and hear our prayer.

Give us the courage
to give up our selfishness as we live for others,
and to give time, care and comfort to the sick.
We especially pray for those who have COVID at this time, in particular those in hopsital.  
May the wounded hands of Jesus bring his healing touch,
and the light of his presence fill their rooms.
Lord, meet us in the silence,
give us strength and hear our prayer.

Give us the courage to give up our fear of death
and to trust in your promise of eternal life.
We pray for those who have died and for those who mourn. May the feet of the risen Lord Jesus, once nailed to the cross, walk alongside the dying and bereaved in their agony, and walk with us and all your Church
through death to the gate of glory.
Lord, meet us in the silence,
give us strength and hear our prayer,
here and in eternity. Amen.

THE LORD’S PRAYER
Let us pray with confidence as our Saviour has taught us

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come; thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.  Amen.

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

 HYMN O Jesus I have promised

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


“Adagio for Organ”   –  Composer: Morten Malvik