s|ice: Ash Wednesday

Tonight the cell group that I'm in went to an Ash Wednesday service. I don't remember being to one before so it was a new experience. Lent is to be a time of preparation leading into the passion week. It is a time of self examination, remembrance and repentance. I enjoyed the service because it was a small group, maybe 30 or so, in a modern contemplative setting but with the traditional use of liturgy. Below is some rockin' liturgy, almost poetry, that I found online a few weeks ago. A friend and I talked briefly about the need for both death and resurrection in the Christian life. To have resurrection something must die and a resurrection without death is false and void of power. May we crucify our flesh but also be risen with the fullness of the Holy Spirit as our breath, which is the grace of Christ.

To enrich me will not diminish your fullness;
All your lovingkindness is in your Son,
I bring him to you in the arms of faith,
I urge His saving name as the one who died for me,
I plead His blood to pay for my debts of wrong.
Accept His worthiness for my unworthiness
His sinlessness for my transgression,
His purity for my uncleanness,
His sincerity for my guile,
His truth for my deceits,
His meekness for my pride,
His constancy for my backslidings,
His love for my enmity,
His fullness for my emptiness,
His faithfulness for my treachery,
His obedience for my lawlessness,
His glory for my shame,
His devotedness for my waywardness,
His holy life for my unchaste ways,
His righteousness for my dead works,
His death for my life. Amen.

O my Savior, help me.
I am slow to learn, prone to forget, and weak to climb;
I am in the foothills when I should be on the heights;
I am pained by my graceless heart,
my prayerless days,
my poverty of love,
my sloth in the heavenly race,
my sullied conscience,
my wasted hours,
my unspent opportunities.
I am blind while the light shines around me:
take the scales from my eyes,
grind to dust my heart of unbelief.
Make it my highest joy to study you,
meditate on you,gaze on you,
sit like Mary at your feet,
lean like John on your breast,
appeal like Peter to your love,
count like Paul all things but dung.
I believe, help my unbelief. Amen.