Part 1: Ash Wednesday Divine Service

THE HAND OF THE LORD WHO FREELY GIVES

The Christmas trees we decorated with careful hands just a few months ago have come and gone. The account of our salvation in Jesus Christ, the Babe of Bethlehem, has progressed from the manger through the Epiphany light of our LORD’s proclamation of “liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind” (Luke 4:18; see Isaiah 61:1). The palm fronds we held and waved with our hands with cheers and hosannas a year ago have since withered and turned to the ashes we bless this night in hope. Lent returns, reminding us that the Christian life is one of repeated, daily repentance and faith because, though our deliverance is made sure, we walk by faith in the “not yet” of complete holiness and final release from sin. Repentance means we come this night with empty hands, that is, the confession of our total need of God’s mercy, grace, and deliverance. We come to the God who has revealed Himself in love in the forgiveness of our sin by means of His own bloody, substitutionary sacrifice in our own human flesh for us and for our salvation. With the pastor’s hands the ashes of our failings and sin are placed over the sign we received at our Baptism, and we are welcomed to repentance and faith freely given by the hand of the LORD.