Tag Archives: prayer stations

Ash Wednesday Worship Resources and Sermon Starters

Posted on by
Reply

ash wedensday with palmsModern Ash Wednesday Service
A simple, fresh combination of modern visuals, ancient scripture, the imposition of ashes, and the haunting song O So So.

Blended Ash Wednesday Service
Classic scriptures, hymns, and the imposition of ashes come alongside music by Chris Tomlin and Gungor.

Ash Wednesday: The Terrible, Marvelous Dust
Jan Richardson offers a beautiful and grace-filled perspective on God at work in us and our world. Post includes an original work of art and blessing.

Dust and Ashes
Steve Garnaas-Holmes offers reflection and prayer on the many meanings of the imposition of ashes.

Two Pockets: Healthy, Faithful Perspective
A reflection based on a parable by the well respected and beloved Polish Rabbi Simcha Bunim. “Every person should have two pockets. In one, there should be a note that says ‘for my sake was the world created.’ In the second, there should be a note that says, ‘I am dust and ashes.’”

Lenten Art: Reflecting Dust
A multimedia piece to inspire the creation of your own works of art for the season of Lent

Ash Wednesday Prayer Experience
A set of four interactive prayer stations designed for use on Ash Wednesday. They could of course be used anytime when the themes for self-reflection and prayer include our mortality, our sorrow for our sin, and re-commitment to living in alignment with God’s holy will.
Prayer Station 1
Prayer Station 2
Prayer Station 3
Prayer Station 4

Ash Wednesday Prayer Experience: Station 4

Posted on by
2

photo by Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

Ash Wednesday Prayer Experience
Station 4a: Remember and Represent
Station 4b: Renew

The Setting
One half of a medium sized room with medium lighting. (Stations 3 and 4 can share the same room)  A white bed sheet or cloth is pinned to a wall. Instructions for station 4a are placed on a music stand a few feet from the wall so people encounter them as they approach the station. A bowl of water and a bowl of ashes are placed on a small table to the right of the white cloth. (Due to the amount of ashes needed for this exercise, we used ashes from a fireplace for this station rather than ashes made to be placed on a person’s forehead for Ash Wednesday.) Baby wipes and instructions for station 4b are placed on a small table to the left of the white cloth. A trash can is placed near this table.

The Experience
1. Persons read the following and perform the action for station 4a: For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life. (Ephesians 2:10 NIV) Remember Who created you and what you were created for. By placing your hands into the water and then into the ash and then onto the wall, you are affirming your desire to join Jesus in bringing hope, salvation and new life to the world.

2. Persons read the following and perform the action for station 4b: Let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds. (Hebrews 10:22-24 NIV) You’ve been cleaned up and given a fresh start by Jesus, our Master, our Messiah, and by our God present in us, the Spirit. (1 Corinthians 6:11 The Message) As you clean your hands before exiting, thank God for this fresh start and invite Jesus to use your hands for good works.

My Experience
Confession and forgiveness, prayer and worship, growth and illumination. The journey with Christ naturally makes its way to joining Jesus in his mission. As I placed my ashy hands on the cloth, I remembered how eager Jesus was to get his hands dirty in saving work: the sawdust of honest labor as a carpenter, the rags of desperate lepers, the linen and spices of dead sons, the bread and fish of a miraculous meal, the salty spray when lifting Peter from drowning, the mud pie to make a blind man see.

I see Jesus smiling with a child-like delight while making the mud pies. (John 9:1-41) Our God is holy, pure. Yet God is willing to come down to our level, to be hands on, personal and intimate (how intimate is spit!), to get messy and dirty so we might be whole. Jesus making mud reminds me of Genesis 2 where God makes Adam (a whole person) out of mud and breathes life into him. (Adam literally means earth man or mud man.) Coming to faith requires remembering we are mortal/dust and in need of God’s eternal love and salvation. Embodying that faith means remembering those around us are also mortal/dust and sharing what we have found with them.

Jesus is willing to touch our lives, even though they are messy, oozing, and soiled. Am I as willing? As eager?

May the Blessed One
Open our lips in blessing
For words have the power to create or destroy
May the Blessed One
Open our hands in blessing
For actions have the power to heal or to wound
May the Blessed One
Open our hearts in blessing
That the grace poured in by Christ
Would overflow
To all, in all and through all

*******************
This station is the fourth of four prayer stations designed for use on Ash Wednesday. They could of course be used anytime when the themes for self-reflection and prayer include our mortality, our sorrow for our sin, and recommitment to living in alignment with God’s holy will.

Ash Wednesday Prayer Experience: Station 1
Ash Wednesday Prayer Experience: Station 2
Ash Wednesday Prayer Experience: Station 3

© 2012 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia and Nicole Sallee. You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution. Please contact Lisa for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

For more information on the scripture translation, photos and the use of this resource in other settings, please refer to the copyright information page.

Ash Wednesday Prayer Experience: Station 3

Posted on by
1

Photo by Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

Ash Wednesday Prayer Experience
Station 3: Relate and Respond

The Setting
One half of a medium sized room with medium lighting. Art inspired by the character of God or Biblical stories is placed on easels or hung on a wall. (Our display included five paintings.) If the art was inspired by a scripture passage, display the reference to that passage with the art. Chairs face the art with a Bible on each chair. Consider having some of the chairs behind tables with pen and paper available for journaling or simple art supplies for drawing/sketching.

The Experience
1. As persons enter the room, they read the following: As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go to meet with God? (Psalm 42:1-2 NIV) The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus express the heart of God. How will you respond to a love this great? Some laugh, some cry, some worship or bow down, others paint. These paintings are responses to Jesus’ love story for us. What will your response be?

2. Persons may sit or stand for their time of reflection and prayer. Some will want to look up the Bible passages for one or more of the paintings. Some will want to journal or create a simple work of art themselves.

Tree of Life

My Experience
My eye was immediately drawn to the warm colors of the Tree of Life painting. (Revelation 22:1-6) It spoke to me of boundary breaking- the roots breaking through the dry soil, the trunk breaking open the surface of the ground, the branches breaking through the world’s box of legalistic religion and our tendencies to label who is inside and who is outside of God’s grace. It spoke to me of God’s ultimate triumph- the healing of the nations. The beauty and diversity of God’s people, fruitful and whole, one with each other and one in the Light of the Lamb.

How is God calling you to bring the healing of God’s Kingdom on earth, as it will be in heaven? What destructive boundaries need to be broken?

Aside
God first spoke to me through art. In my case it was through singing African American spirituals in school choirs. Later it was through worship music and church choirs.

After I became a pastor, I was introduced to spiritual journaling. This pattern of scripture reading and response deepened my walk with God dramatically. Journaling addressed a key problem I was having with my prayer time, staying focused. My mind wandered when I prayed. Journaling also opened me up to being more honest with God and to hearing God more clearly. I am often surprised where the conversation leads as pen touches paper. Journaling led to creative writing as a devotion practice. (liturgies, prayers, song lyrics and poetry) This blog was born so I could share it with others.

In 2010, I began to discover sacred visual art. (painting, collage, photography, mixed media, etc.) I realized how the use of color, space, and image could shape a small group or worship experience. The visual expression would often express things words alone could not. This is one of the reasons why we were so motivated to include an art related prayer station in this experience.

How does God speak to you through the arts?

*******************
A huge THANK YOU to our friends at Orange City United Methodist Church in Orange City, Florida for lending us their sacred art.

This station is the third of four prayer stations designed for use on Ash Wednesday. They could of course be used anytime when the themes for self-reflection and prayer include our mortality, our sorrow for our sin, and recommitment to living in alignment with God’s holy will.

© 2012 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia and Nicole Sallee. You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution. Please contact Lisa for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

For more information on the scripture translation, photos and the use of this resource in other settings, please refer to the copyright information page.

Ash Wednesday Prayer Experience: Station 2

Posted on by
3

At the cross. photo by Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

Ash Wednesday Prayer Experience
Station 2: Reflect and Rejoice

The Setting
A medium sized room with low lighting. Chairs and a kneeler face an empty cross. (We painted ours black.) We then painted the following words for reflection on a canvas drop cloth, hung it behind the cross, and illumined it with a spotlight: unconditional love, power, mercy, life, compassion, guidance, obedience, strength, sacrifice, healing, atonement, grace, Holy Spirit, forgiveness, and comfort.

The Experience
1. As persons enter the room, they read the following: Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:57 NRSV) The unconditional love of God brought Jesus to earth to die so that you may live. Reflect upon His sacrifice. Thank God for the gift of forgiveness and the gift of new life available to you through Christ.

2. Persons may sit or kneel for their time of reflection and prayer. Have tissues available as well as pen and paper for journaling.

A small group leader prepares a group of teens for their reflection time. photo by Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia.

My Experience
As I knelt before the cross, I slowly read the words. All were important in their own way, yet the word I returned to again and again was guidance. I remembered a story where the word guidance was broken apart to mean “God ‘u’ and ‘i’ dance.” I imagine gliding and spinning and leaping, all moves which require lightness of foot and freedom of movement.

What has me earthbound in this season of shedding- shedding false understandings, shedding sin sick ways, shedding illusions of God and self, shedding  stumbling blocks and inhibitions? What must be nailed to the cross so that the grace of God might flow freely in me and through me?

Leap of Faith
by Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

There are times when I feel in perfect rhythm with you
Other times I feel out of step
Confused and unnerved like a child on her first day of class

You offer me your hand again, that I may follow your lead
I want to fly in your arms, trusting you are always there to catch me
but I hold back
I have been dropped before by other partners

You understand
You are a patient teacher

You train me in the discipline of your ways
I become flexible and strong
Quicker to respond to your touch
You show me step after step
I begin to understand your timing
I want to trust it, even when you are beyond my sight
You move again and again and again in my life
My confidence in you grows
I take the leap of faith

*******************
This station is the second of four prayer stations designed for use on Ash Wednesday. They could of course be used anytime when the themes for self reflection and prayer include our mortality, our sorrow for our sin, and re-commitment to living in alignment with God’s holy will.

prayer station © 2012 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia and Nicole Sallee. You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution. Please contact Lisa for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

Leap of Faith © 2011 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia. You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution. Please contact Lisa for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

For more information on the scripture translation, photos and the use of this resource in other settings, please refer to the copyright information page.

Ash Wednesday Prayer Experience: Station 1

Posted on by
1

Walking the Labyrinth. photo by Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

Ash Wednesday Prayer Experience
Station 1: Repent and Release

The Setting
A large room with low lighting. In the middle of the room is a canvas prayer labyrinth. Prayer labyrinths help people to take a spiritual journey. They have been around for a thousand years. The theme for this walk is confession and forgiveness.

One of our preschool classes, holding their rocks with both hands, walked carefully in a line like little ducklings between their teachers. (or should I say little lambs between their shepherds) photo by Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

The Experience
1. As participants enter the room, they are invited to sign in.

2. They read Rend Your Hearts, a Blessing for Ash Wednesday by Jan L. Richardson.

3. They receive ashes applied to their forehead in the shape of a cross. The host speaks the words, “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return. Repent and believe the Gospel,” as the ashes are applied.

4. The participants remove their shoes.

5. The participants read the following: All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23 NRSV). If we confess our sins, God who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9 NRSV) Take a rock to symbolize the weight of guilt that we hold when we carry sin in our lives. As you walk through the labyrinth towards the center, walk with Christ and use that time to ask for forgiveness for these sins. When you reach the center, leave your rock there and know that when you release your burdens to the Lord, you can walk away free and without shame. In Christ, God has forgiven you and taken the load you bear.

6. The participants choose a rock from a basket of rocks and walk/pray the prayer labyrinth as instructed, walking to the center and following the same path back out.

7. The participants put their shoes back on and move to the next prayer station.

A toddler making her way straight across the paths to the center of the labyrinth Once there, she layed down on her tummy to look at the rocks. She then picked up a few to bring them back to us, delighted in accomplishing the task. Back and forth she went. She reminded me that “as far as the east is from the west, so far God removes our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12) photo by Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

My Experience
Watching persons walk the labyrinth can be as moving an experience as walking it yourself. Much of Ash Wednesday, I had the joy of welcoming persons and explaining the meaning of this type of spiritual journey. Here’s just a few of the stories.

A small group leader said her rock felt lighter and lighter as she approached the center of the labyrinth.

A mom who came earlier in the day later brought back her whole family and a few of the neighborhood children. She walked the path again, this time carrying her infant son. Her husband carried him on the way back out of the labyrinth. The children stopped and prayed with each other when they reached the center, a sacred circle of siblings and friends.

A 93 year young seasoned saint who smiled and giggled. “I finished the whole thing.” So many of us are inspired by her faithfulness, grace, and enthusiasm for all that is Godly. She reminded me of the joy found in staying the course and finishing well with Christ. (Hebrews 12:1-3)

An elderly gentleman who confessed, “I tend to wander from the path.” He said this experience was the most profound Ash Wednesday experience he had ever had.

A three year old shuffling his feet quickly along the path who would now and then leap the purple divider between paths like an Olympic long jumper. He finished several journeys while his family completed their one journey. Each time he finished he would come over to me and shout, “I win!” His words rang with the victory over sin and death we find in Jesus. (Consider 1 Corinthians 15:54-57, 1 John 5:3-4 or Zephaniah 3:17)

A group of tweens speed-walking the path, their steps reflecting the lightning pace of their lives. One stopped and said, “I’ve messed up.” Her friend said, “Come with me, I’ll help you.” photo by Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

In the quiet of the afternoon, I had a chance to walk the labyrinth myself. Each time I walk one, the experience is different. During my walk, I was joined by a frail women who had just come from a cancer treatment. As we made our way, her struggle was evident. This could be her last Lenten journey. It could be mine. The ashes on her head spoke of her reality, a mortality we all share, “From dust you were born and to dust you shall return.” She chose to shorten her journey to the center. There she prayed and released her rock and her other burdens.

In watching her, I was so very grateful for God’s grace and forgiveness in that moment. There is no need to to follow a path made with human hands, no need to navigate rituals or rules, no need wait for God’s presence and pardon. “See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!” (2 Corinthians 6:2)

*******************
A huge THANK YOU to our friends at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Orlando, Florida for lending us their canvas prayer labyrinth.

This station is the first of four prayer stations designed for use on Ash Wednesday. They could of course be used anytime when the themes for self reflection and prayer include our mortality, our sorrow for our sin, and recommitment to living in alignment with God’s holy will.

© 2012 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia and Nicole Sallee. You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution. Please contact Lisa for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

For more information on the scripture translation, photos and the use of this resource in other settings, please refer to the copyright information page.