Pause; Ask; Listen (Ash Wednesday)

Introduction

This Lent, we are joining forces with our friends at First United Methodist Church, Wadesboro, Calvary Episcopal Church, and First Baptist Church, Wadesboro to offer each congregation's unique perspective on the same overarching theme.  That theme is: Pause; Ask; Listen.

As part of this theme, we here at First Presbyterian are offering up a weekly opportunity to pause what we are doing to read a piece of scripture, ask a questions or two relating to our daily lives, and listen for the voice of the Holy Spirit as a piece of music plays.

Our first reading relates to Ash Wednesday--a day where Christians around the world begin their Lenten journey by hitting pause on the hustle and bustle in of our daily lives and getting marked with ashes.  Ash Wednesday observances invite us to reflect our own mortality, ask Jesus to give us cleanse and penitent hearts in the days ahead, and recommit to listening to the Spirit's voice as it speaks to us about what truly matters.

There are two question/music options listed after the scripture below.  We invite you to try one or both of them.

Scripture

Isaiah 44:9-10, 20-22  

All who make idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit; their witnesses neither see nor know, and so they will be put to shame. ¹⁰ Who would fashion a god or cast an image that can do no good?

²⁰ ...He feeds on ashes; a deluded mind has led him astray, and he cannot save himself or say, “Is not this thing in my right hand a fraud?”

²¹ Remember these things, O Jacob,
    and Israel, for you are my servant;
I formed you, you are my servant;
    O Israel, do not forget me.
²² I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud
    and your sins like mist;
return to me, for I have redeemed you.  (NRSVUE)

 

 

Option 1

What worldly things do I delight in even though they are no more than idols and dust?

Option 2

What are ashes a sign of in my current relationship with God?