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A journey through Lent - 2016
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Day One - Ashes to Ashes.
Ash Wednesday reminds us of the fragility of human life.
God tells Adam: "For dust you are and to dust you will return."
Alongside this fragility we are also subject to temptation and sometimes find ourselves unable to resist it.
Today we clear the ground of the things that will hold us back as we start our Lenten journey.
We open our hearts and minds to pray for forgiveness.
For the things we have done knowing that they were contrary to God's will for us.
For the opportunities we have chosen to let pass by, that God had placed before us.
As we confess the times we have given in to temptation, we remember that Jesus was tempted, just as we are, but was without sin.
Bible Passage: - Genesis Chapter 3 Verses 14 - 19 (NIV)
We read of the result of that first temptation in the garden of Eden.
So the Lord God said to the serpent,
"Because you have done this,
"Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel."
To the woman he said,
"I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you."
To Adam he said,
"Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the
tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat from it,'
"Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return."
Hymn: Singing the Faith 471 - "Lord I come to you"
Contemplation saying.
"For dust you are and to dust you will return".
Let us pray together.
Contemplative Prayer.
Think of the saying in order to understand context and meaning,
Feel the meaning of the saying with and in your heart,
Pray, using the saying, for yourself or others. With only a name and without explaining the reasons or pre-defining any answers.
Listen for God's voice in the quiet of your prayers.
Pray using your own prayers or one of those which have been prepared below.
Twitter Prayer
Merciful God, I thank you that you are quick to forgive me.
That I am able to hear and know that my sins are forgiven. Amen.
Facebook Prayer
Lord forgive me for the times I have fallen short of the standards I know I should strive for. I ask your help as I try to follow your way.
Merciful God, I thank you that you are quick to forgive me and that I am able to hear and know that my sins are forgiven.
May this season of Lent open my eyes to your presence in my life. Amen.
Full Prayer
As we start our journey through this time of lent
we come before you, with all of our faults and failings.
Loving God, we know that you know everything about us
but we need to acknowledge our shortcomings, to ourselves,
so we bring to you our prayers of confession and
humbly ask for your forgiveness.
Loving Father, I know that there are things in my life
which make you frown and sigh.
These things burden my life with regret and pain, so
I bring them before you and lay them down.
Spend a short time in reflection on the things we could do better.
Not in a negative way but offering these things as an act of apology
and as the first step in a promise to try to do better.
I thank you that you are a God of holiness who loves justice.
I thank you for your Holy Scriptures and for the life of your Son, Jesus,
which show me the way that I should live my life.
Loving you with all of my heart
Loving my neighbour as myself
Lord forgive me for the times I have fallen short
of the standards I have known I should strive for.
Lord I ask your help as I try to follow your way.
Merciful God, I thank you that you are quick to forgive.
That I am able to hear and know that my sins are forgiven.
That I can indeed lay my burdens of sinfulness before you and continue to walk in your way.
May this season of Lent open my eyes to your presence in my life.
In Jesus name. Amen.