Ash Wednesday
Worship
Aids To The Psalms
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you alone, have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
and blameless when you pass judgment.
Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.
You desire truth in the inward being,
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take the holy spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.
Alternate Image
The Singer has gone a-whoring. She has has broken her wedding vows and sought the embrace of a multitude of lovers. Each of those lovers offered her less than her husband, but she succumbed to their wiles each time. Forlorn and humiliated she returns to her husband and begs for forgiveness. Having nothing good to offer her husband in way of atonement, she offers him her sins; all the sins from her birth onward. She stands naked, dirty and ashamed before her husband asking for judgment. Her husband embraces her and washes her clean. He prepares a banquet in her honor and gives her presents. This is his judgment. The Singer is amazed. She is delighted. She is overjoyed. She is a new person made new, clean and whole by her husband's love.
Reflection
Our relationship with God is like a marriage contract. But we are unfaithful people. We are so easily led into adulterous relationships with money, power and prestige. We throw away our most important relationship for lesser ones. We are so easily seduced. When we realize what we have done we come back to our spouse, God. We ask for forgiveness. The miracle of our relationship with God is that God's judgment is to forgive us. Our relationship with God is more than a marriage contract, it is a marriage covenant. God's covenant always has one faithful partner. As God's forgiveness washes over us we are made into new people. New people who delight in God's passion for us; passion that causes us to burst forth with songs of gratitude and joy.
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you alone, have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
and blameless when you pass judgment.
Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.
You desire truth in the inward being,
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take the holy spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.
Alternate Image
The Singer has gone a-whoring. She has has broken her wedding vows and sought the embrace of a multitude of lovers. Each of those lovers offered her less than her husband, but she succumbed to their wiles each time. Forlorn and humiliated she returns to her husband and begs for forgiveness. Having nothing good to offer her husband in way of atonement, she offers him her sins; all the sins from her birth onward. She stands naked, dirty and ashamed before her husband asking for judgment. Her husband embraces her and washes her clean. He prepares a banquet in her honor and gives her presents. This is his judgment. The Singer is amazed. She is delighted. She is overjoyed. She is a new person made new, clean and whole by her husband's love.
Reflection
Our relationship with God is like a marriage contract. But we are unfaithful people. We are so easily led into adulterous relationships with money, power and prestige. We throw away our most important relationship for lesser ones. We are so easily seduced. When we realize what we have done we come back to our spouse, God. We ask for forgiveness. The miracle of our relationship with God is that God's judgment is to forgive us. Our relationship with God is more than a marriage contract, it is a marriage covenant. God's covenant always has one faithful partner. As God's forgiveness washes over us we are made into new people. New people who delight in God's passion for us; passion that causes us to burst forth with songs of gratitude and joy.
