A liturgy for creating ashes
Fire, Ash, Salt; coming a tad too late this year
UPDATE: Here’s a revised version, that is much less elaborate:
Years ago, at an old church job, I had to burn the previous year’s palms from Palm Sunday with some colleagues. We marked the occasion together by reading Genesis 18.27, “Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes,” and praying the Collect for Ash Wednesday. This inspired me to create a longer liturgy about burning palms and making ashes this year. It feels experimental, but I hope it will seem principled and reverent to readers, rather than a “project.” I had the most fun creating meditations or Lessons stringing together thematically connected Bible verses. A bookends of sorts is meant to be formed by the opening and ending passages. I also adapted Collects and Prayer Book resources from outside Lent for this occasion. I wanted this liturgy to be unapologetic about the frailty of the human condition and our utter dependence on God for existence and redemption. This should serve as both a great truth and a great hope for Christians.
FIRE, ASH, SALT: AN OFFICE OF MAKING ASHES
In Preparation for a Holy Lent
This service would be especially appropriate for the weeks of Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima.1
The service begins with these Lessons read by the Officiant, or a selected Reader, in a single sequence:
And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of Us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.2 All go to one place; all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again.3 For every one will be salted with fire.4
Officiant. Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord,
People. I who am but dust and ashes.5
Officiant. The Lord be with you.
People. And also with you.6
Officiant. Let us pray.
Almighty God,
You have created us out of the dust of the earth:
Grant that these ashes may be to us a sign of our mortality and penitence,
that we may remember that it is only by Your gracious gift
that we are given everlasting life;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.7
The palms are burned.
As the palms are burning, a select number or arrangement of the following prayers and meditations, always beginning with (I), are prayed by the Officiant, or a selected Reader, or the People in unison. Discretion will determine how many prayers are appropriate for the burning of the palms. Each prayer is introduced and concluded with the designated Versicle (V) and Response (R). If only one prayer is used, it must be (I).
V. Officiant. Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord,
R. People. I who am but dust and ashes.
(I.) My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight,
do not pass on by Your servant.
Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
Far be it from You to do such a thing as this,
to slay the righteous with the wicked,
so that the righteous should be as the wicked;
far be it from You!
Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?8
Officiant. Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord,
People. I who am but dust and ashes.
(II.) Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Who desires not the death of sinners,
but rather that they may turn from their wickedness and live:
Grant now, we beg,
to Your faithful people pardon and peace,
that they may be cleansed from all their sins,
and serve You with a quiet mind;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.9
Officiant. Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord,
People. I who am but dust and ashes.
(III.) Turn Thou us, O good Lord,
and so shall we be turned.
Be favorable, O Lord, be favorable to Thy people,
who turn to Thee in weeping, fasting, and praying.
For Thou art a merciful God, full of compassion,
long-suffering, and of great pity.
Thou sparest when we deserve punishment,
and in Thy wrath thinkest upon mercy.
Spare Thy people, good Lord.
Spare them, and let not Thy heritage be brought to confusion.
Hear us, O Lord, for Thy mercy is great,
and after the multitude of Thy mercies look upon us,
through the merits and mediation of Thy blessed Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.10
Officiant. Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord,
People. I who am but dust and ashes.
(IV.) A voice says, “Cry!”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
All flesh is grass,
and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.11
For everything there is a season,
and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die.
I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with.12
Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth,
before the evil days come,
and the years draw nigh;
and the dust returns to the earth as it was,
and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.13
The grass withers, the flower fades;
but the word of our God will stand for ever.14
Officiant. Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord,
People. I who am but dust and ashes.
(V.) I destroy those who hate me;
I beat them small like dust before the wind.15
The words of the LORD are pure words,
like silver refined from ore,
purified seven times in the fire.16
And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out;
it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye
than with two eyes to be thrown into hell,
where their worm does not die,
and the fire is not quenched.17
O LORD my God, if I have done these things:
if there is any wickedness in my hands,
If I have repaid my friend with evil,
or plundered him who without cause is my enemy;
Then let my enemy pursue and overtake me,
trample my life into the ground,
and lay my honor in the dust.18
(VI.) O God,
Who knows us to be set in the midst of so many and great dangers,
that by reason of the frailty of our nature we cannot always stand upright;
Grant to us such strength and protection,
as may support us in all dangers,
and carry us through all temptations;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.19
Officiant. Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord,
People. I who am but dust and ashes.
(VII.) O God, Who wonderfully created,
and yet more wonderfully restored,
the dignity of human nature:
Grant that we may share the divine life
of Him who humbled Himself to share our humanity,
Your Son Jesus Christ; Who lives and reigns with You,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.20
Officiant. Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord,
People. I who am but dust and ashes.
(VIII.) Lord God,
Whose blessed Son our Savior gave His body to be whipped
and His face to be spit upon:
Give us grace to accept joyfully the sufferings of the present time,
confident of the glory that shall be revealed;
through Jesus Christ Your Son our Lord,
Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.21
Officiant. Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord,
People. I who am but dust and ashes.
(IX.) O God,
You declare Your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity:
Grant us the fullness of Your grace,
that we, running to obtain Your promises,
may become partakers of Your heavenly treasure;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.22
Officiant. Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord,
People. I who am but dust and ashes.
(X.) O God our heavenly Father,
You have blessed us and given us dominion over all the earth:
Increase our reverence before the mystery of life;
and give us new insight into your purposes for the human race,
and new wisdom and determination in making provision for its future
in accordance with Your will;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.23
Officiant. Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord,
People. I who am but dust and ashes.
(XI.) O Lord, we beseech Thee
favorably to hear the prayers of Thy people;
that we, who are justly punished for our offenses,
may be mercifully delivered by Thy goodness,
for the glory of Thy Name;
through Jesus Christ our Savior,
Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost ever,
one God, world without end. Amen.24
Officiant. Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord,
People. I who am but dust and ashes.
When the palms are finished burning, this responsory follows:25
Officiant. You turn us back to the dust and say:
People. Go back, O child of earth.26
Officiant. I cried to You, O Lord.
People. Will the dust praise You?27
Officiant. Bless the Lord, O my soul.
People. For He Himself knows whereof we are made.28
Officiant. He takes up the weak out of the dust.
People. And lifts up the poor from the ashes.29
Officiant. All who go down to the dust fall before Him.
People. My soul shall live for Him.30
Officiant. My soul cleaves to the dust.
People. Give me life according to Your word.31
Officiant. Holy God, Holy and Strong, Holy Immortal,
People. Have mercy upon us.32
Officiant. Let us pray.
Grant now, O Living God,
that these palms, reduced to ashes,
may be for us a sign of Your power to purify our hearts,
that by Your grace we may recognize death and sin at work in us,
our lives replanted in the sure and humble soil of Your truth;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.33
Almighty and everlasting God,
You hate nothing You have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent:
Create and make in us new and contrite hearts,
that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness,
may obtain of You, the God of all mercy,
perfect remission and forgiveness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.34
The service ends with these Lessons:
The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God, and keep His commandments; for that is the human duty entire.35 Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.36 As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the Man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the Man of heaven.37 Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent, and believe the gospel.”38
The service ends in silence.
A handful of salt may be thrown in the flames by the Officiant any one else of the People.39
This conclusion may be added:
Officiant. Let us bless the Lord.
People. Thanks be to God.
The weeks of the three Sundays before Lent, which traditionally served as a preparation for the season in the western liturgical tradition. Nowadays, Quinquagesima is Last Epiphany and Septuagesima and Sexagesima correspond to different Sundays After Epiphany every year.
Genesis 3.22–23 KJV. I adapted all Bible verses in this liturgy to include reverential capitalization.
Ecclesiastes (“Qohelet”) 3.20 RSV. This book and its unique canonical witness becomes something of a through-line for this liturgy because of its emphasis on human weakness and the futility which undergirds human life. I think that is an appropriate theme upon which to meditate as a foundational symbol of memento mori in Christian liturgy is prepared.
Mark 9.49 RSV. Fire and dust are key images symbols in this liturgy, for what I hope are obvious reasons.
Genesis 18.27 RSV
or And with thy/your Spirit.
The Proper Liturgy for Ash Wednesday, Book of Common Prayer (1979), “BCP,” p. 265.
Genesis 18.3, 23, 25 NKJV
This collect combines two historic Prayer Book prayers which served as declarations of forgiveness for clergy and laity, respectively, in Morning and Evening Prayer after the Confession of Sin. The beginning invocation is from the absolution reserved for priests:
Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who desireth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he may turn from his wickedness and live, hath given power, and commandment, to his Ministers, to declare and pronounce to his people, being penitent, the Absolution and Remission of their sins. He pardoneth and absolveth all those who truly repent, and unfeignedly believe his holy Gospel. Wherefore let us beseech him to grant us true repentance, and his Holy Spirit, that those things may please him which we do at this present; and that the rest of our life hereafter may be pure and holy; so that at the last we may come to his eternal joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The opening phrase also alludes directly and beautifully to Ezekiel 18.23, 32:
Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live? … For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye. (KJV)
This absolution is now used by the 1979 BCP, lightly revised in Rite 2 language, exactly once per year for the Proper Liturgy of Ash Wednesday (p. 269), for the Celebrant to conclude the Litany of Penitence. ACNA’s 2019 Prayer Book folded it back in, also lightly revised in contemporary language, for their version of Morning and Evening Prayer.
“Grant, now, we beg…” is my contemporary adaptation of the Collect for the XXI Sunday After Trinity in the old Prayer Book cycle of Collects:
Grant, we beseech thee, merciful Lord, to thy faithful people pardon and peace, that they may be cleansed from all their sins, and serve thee with a quiet mind; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
It is a tradition for laity to use this collect instead of the longer absolution when they are leading the Daily Office or praying it in private.
I decided “beg” captured the urgency of “beseech” in a more contemporary manner compared to “pray” or “entreat” and felt appropriately dramatic for a penitential occasion directly connected to Lent.
This prayer was a concluding prayer in the old Ash Wednesday liturgies, beginning with the Commination and continuing until the 1979 Prayer Book. The opening phrase directly quotes Lamentations 5.21, and strongly captures the spirit of Exodus 34.6-7.
I reflected on the old Commination service last year, including a little walkthrough:
Isaiah 40.6 RSV
Ecclesiastes 3.1-2a, 10 NRSV
Ecclesiastes 12.1a, 7-8 RSV
Isaiah 40.8 RSV
Psalm 18.41a, 42a (1979 BCP Psalter). In composing (V), a prayer-meditation of sorts like (IV) and the opening and closing Lessons, I tried to tie together images of fire and dust. In so doing I also tried to create a “story” of sorts where the worshipper wishes harm on their enemy with the image of dust, but then is rebuked by the Lord with the image of fire, and having been humbled, then returns to the image of dust (Ps 7.3-5). “Dust thou art, and to dust shalt thou return.” In being rebuked by the Lord an allusion is created to the Sermon on the Mount’s hard saying about love of enemies. The Sermon on the Mount is the source of the Gospel lesson for Ash Wednesday (6.1-6, 16-21) appointed in the Lectionary.
Psalm 12.6
Mark 9.47–48 RSV. These are Jesus’ words of Mark 9 that precede the citations in the beginning and concluding Lessons (9.49 and 50b).
Psalm 7.3-5
The collect for IV Epiphany in the old Prayer Book collects cycle. I chose this for its emphasis on the weakness of the human condition. The final petition about temptation also anticipates Lent, especially Lent I. A contemporary version of this prayer appears for a weekday in Lent in Lesser Feasts & Fasts.
The Collect for II Christmas, BCP pp. 214/162; Various Occasions for the Eucharist, Collect no. 4. “Of the Incarnation,” BCP pp. 252/200; Easter Vigil (“Liturgy of the Word: The Story of Creation”), p. 288. I chose this prayer to emphasize that the weakness of the human condition in comparison to God’s eternity is also inextricably connected to its dignity because humanity is God’s. Moreover, our weakness is taken up by God in the Incarnation and becomes another means to displaying our dignity in His sight. “When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man, thou didst not abhor the Virgin’s womb” (Te Deum).
The Collect for Holy Wednesday, BCP pp. 220/169. I chose this collect because, being in the last Wednesday of Lent, it felt like a complement of sorts to the themes of Ash Wednesday: taking suffering and allowing God to lead us through it as a means of redemption and glory. I could have just as easily chosen the Collect for Holy Tuesday, “Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ…” which evokes a similar theme. “Ashes,” in the sense of weakness, mortality, and suffering, are a kind of cross all human beings pick up. The use of ashes above all should help Christians handle suffering with Christ’s wisdom rather than worldly wisom.
The Collect for Proper XXI After Pentecost, BCP pp. 234/182. It was formerly the Collect for the XI Sunday After Trinity in the old BCPs. This collect emphasizes that the key purpose of Lent—repentance—is something in which God delights. Displaying mercy and grace is an aspect of divine glory because it reveals Who God Is. Additionally, the phrase “heavenly treasure” anticipates the concluding verses of the Gospel for Ash Wednesday, Matthew 6.1-6, 16-21:
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (vv. 19–21 RSV)
“For the Future of the Human Race,” Prayer no. 44 in BCP (1979) p. 828. I believe this prayer helps emphasize a hope and joy in acknowledging one’s mortality. The allusion to Genesis 1 and the human vocation of dominion-stewardship in the beginning also forms a strong link to the truth of the Fall theologically undergirding the entire tradition of ashes for Lent.
This is the Collect for Septuagesima (the Third Sunday Before Lent). It is included not just for its content, but in the spirit of the rubric at the beginning of the liturgy.
There are seven sets of Versicles and Responses here to match the amount in Suffrages A from Morning and Evening Prayer. I also considered adapting petitions from the Great Litany, but I decided to follow the biblical route and inject some Psalms into a liturgy that so far had not included any.
Psalm 90.3. All versions here are from the Psalter translation in the 1979 BCP.
Psalm 30.9a, 10b
Psalm 103.1a, 14a. Verses 8–14 are appointed by the Lectionary for Ash Wednesday every year.
Psalm 113.6
Psalm 22.28b-29a. Of course, the opening of this Psalm is on Jesus’ lips when He dies, helping this liturgy to provide a small anticipation of Calvary in addition to the Collect for Wednesday in Holy Week in (VIII).
Psalm 119.25. I like this verse so much that I strongly considered using it as a refrain rather than Genesis 18.27.
This is the Trisagion, “Thrice-Holy,” a basic feature of Eastern liturgy. The 1979 Prayer Book includes a version of this as an alternative to the Kyrie for the opening of Holy Communion. I used a different English version because I believe it flows off the tongue when speaking better (in my opinion; YMMV) than the 1979 BCP’s “Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One”.
Adapted from “Brief Form for the Burning of Palms,” Discipleship Ministries | The United Methodist Church, Aug. 26, 2009, accessed Mar. 5, 2025, https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/brief-form-for-the-burning-of-palms.
The Collect for Ash Wednesday, BCP pp. 217/166. It doesn’t matter whether this would be the Rite I or II version of the prayer. I decided this collect deserved the privilege of concluding the service because this service exists for Ash Wednesday to begin with.
Ecclesiastes 12.13 NRSV (adapted). I thought “the human duty entire” hit more eloquently in reading aloud for this setting compared to NRSV’s “the whole duty of everyone.”
Mark 9.50 RSV. This bookends Mark 9.49 from the opening Lesson. The acknowledgement of one’s status before Almighty God, as a sinner and a creature, is a form of humility. To humble oneself before the Lord is an act of faith. When a believer is salted with this fire of faith and humility, they will gain a peace which passes understanding. Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 5.1 RSV, NRSV.)
I Corinthians 15.48-49 RSV. Some translations use the word “earth” (e.g. KJV, NASB, NLT, NIV) and others “dust” (NRSV, ESV, CEB).
Mark 1.14b–15 (cf. Matthew 4.17) RSV. After Vatican II, the Catholic Church adapted some of Jesus’ words here to make an alternative to the classic Ash Wednesday slogan Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return (Genesis 3.19) when ashes are being imposed on the forehead (i.e. “words of imposition”): Turn away from sin, and be faithful to the gospel (1974); and in the newer translation of Benedict XVI’s papacy: Repent and believe in the Gospel (2011).
An interesting reflection from a Catholic who prefers the newer words of imposition can be found here: Michael H. Marchal, “Repent & Believe,” Commonweal, Feb. 22, 2023, accessed Mar. 5, 2025, https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/repent-believe.
This reinforces Jesus’ references to salt in Mark 9.49-50.
But I’ll forget it by next year! Please repost on Septuagesima so it can be put to good use
Beautiful work!