A liturgy for creating ashes: Redux
Shorter, sleeker, smoother
Last week I made a liturgy of burning ashes for Ash Wednesday. The feedback was that it’s too long. Point very taken! I got carried away. I had too much fun fitting Bible verses together and re-contextualizing Prayer Book collects.
Here’s a version that cuts to the heart of the matter more readily. It’s Robert Patrick’s T-1000 to Ahhhnold’s T-800… although that also means, in my analogy, that this version is more evil? Okay, it’s EVE to last week’s Wall-E. I’m just trying to say it’s shorter and more to the point.
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
Officiant. Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord,
People. I who am but dust and ashes.2
The Officiant, a selected Reader, or the People read this string of Lessons:
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.3 All go to one place; all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again.4 For every one will be salted with fire.5
Officiant. Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord,
People. I who am but dust and ashes.
The palms are burned.
As the palms burn, the Officiant, a selected Reader, or the People read this prayer:
Officiant. Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord,
People. I who am but dust and ashes.
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?6
Officiant. Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord,
People. I who am but dust and ashes.
Officiant. The Lord be with you.
People. And also with you.
Officiant. Let us pray.
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.7
Officiant. Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord,
People. I who am but dust and ashes.
The Officiant, a selected Reader, or the People read this string of Lessons to end the service:
The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God, and keep His commandments; for that is the human duty entire.8 Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another. 9As 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.10 Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent, and believe the gospel.”11
When the palms are finished burning, a portion of salt may be thrown in the remains by the Officiant, or any and all of the People.
Congrats for getting to the end. Here’s a meme from Season 3x06 of The Boys (Amazon Prime Video, 2019–present). Also, PLEASE don’t start the show with that particular episode…
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 18.27. Unless otherwise noted, Bible citations are taken from the RSV.
Genesis 3.22–23 KJV
Ecclesiastes (Qohelet) 3.20
Mark 9.50
Genesis 18.3, 23, 25 NKJV
The Collect for Ash Wednesday, Book of Common Prayer (1979) pp. 217/166. It doesn’t matter to me whether this would be the Rite I or II version of the prayer. It was a tough choice between this collect or the prayer used in the 1979 Proper Liturgy:
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. (BCP 1979, p. 265)
I decided the Ash Wed. collect deserved the privilege of concluding the liturgy, firstly because it was what I originally used years ago, and secondly because I think it better for a concluding prayer in this setting to meditate on the thing signified by ashes—penitence, humility, and forgiveness—since that is the deeper power commended by God for the Church’s observance of Lent. Whether or not one gets ashes for Lent, all Christians are commanded to rend their hearts, and not their garments, for every season of their life. Finally, the Collect for Ash Wednesday has a special function in Anglican liturgy to reiterate themes for all of Lent because it would be appointed for every Sunday in the season in the older Prayer Books.
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. 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. Some translations use the word “earth” (e.g. KJV, NASB, NLT, NIV) and others “dust” (RSV, NRSV, ESV, CEB).
Mark 1.14b–15 (cf. Matthew 4.17). After Vatican II, the Catholic Church adapted some of Jesus’ words here to make an alternative to the classic Ash Wednesday words of imposition, Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return (Genesis 3.19)—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.