Ash Wednesday

So today is Ash Wednesday.
For leadership class at the War College we looked at Martin Luther King Jr. and then a warrior showed me a flyer for A Lenten Vigil (to stand in solidarity with those with whom Jesus identified - the poor, the homeless, the shunned, the aged, the sick, the foreigners, the criminal outcasts - THE SILENCED.) What better way to celebrate and learn from Martin King Jr. then to join a demonstration!

It was in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery during lunch (12-1pm)... so we went! (well, some of us...). A bishop from the Lutheran church was there to put ashes on our foreheads and bless us... it was REALLY COOL. It's every wednesday during lent... so if you are in the area - come on down (noon - on the steps Robson street side).

Here's the liturgy... if you haven't celebrated the start of lent then now might be a great time!
Scripture: Micah 6:6-8; Luke 6:20-31; silence.

The People Confess:
All: We confess to you and to one another and to the whole communion of saints in heaven that we have sinned by our own fault in thoguht, word and deed by what we have done adn what we have left undone.

Priest: We have not loved you with our whole heart, mind and strength. We have not loved our nieighbours as ourselves. We have not forgiven others as we have been forgiven. We confess to God.
All: Have mercy on us.

Priest: We have been deaf to your call to serve others as Christ has served us. We have not been true to your mind. We have grieved your spirit - we confess to God.
All: Have mercy on us.

Priest: We confess to you, O God, all our past unfaithfulness. The pride, hypocrisy and impatience of our lives we confess to God.
All: Have mercy on us.

Priest: Our self indulgent appetites and our ways of exploiting other people; our indifference to the poor, the homeless, we confess to the Lord.
All: Have mercy on us.

Priest: Our intemperate love of worldly goods, and our dishonesty in work and daily life, we confess to God.
All: Have mercy on us.

Priest: Our indifference to political process, our lack of concern for social direction and our blind acceptance that our voice will mean little. We confess to God.
All: Have mercy on us.

Priest: Accept our repentance, Lord for the wrongs we have done and for our blindness to human need and suffering in our city and our province and the whole world and our indifference to injustice and cruelty. This we confess to God.
All: Have mercy on us.

Priest: For our waste and pollution of your creation and our lack of conern for those who will come after us, we confess to God.
All: Have mercy on us.

Priest: Restore us, fill us with your compassion. Give us hope to work for your unfolding rule.
All: Amen.

Priest: God is rich in mercy and forgives us all our sins. God calls us to a renewed life that seeks justice, reconciliation and peace. You are forgiven, NOW WALK IN THE NEW LIFE.
ALL: AMEN!