Author: THERESA JACOBSON

Ash Wednesday	February 14, 2024
Prayer of the Day
Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all those who are penitent. Create in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain from you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
First Reading: Joel 2:12-19 
^12“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; ^13and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. ^14Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God? ^15Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; ^16gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber. ^17Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep and say, “Spare your people, O Lord, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’” ^18Then the Lord became jealous for his land and had pity on his people. ^19The Lord answered and said to his people, “Behold, I am sending to you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations.”
Psalm 51:1-13 [14-20]* (LBW)
^1Have mercy on me, O God, according to your | lovingkindness;*
	in your great compassion blot out | my offenses.
^2Wash me through and through | from my wickedness*
	and cleanse me | from my sin.
^3For I know | my transgressions,*
	and my sin is ev- | er before me.
^4Against you only | have I sinned*
	and done what is evil | in your sight.
^5And so you are justified | when you speak*
	and upright | in your judgment.
^6Indeed, I have been wicked | from my birth,*
	a sinner from my | mother’s womb.
^7For behold, you look for truth | deep within me,*
	and will make me understand | wisdom secretly.
^8Purge me from my sin, and I | shall be pure;*
	wash me, and I shall be | clean indeed.
^9Make me hear of | joy and gladness,*
	that the body you have broken | may rejoice.
^10Hide your face | from my sins*
	and blot out all | my iniquities.
^11Create in me a clean | heart, O God,*
	and renew a right spir- | it within me.
^12Cast me not away | from your presence*
	and take not your Holy | Spirit from me.
^13Give me the joy of your saving | help again*
	and sustain me with your bount- | iful Spirit.
[^14I shall teach your ways | to the wicked,*
	and sinners shall re- | turn to you.
^15Deliver me from | death, O God,*
	and my tongue shall sing of your righteousness, O God of | my salvation.
^16Open my | lips, O Lord,*
	and my mouth shall pro- | claim your praise.
^17Had you desired it, I would have | offered sacrifice,*
	but you take no delight | in burnt offerings.
^18The sacrifice of God is a | troubled spirit;*
	a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will | not despise.
^19Be favorable and gra- | cious to Zion,*
	and rebuild the walls | of Jerusalem.
^20Then you will be pleased with the appointed sacrifices, 
	with burnt offerings | and oblations;*
			then shall they offer young bullocks up- | on your altar.]
Psalm 51:1-13 [14-19] (ESV)
^1Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
^2Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!
^3For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
^4Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.
^5Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
^6Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
^7Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
^8Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
^9Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
^10Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
^11Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
^12Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
^13Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.
[^14Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
^15O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
^16For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
^17The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
^18Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem;
^19then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.]
Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 
^20bWe implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ^21For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. ^6Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 
^1For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. ^3We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, ^4but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, ^5beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; ^6by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; ^7by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; ^8through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; ^9as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; ^10as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.
Gospel: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
^1{Jesus said,} “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. ^2Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. ^3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ^4so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. ^5And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. ^6But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 
^16“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. ^17But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, ^18that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. ^19 Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, ^20but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. ^21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

* — Some psalms within the Book of Common Prayer psalter, which the Sola lectionary uses, are numbered differently than the psalms in the psalter of the English Standard Version Bible, on which the lectionary calendar is based. To account for this difference, today’s psalm reading ends at verse 20 (the ESV reading will end at verse 19).