Ash Wednesday

ASH WEDNESDAY

Prayer for the Week: Gracious Lord, as we fast from carbon, we mourn the destruction of so much of your creation. May we take up the challenge to walk the path less travelled, to restore more of your creation than we destroy. Help us to act with love and care for all that you have created.

 

Today as you receive the ashes, the priest will say these words:  “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return”

With these words we are reminded that we are part of the web of life. In the beginning God “breathed into clay” which then became a living being (Gen 2:7). This living being was called Adam which means “of the earth’

We are of the earth and whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons and daughters of the earth.

So that is why Ash Wednesday is a day to reflect on what we have done wrong

“Turn away from sin and believe the good news”

 

Ash Wednesday is a day of reflection and I would like to invite you to reflect on your impact on the Earth.

Start  by calculating your carbon footprint, at the following website:

http://footprint.wwf.org.uk/?_ga=1.208072722.185003333.1452763899

 

And then sit somewhere quiet and write yourself a letter.

This is a letter from the seventh generation. This would be about 200 years from now. Close your eyes and imagine your great, great , great grandchild. What does she or he look like, where and how do they live? Imagine what they would want to say to you.

Write a letter from them to  yourself, explain what has happened to the Earth and how you feel…”Dear Great, Great ,Great Grandmother/Father

Then close with this prayer:

Prayer of Confession:

Holy God, Creator and Lover that is,

We confess to you that we have sinned.

We have failed in our care for the land and its creatures,

We have been greedy, destructive, and wasteful

Of the resources you have entrusted to us.

 

Polluted air and water,

Eroded soil and salty earth,

Birds and animals deprived of habitat,

And neighbours left hungry and thirsty by our selfishness:

All these cry out against us.

We do not know how to restore what we have damaged,

And we repent in sorrow and distress.

 

Forgive us, we pray, and have mercy.

Give us grace to change our ways,

To make amends,

And to work together for the healing of our world,

Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Resource: “And it was good, Responding to God’s Gift of Creation” Anglican Communion, page 22

 

If you are on facebook, perhaps you would like to change your profile pic to encourage others to join the carbon fast as well. Go to the Green Anglicans Facebook page, download the “I am fasting for a change” image and upload it as your new profile picture.