Dust and Promise: Why Ash Wednesday Still Matters

Ash Wednesday 2026

“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Repent, and believe the Gospel.”

There is a sentence that most of us spend our entire lives trying not to hear.

"Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

Tonight, pastors all over the world will press ashes into the foreheads of their people and say those words — not as a threat, but as a gift. Ash Wednesday has always been one of the most meaningful observances of the year for me. It is holy and contemplative, disarmingly honest in a culture that numbs itself with noise and distraction. And it may be more necessary now than ever.

To know life, one must understand death.

That conviction is why, a few years ago, I began pairing our Ash Wednesday service with elements of John Wesley's Covenant Renewal Service.

Wesley's Covenant Service has deep roots in our Methodist tradition, born from the Puritan Richard Alleine's practice of covenant-making with God. Wesley adapted it for his societies in 1755, centering the service on a breathtaking act of self-offering — the Covenant Prayer — in which the believer presents themselves wholly to God, for service or for suffering, for fullness or for emptiness, to be used or to be set aside. There is no more dangerously honest prayer in all of Christian devotion.

I can think of no better pairing. Ash Wednesday tells us the truth about our mortality. The Covenant asks us what we intend to do with the life we have been given. Together, they form a threshold: we walk through the door of Lent having faced both the limit of our days and the limitless claim of God upon them.

This Lenten season, our Wednesday evening studies will continue that meditation under the theme Memento Mori — Latin for "remember that you must die." It is an ancient spiritual practice of reflecting on our mortality, and it will carry us through the remaining weeks of Lent.

But here is what matters most: our faith does not lead us toward death. It leads us toward life — abundant life, found only in Christ. We begin tonight in ashes, but the whole arc of this season bends toward Easter morning. We face the dust honestly so that we can receive the resurrection fully.

Come tonight. Receive the ashes. Speak the covenant. And walk with us through Lent toward the life that death cannot touch.

Tonight's Ash Wednesday service, including the full liturgy with elements of Wesley's Covenant Renewal, is available below.

Gathering

*Greeting

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

And also with you.

Bless the Lord who forgives our sins.

God’s mercy endures forever.

*Opening Prayer

Gracious and Loving God,

As we gather on this sacred day of Ash Wednesday, we come before You in humility and reflection. In the shadow of Your love, we acknowledge our frailties, our sins, and our deep need for Your grace. As we enter this Lenten season, guided by the teachings of Matthew 6, help us to embrace true humility, not as a display for others, but as a genuine expression of our hearts turned towards You.

Lord, teach us the value of secret charity, of prayer that seeks no applause, and of fasting that harbors no pride. May our acts of devotion be a sincere reflection of our love for You, hidden from the eyes of the world but fully known and cherished by You. Guide us to store up treasures not on earth, where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal, but treasures in heaven, where our heart truly lies.

In this time of worship, open our hearts to the transformative power of Your Word and Spirit. May we be drawn closer to You, stripped of pretense and filled with a genuine desire to live as Your faithful disciples. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray, Amen.

Hymn #223 “Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days”

The Confession Wesley’s Covenant Service

We are those who seek to live as true disciples of Jesus Christ, but sometimes we fall short. Let us now examine ourselves before God, humbly confessing our sins and submitting our hearts so that we do not deceive ourselves and cut ourselves away from God. Let us pray.

Father God, you have set forth the way of life through your Son Jesus Christ, whom you love dearly. We shamefully confess that we have been slow to learn of him and have been reluctant to follow him. You have spoken and called to us but we have not listened. You have revealed your beauty to us, but we have been blind. You have stretched out your hands to us through our friends, but we have passed by them. We have accepted your gifts and offered little thanks. We are unworthy of your unchanging love.

We confess to you our sins.

Please forgive us the poverty of our worship…

For the selfishness of our prayers…

For our inconsistency and unbelief…

For the ways we neglect fellowship and your grace…

For our hesitation to tell others about Christ…

For the ways we deceive others…

Forgive us for wasting time and missing the gifts you have given us. For us making excuses for the wrong things we have done and for purposely avoiding responsibility.

Forgive us for being unwilling to overcome evil with good and for not being ready to carry our cross. Forgive us, for we have not allowed your love to work through us to help others and we have not made their suffering our own. Forgive us for those times when, instead of working for unity, we have made it hard for others to live with us because of our lack of forgiveness, inconsiderate judgment, and quick criticism.

Forgive us for times when we have not tried to reconcile with others and when we have been slow to seek redemption.

Forgive us also these sins that we silently confess to you now.

A moment of silent confession is observed.

Scripture Reading Matthew 6:1–6, 16–21 NIV

Matthew 6:1–6, 16–21

6 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

16 “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Invitation to the Observance of Lenten Discipline

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ: the early Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord’s passion and resurrection and it became the custom of the Church that before the Easter celebration, there should be a forty–day season of spiritual preparation. During this season converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism.

It was also a time when persons who had committed serious sins and had separated themselves from the community of faith were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness and restored to participation in the life of the Church.

In this way the whole congregation was reminded of the mercy and forgiveness proclaimed in the gospel of Jesus Christ and the need we all have to renew our faith. I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to observe a holy Lent: by self–examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self–denial; and by reading and meditating on God's Holy Word.

To make a right beginning of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us now bow before our Creator and Redeemer.

Thanksgiving over the Ashes

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, so that we may remember that only by your gracious gift are we given everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

*Imposition of Ashes

The congregation is invited forward. The pastor will dip a thumb in the ashes and make a cross on each person's forehead. While the Ashes are imposed, the congregation will sing “Just As I Am, Without One Plea”.

Hymn #509 “Just As I Am, Without One Plea”

Wesley’s Covenant Prayer

I am no longer my own, but yours.

Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will;

put me to doing, put me to suffering;

let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you,

exalted for you, or brought low for you;

let me be full, let me be empty,

let me have all things, let me have nothing:

I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things

to your pleasure and disposal.

And now, glorious and blessed God,

Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

you are mine and I am yours. So be it.

And the covenant now made on earth,

let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.

*Hymn #221 “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”

*Benediction

Beloved in Christ,

As we conclude our Ash Wednesday service, let us go forth into the world with a renewed spirit and a humble heart. May the dust on our foreheads remind us of our mortal nature and the infinite grace of God that sustains us. Let the lessons of Matthew 6 guide us through this Lenten journey: to give generously in secret, to pray earnestly in the quiet, and to fast sincerely without a trace of vanity.

May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; may the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. And as we depart from this holy gathering, may we carry the treasure of God's love in our hearts, shining forth in every word we speak and in every deed we do, not for our glory, but for the glory of the One who calls us each by name.

Go in peace, to love and serve the Lord, Amen.