Lent Is Coming to Worcester | Ash Wednesday Prayers

Lenten Prayers for this Ash Wednesday, February 14

Lent creates a space for becoming more fully abandoned to God, and the heart of Lent is identification with Christ. Identification with Christ means more than identification with his resurrection and victory over sin. It also means intimate familiarity with Christ’s humility, trials, and death. This type of dying demands a posture of humility and unconcealed neediness before God. 

Lent beckons us to consider our true state of existence apart from God. Apart from Christ, our lives are marinated in mess and crumple into darkness and ash. This is the vivid reminder of Ash Wednesday with its imposition of ashes onto our foreheads. With Christ, however, darkness gives way to light and restoration. 

The theological heart of Lent is embodied by the spiritual discipline of fasting. Self-denial, whether applied to food, activities, or enjoyable habits, frees us for more intimacy with Christ. It creates spaces for reflecting on our radical need for God’s grace. + St. Peter’s Fireside

Lent Theme Verse | 

God blesses you who are hungry now, for you will be satisfied. + Luke 6:21

On this Ash Wednesday, Jesus, we need You to: 

Morning Prayer | 

Humble us to repent and reconcile quickly with You and with others. 

Help us to wait on You as You resurrect us to be holy like You. 

Prayer Verses: In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength. The Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore He will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him! + Isaiah 30:15, 18

Afternoon Prayer | 

Teach us to sit under Your words and to rejoice in every word from You.  

Give us a hunger for the Scriptures so we can be enriched by You.

Prayer Verse: Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts. + Jeremiah 15:16

Evening Prayer | 

Mature us into people who live, talk, and walk like you, Jesus. 

Make us faithful and fruitful through tribulations so that many will enter the Kingdom in Worcester.

Prayer Verses: When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of God. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. + Acts 14:21-23

For more details about how Emmaus City seeks to love Jesus and Worcester during this season of Lent, here are a few links:

+ Why we gather for Jesus with others 

+ How we scatter with Jesus for others 

+ Walking with Jesus in prayer and hope

We would love for you to join us in exploring our need for Christ together.

Rev. Mike "Sully" Sullivan

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