Worship Music for Ash Wednesday

🎼🎶 Sunday’s palms are Wednesday’s ashes as another Lent begins; Thus we kneel before the Maker in contrition for our sins.We have marred baptismal pledges, in rebellion gone astray;Now returning, seek forgiveness; grant us pardon, God, this day! 🎼🎶 

As we begin the holy season of Lent,  Rev. Jenny Smith Walz will lead a Virtual Ash Wednesday service this evening on Facebook Livestream and our website. Lent is a season of reflection, repentance, forgiveness, and healing and a time to show more love for our brothers and sisters.  Our Virtual Quartet featuring Jenni Collins, Leslie Levey, Stephen Offer, and Jeff Ransom will perform “Create In Me A Clean Heart” by Carl MuellerWe will sing the hymn “Sunday’s Palms Are Wednesday’s Ashes As Another Lent Begins.” Our other songs are “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus”and “When We Are Living (Somos Del Senor)”in English and Spanish. Music Director Hyosang Park will play “The King of Love My Shepherd Is” and “My Shepherd Will Supply My Need.” The music and hymns relate to our scripture passage Isaiah 58:5-14 and correspond to Pastor Jenny’s Meditation. This year, we are doing Ash Wednesday differently. We mix our own ashes at home and make the sign of the cross on our forehead.  Here is a video tutorial from Pastor Jenny with tips about making a ‘just-right’ ash mixture. You can also come to the church today, between 9am and 6pm, for quiet prayer and self imposition of ashes.

One of my favorite hymns, “Sunday’s Palms Are Wednesday’s Ashes,” by British-born hymn-writer Rae E. Whitney sets the tone for the holy season of Lent. Whitney reminds us that the Palm Sunday processional palms that signal the beginning of Holy Week are saved and burned for the next Ash Wednesday. These charred palms are imprinted as a cross on our forehead as a witness to our faith. The hymn refers to our failure to keep our baptismal vows and is asking God for forgiveness. It also talks about our inability to love our neighbor and thus asking God to create a pure heart in us.                                                            

Are you sick, struggling with sin, exhausted, anxious about anything? Come worship with us, and you will find healing, forgiveness, rest, and peace here at PUMC. If you feel broken, remember, God loves you regardless of how you feel. Let us, therefore, lift our voices together in song to our God and King. 

Click here to join us as we share in songs, prayer, music, scripture, and listen to Pastor Jenny’s Meditation. 

[Images Source: Google Images]

Written by Isabella Dougan  

Ash Wednesday and Tuesday Lenten Meditations

PRINCETON, N.J. During the Lenten season, Princeton United Methodist Church (PrincetonUMC) hosts services at convenient times. On Ash Wednesday, March 6, at noon, Pastor Jenny Smith Walz will lead worship.  At 7:30 p.m. clergy from the community will preside at an ecumenical service with Andrew Scales, Presbyterian chaplain to Princeton University, preaching. Both services will conclude with the imposition of ashes.

Planned to fit into a lunch hour, weekly Lenten meditations will be held on Tuesdays, from March 12 to April 16, noon to 12:30 p.m., in the chapel. Afterwards a light lunch will be served. Entrance is on Nassau Street, at the corner of Vandeventer Avenue. All are welcome.

PUMC is a diverse congregation whose members come from many surrounding communities, backgrounds, and faith histories. Sunday worship services and Sunday School classes are at 10 a.m. with nursery care available. Small groups for adults are at 8:45 a.m. Parking is free on Sunday mornings and the church is wheelchair accessible. Call 609-924-2613 , email office@princetonumc.org, or visit http://www.princetonumc.org/

Ashes to Go: February 10

2016 feb ashes to go“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
This year our pastoral staff will again be offering Ashes to Go to busy Princeton community members. From 9:30 to 11:30 am we will gather outside our church on Nassau Street and offer ashes to those who are unable to visit church on Ash Wednesday, February 10, reminding them of the start of this holy Lenten season.  For our traditional Ash Wednesday services, Scott Sherrill will preach at noon and Jana Purkis-Brash at 7:30 p.m.

Rethink Church: for Lent — a photo a day

lent photo a ay

The website Rethink Church offers an unusual way to observe Lent: take a picture a day for that day’s theme (listed above). and post them on Facebook, as quoted here:

As we journey through this season of Lent, some will choose to give up something. Some will go about their lives as if it was ordinary time. Some will choose to be more reflective. Whatever your practices this season, will you join this photo-a-day challenge and share with the community how you perceive each word or phrase for the day? ….

You don’t have to be a great photographer. This project is more about the practice of paying attention and being intentional, than it is using the right filter or getting the perfect shot..

The first of the daily themes is Announce,  for Ash Wednesday, followed by Look, Joy, and Alone. For details on this intriguing project, click here.