Ash Wednesday Service Union Church, February 18, 2026
Rev. Kent Gilbert, Pastor Dr. Bernardo Scarambone, Director of Music
We Gather
Ash Wednesday Service Union Church, February 18, 2026
Rev. Kent Gilbert, Pastor Dr. Bernardo Scarambone, Director of Music
We Gather
Music for Gathering
Opening Prayer Out of the Stillness
Musical Meditation
Singing Together #186 Dust and Ashes Touch Our Face v. 1 Dust & Ashes
Dust and ashes touch our face, mark our failure and our falling. Holy Spirit, come, walk with us tomorrow, take us as disciples, washed and wakened by your calling. Take us by the hand and lead us, lead us through the desert sands, bring us living water, Holy Spirit, come.
Scripture Reading Amos 5:21-14
I hate, I reject your festivals; I don’t enjoy your joyous assemblies. If you bring me your entirely burned offerings and gifts of food— I won’t be pleased; I won’t even look at your offerings of well-fed animals. Take away the noise of your songs; I won’t listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
Singing Together Dust and Ashes Touch Our Face v. 2 Dust & Ashes
Dust and ashes soil our hands – greed of market, pride of nation. Holy Spirit, come, walk with us tomorrow as we pray and struggle through the meshes of oppression. Take us by the hand and lead us, lead us through the desert sands, bring us living water, Holy Spirit, come.
¨ Responsive Reading Psalm 51:1-17
Right Side (Peace Bell): Have mercy on me, God, according to your faithful love! Wipe away my wrongdoings according to your great compassion!
Left Side (Organ): Wash me completely clean of my guilt; purify me from my sin!
Right: Because I know my wrongdoings, my sin is always right in front of me.
Left: I’ve sinned against you—you alone. I’ve committed evil in your sight.
Right: That’s why you are justified when you render your verdict, completely correct when you issue your judgment.
Left: Yes, I was born in guilt, in sin, from the moment my mother conceived me.
Right: And yes, you want truth in the most hidden places; you teach me wisdom in the most secret space.
Left : Purify me with hyssop and I will be clean; wash me and I will be whiter than snow.
Right: Let me hear joy and celebration again; let the bones you crushed rejoice once more.
Left: Hide your face from my sins; wipe away all my guilty deeds!
Right: Create a clean heart for me, God; put a new, faithful spirit deep inside me!
Left: Please don’t throw me out of your presence; please don’t take your holy spirit away from me.
Right: Return the joy of your salvation to me and sustain me with a willing spirit.
Left: Then I will teach wrongdoers your ways, and sinners will come back to you.
Right: Deliver me from violence, God, God of my salvation, so that my tongue can sing of your righteousness.
Left: Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will proclaim your praise.
All: You don’t want sacrifices. If I gave an entirely burned offering, you wouldn’t be pleased. A broken spirit is my sacrifice, God. You won’t despise a heart, God, that is broken and crushed.
Singing Together Dust and Ashes Touch Our Face v. 3 Dust & Ashes
Dust and ashes choke our tongue in the wasteland of depression. Holy Spirit, come, walk with us tomorrow through all gloom and grieving to the paths of resurrection. Take us by the hand and lead us, lead us through the desert sands, bring us living water, Holy Spirit, come.
Reflection Rev. Kent Gilbert
Receiving Ashes
The ashes of last year’s Palm Sunday fronds were burnt and prepared for use on Ash Wednesday. The ashes, symbolizing sin and distance from God and our best selves, are mixed with oil, a sign of God’s blessing, forgiveness and anointing for special purpose. We begin our Lenten journey in humility and in hope by placing the ashes and oil on our heads or hands. You do not have to be a member of this church, or any church, to mark this sacred time and journey.
Musical Meditation Make Me a Channel Prayer of St. Francis
1. Make me a channel of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me bring your love. Where there is injury, your pardon, Lord, and where there’s doubt, true faith in you.
2. Make me a channel of your peace. Where there’s despair in life, let me bring hope. Where there is darkness, only light, and where there’s sadness, ever joy.
3. O, Master, grant that I may never seek so much to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love with all my soul.
4. Make me a channel of your peace. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, in giving of ourselves that we receive, and in dying that we’re born to eternal life.
We Depart
Closing Prayer Ashes Rev. LaTrelle Miller Easterling
Just and Loving God,
As the ashes are spread down my forehead
I am reminded of the gift of grace you endured
for our new beginning.
You were deserted, but you did not desert us.
You were despised, but you did not despise humanity.
You were ridiculed, but you did not ridicule the guilty.
You withstood the darkness to offer us light.
I receive the ashes.
I draw closer to you.
I receive the ashes.
As the ashes are spread across my forehead
I am reminded of your love for all people.
Your love is from everlasting to everlasting.
Your love knows no worthy or unworthy.
Your love cannot be bought through wealth
nor acquired through fame.
Your love is complete.
I receive the ashes.
I draw closer to humankind.
I receive the ashes.
As I wear these ashes on my forehead
may they make a lasting impression upon my heart
to be more emptied of self, and more centered in you.
I receive the ashes.
I walk the path toward your waters of renewal.
I receive the ashes. Amen.
Hymn #188 Give Me a Clean Heart Douroux
Postlude
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