SPCK - Ash Wednesday and Lent

Other choices:-

Ash Wednesday and Lent

Do we need the devil
To do wrong
He's a handy excuse
for human weakness
Should we not just confess
To hurting others and ourselves
Just because we could?

O God,
you have made us for yourself,
and against your longing there is no defence.
Mark us with your love,
and release in us a passion for your justice
in our disfigured world;
that we may turn from our guilt and face you,
our heart's desire.

Janet Morley, The SPCK Book of Christian Prayer

Lord, you bring us from dust to life.
As our flower fades
may we know your peace.
In the wilderness, the city and by the seashore
may we know your presence.
In the market place and on the way
may we hear salvation announced.
Be with us through these forty days and nights
that we may grow in your love
and deepen in faith;
for you are our source and goal
and hold all that passes between. Amen.

Ian Black, Prayers for all Occasions.

O Lord,
The house of my soul is narrow;
enlarge it that you may enter in.
It is ruinous, O repair it!
It displeases Your sight.
I confess it, I know.
But who shall cleanse it,
to whom shall I cry but to you?
Cleanse me from my secret faults, O Lord,
and spare Your servant from strange sins.

St. Augustine of Hippo (AD 354-430)

Merciful Lord, cleanse our hearts that we may offer praise worthy of your name. Give to your Church true penitence and mourning for the sins that would drive a wedge between who we are and all you would have us become ... Wash us and we shall be clean.

God of compassion, travel with us through this season of fasting. Refocus our vision on your eternal promises ... As we let go of our clinging to false treasures so may we find riches beyond measure.

Ian Black, Intercessions for Years A, B and C