Ash Wednesday Prayer
This was the prayer I used for the benediction at this evening's Ash Wednesday service. Several of you asked me for it, so this seems the easiest way to make it available to you all. I can't take any credit for writing it. [I did add a sentence, which you will find in brackets.] Chuck Wilhelm[1] did, for which I give thanks.
Ash Wednesday Prayer
I pray that Christ may come to you early in the morning, as he came to Mary that morning in the garden. [I pray that Christ may meet you at noon, as he met the Samaritan woman at the well.] And, I pray that you find Christ in the night when you need him as Nicodemus did. May Christ come to you while you are a child, for when disciples tried to stop them, Jesus insisted that the children come to him.
I pray that Christ may come to you when you are old, as he came to old Simeon’s arms and made him cry: “Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation.”
And may Christ come to you in your grief as he did for Mary and Martha when they lost their brother. May Christ come to you in joy as he did to the wedding in Cana. And may Christ visit you when you are sick, as he did for the daughter of Jairus, and for so many who could not walk, or stand straight, or see, or hear till he came.
May the Lord Jesus come in answer to your questions as he once did for the lawyer and a rich, young ruler. And in your madness may he stand before you in all his power as he stood among the graves that day before Legion.
May Christ come to you in glory upon your dying day as he did to the thief hanging beside him that Good Friday. And though you seldom come to him, and though you often “make your bed in hell,” as I do, may you find Christ descending there, where the apostles in their creed agreed he went—so you would know there is no place he would not come for you.
Go now in peace to meet your Lord. Amen.
[1] Chuck Wilhelm © 1989 from The Upper Room Worshipbook. Used with permission.