Ash Wednesday-2013

The First day of Lent,

Commonly called Ash-Wednesday.

The Collect.

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made and dost forgive the sins of all them that are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

{This Collect is to be read every day in Lent after the Collect appointed for the Day.}

Old Testament Reading: Joel 2.12-17

Psalter: Psalm 51

Gospel Reading: St. Matthew 6.16-21

Barbee and Zahl: “This is a new Collect composed by Cranmer to replace one which emphasized fasting rather than repentance. The key to hearing this Collect in a fresh and vital mode is its opening description of God, “which hatest nothing that thou hast made.” We have seen in Cranmer’s scheme, ( . . . ) an express negation of natural effort, of natural temperament, and even of natural gifts. But it is not nihilism that is at work here. Despite the closed-system of the natural world, God nevertheless hates nothing He has made. God’s negation of our presumption is preface to his affirmation of the rightly diagnosed human person. He forgives the sins of “all them that be penitent”: that is, He restores to the sunlight and “yes” of His presence everyone who “gets” the diagnosis. Penitence means seeing things as they are and flinging back that discouraging truth to God to take care of and dispose” (32-3).