Ash Wednesday

ASH WEDNESDAY

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WELCOME TO WORSHIP | Ash Wednesday | february 18, 2026

a diverse, inclusive church experiencing and reflecting the love, hope and joy of Jesus Christ

to each other and our community.

GATHERING in silence and meditation

PRELUDE
Jesus Loves Me | arr. David Paxton
Chuck Stanley, organ

WELCOME | Pastor Doug Johns

WAYS TO CONNECT | christchurchfl.org/ways2connect
Please see below.

* CALL TO WORSHIP | Pastor Cathy Johns
We gather at the threshold of Lent, aware of our need for God’s mercy and grace.
We come seeking renewal, trusting in God’s compassion and steadfast love.

God knows us completely—our thoughts, our struggles, our hopes, and our fears.
Nothing in us is hidden from the one who formed and sustains us.

God calls us to turn our hearts back toward love, truth, and faithful living.
We come with humility, longing for hearts made clean and spirits made new.

Come, let us worship the God who searches us, restores us, and leads us in the way of life.
With gratitude and hope, we draw near to God.

* GATHERING HYMN
Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days | The United Methodist Hymnal No. 269 (verses 1,2,4,5)
Lord, who throughout these forty days, for us did fast and pray.
Teach us with you to mourn our sins, and close by you to stay.

As you with Satan did contend, and did the victory win,
O give us strength in you to fight, in you to conquer sin.

And through these days of penitence, and through your passiontide,
Yea, evermore, in life and death, Jesus with us abide.

Abide with us, that so this life of suffering over past,
an Easter of unending joy we may attain at last.

OPENING PRAYER
Gracious God, you see us as we truly are. You know the paths we have walked, the burdens we carry, and the ways we fall short of your hope for us. You meet us with compassion that is deeper than our failures and wider than our fears. On this Ash Wednesday, we come before you with humble hearts, acknowledging our need for your forgiveness and renewal. Cleanse what is broken within us. Create in us hearts that seek truth and spirits that are willing to follow your leading. You have guided us through every season of life, remaining present even when we wandered or felt lost. As we begin this journey of reflection, remind us that we never walk alone. Guide us in the days ahead, and hold us in your steadfast love. Amen.

SCRIPTURE
Psalm 51:1-17 | New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
¹Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy,
blot out my transgressions.
²Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.

³For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
⁴Against you, you alone, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
and blameless when you pass judgment.
⁵Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.

⁶You desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
⁷Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
⁸Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
⁹Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.

¹⁰Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
¹¹Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
¹²Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.

¹³Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
¹⁴Deliver me from bloodshed, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.

¹⁵O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
¹⁶For you have no delight in sacrifice;
if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.
¹⁷The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Psalm 139:1-3, 7-12, 23-24 | New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
¹ O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
²You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.
³You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.

…

⁷Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
⁸If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
⁹If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
¹⁰even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast.
¹¹If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and night wraps itself around me,”
¹²even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

…

²³Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my thoughts.
²⁴See if there is any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

These are the words of God for us, the people of God. Thanks be to God

MEDITATION | Pastor Doug Johns

LITANY OF PENITENCE
Most Holy and merciful God: We confess to you and to one another, and to the whole communion of saints in heaven and on earth;
We confess that we have sinned by our own fault in thought, word, and deed; by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.

We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind, and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven others as we have been forgiven.
Have mercy on us, Lord.

We have been deaf to your call to serve as Christ served us. We have not been true to the mind of Christ.
We have grieved your Holy Spirit.
Have mercy on us, Lord.

We confess to you, Lord, all our past unfaithfulness: the pride, hypocrisy, and impatience of our lives.
We confess to you, Lord.

For all false judgments, for uncharitable thoughts toward our neighbors, and for our prejudice and contempt toward those who differ from us,
Accept our repentance, Lord.

Restore us, good Lord, and accomplish in us the work of your salvation.
That we may show forth your glory in the world.

INVITATION TO THE OBSERVANCE OF LENTEN DISCIPLINE
People of God, each year we remember and celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which he overcame death and provided for us redemption from sin. Lent is a season of preparation for this celebration, a time for personal and communal renewal and penitence. I invite you to self-examination, prayer, meditation upon God's Word, giving of alms, and fasting during this season of Lent. May God bless us as we strive to walk in the way of our Lord.

THANKSGIVING OVER THE ASHES AND IMPOSITION
We begin our Lenten observance by using the ancient symbol of ashes. By this we are reminded of our own frailty and mortality and are called to humility and penitence. Let us pray:

Almighty God, you have created us out of the dust of the earth. May these ashes be to us a sign of our mortality, that we may remember that only by your gracious gift are we given everlasting life. Amen.

Please come forward to receive ashes in the sign of the cross on your forehead and receive this ancient blessing: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return; repent and believe in the gospel.”

PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Have mercy on us, O God, according to your steadfast love. Create in us clean hearts and renew a right spirit within us.

Almighty and everlasting God, we enter this season of Lent in penitence and humility, aware of our own mortality and sinfulness. Encourage us with your presence, we pray, that we may empty ourselves of whatever separates us from you and one another. Teach us to rely on no strength but yours, as we journey with your Son toward your kingdom through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

OFFERING
worshiping through the offering of our lives and gifts

· Place offerings in the plates or wooden boxes

· Give online at christchurchfl.org/give

· Text GIVE to 954.880.3885

· Mail a check to Christ Church, 4845 NE 25^th Ave., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308

Connect cards may also be placed with your offering.

Christ Church is a congregationally supported ministry. We thank you for your faithfulness as we reflect the love, hope and joy of Jesus to our community.

MUSIC MINISTRY
Cleft for Me | Mark Hayes
Chancel Choir
Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee; let the water and the blood from thy wounded side which flowed, be of sin the double cure, cleanse me from its guilt and power. Not the labors of my hands can fulfill thy law’s demands. Could my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow, all for sin could not atone; thou must save and thou alone. Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling; naked, come to thee for dress, helpless, look to thee for grace. Foul, I to the fountain fly, wash me, Savior, or I die! While I draw this fleeting breath, when my eyes shall close in death, when I soar to worlds unknown and see thee on thy judgment throne, Rock of Ages, cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee.

THE GREAT THANKSGIVING
The Lord be with you.
all And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
all We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
all It is right to give our thanks and praise.

...

And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven, we praise your name and join their unending hymn:
all Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

...

And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving, as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ's offering for us, as we proclaim the mystery of faith.

all Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and cup. Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood. By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world, until Christ comes in final victory, and we feast at his heavenly banquet.

Through your Son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy church, all honor and glory is yours, almighty God, now and forever. Amen.

THE LORD’S PRAYER
all Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

You do not need to be a member of Christ Church or a United Methodist to come to the table. Christ himself is host and welcomes all.

GATHERING AT THE LORD’S TABLE

PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION

all Eternal God, we give you thanks for this holy mystery in which you have given yourself to us. Grant that we may go into the world in the strength of your Spirit, to give ourselves for others, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

* CLOSING HYMN
You Have Searched Me, O Lord, and Known Me | CONVERSE
You have searched me, Lord, and known me! All my life is in your care.

When I lie awake in evening, you are always with me there.

When I rise to greet the morning in an attitude of praise,

What I learn from you is humbling: you already know my ways.

Lord, you know the song I'm singing and my words before I pray.

You're behind me and before me as I travel through each day.

You once knit me all together; you created me by grace.

In your eyes, you see and love me as you treasure all my days.

Lord, I try to learn your wisdom, but I cannot understand.

Yet your love is all around me; I am part of all you've planned.

Let me sing your praise each morning, let me serve you all day through,

And in evening, make me peaceful, knowing this: I'm loved by you!