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The Dementia Caregiver's Little Book of Hope [Kindle Edition]
Journey to Jerusalem: Scriptures, Meditations, and Prayers From Ash Wednesday Through Easter
Journey to Jerusalem: Scriptures, Meditations, and Prayers From Ash Wednesday Through Easter
For Ash Wednesday, I thought I would share a special Ash Wednesday spiritual circle which is sure to bring peace, comfort and joy to those with Alzheimer’s disease, related dementias, and to other long term care residents.
Begin with an opening hymm. I like:
Blow Ye Trumpets Blow
Other hymns I suggest are:
Ashes to Ashes and
Lay Aside Your Passing Pleasure
Secular songs I suggest are:
Battle Hymn of the Republic
Always
I Love You Truly
I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles
You are My Sunshine
Talk about this reflection
God will deliver His promises as we are able to receive them.
What He is doing is right for us. We should listen to His messenger.
Instead of a story, read this poem
Marked by Ashes Ruler of the Night, Guarantor of the day . . .
This day — a gift from you.
This day — like none other you have ever given, or we have ever received.
This Wednesday dazzles us with gift and newness and possibility.
This Wednesday burdens us with the tasks of the day, for we are already halfway home
halfway back to committees and memos,
halfway back to calls and appointments,
halfway on to next Sunday,
halfway back, half frazzled, half expectant,
half turned toward you, half rather not. This Wednesday is a long way from Ash Wednesday,
but all our Wednesdays are marked by ashes —
we begin this day with that taste of ash in our mouth:
of failed hope and broken promises,
of forgotten children and frightened women,
we ourselves are ashes to ashes, dust to dust;
we can taste our mortality as we roll the ash around on our tongues.We are able to ponder our ashness with
some confidence, only because our every Wednesday of ashes
anticipates your Easter victory over that dry, flaky taste of death. On this Wednesday, we submit our ashen way to you —
you Easter parade of newness.
Before the sun sets, take our Wednesday and Easter us,
Easter us to joy and energy and courage and freedom;
Easter us that we may be fearless for your truth.
Come here and Easter our Wednesday with
mercy and justice and peace and generosity.We pray as we wait for the Risen One who comes soon.
For over thirty years now, Walter Brueggemann (b. 1933) has combined the best of critical scholarship with love for the local church in service to the kingdom of God. Now a professor emeritus of Old Testament studies at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia, Brueggemann has authored over seventy books. Taken from his Prayers for a Privileged People (Nashville: Abingdon, 2008), pp. 27-28
Questions for Discussion:
Q: What is Ash Wednesday?
A:Ash Wednesday is the day Lent begins. It occurs forty days before Good Friday..
Q: Why is it called Ash Wednesday?
A:Actually, Ash Wednesday is its colloquial name. Its official name is the Day of Ashes. It is called Ash Wednesdaybecause, being forty days before Good Friday, it always falls on a Wednesday and it is called AshWednesday because on that day at church the faithful have their foreheads marked with ashes in the shape of a cross
Q: Why do they have their foreheads marked with a cross?
A: Because in the Bible a mark on the forehead is a symbol of a person’s ownership. By having their foreheads marked with the sign of a cross, this symbolizes that the person belongs to Jesus Christ, who died on a Cross..
Q: Where do the ashes used on Ash Wednesday come from?
A: They are made by burning palm fronds which have been saved from the previous year’s Palm Sunday, they are then blessed by a priest
More Prayers
Father in Heaven,
Let Us Pray
[for the grace to keep Lent faithfully]
Lord
Protect us in our struggle against evil.
As we begin the discipline of Lent,
make this season holy by our self-denial.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit
one God, for ever and ever.
International Committee on English in the Liturgy (ICEL)
Penitential Prayer of St. Ambrose of Milan
O Lord, who hast mercy upon all,
take away from me my sins,
and mercifully kindle in me
the fire of thy Holy Spirit.
Take away from me the heart of stone,
and give me a heart of flesh,
a heart to love and adore Thee,
a heart to delight in Thee,
to follow and enjoy Thee, for Christ’s sake, Amen
St. Ambrose of Milan (AD 339-397)
Prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian
O Lord and Master of my life,
give me not the spirit of laziness,
despair, lust of power, and idle talk. (prostration)
But give rather the spirit of sobriety,
humility, patience and love to Thy servant. (prostration)
Yea, O Lord and King,
grant me to see my own transgressions
and not to judge my brother,
for blessed art Thou unto ages of ages. Amen (prostration)
St. Ephraim the Syrian (AD 305-373)
End with the song
This is the Day
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