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Ash Wednesday Readings
Ash Wednesday ……………………………….. March 9
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 or Isaiah 58:1-12
Psalm 51:1-17
2 Corinthians 5:20b – 6:10
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
1 Blow the shofar in Zion!
Sound the alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all the people of the land tremble!
for the day of Yhwh is coming—it is near—
2 a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of fog and dense clouds.
A vast and countless horde appears
like soot spread over the hills;
it is like something never known before,
nor will be seen in ages to come.
12 “But know this,” says Yhwh:
“Return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, weeping, and mourning.
13 Tear open your heart,
not your clothes!”
Return to Yhwh your God,
who is gracious and deeply loving as a mother,
quick to forgive, abundantly tender-hearted—
and relents from inflicting disaster.
14 Who knows? God may come back, relent,
and leave a blessing behind—
grain and drink offerings
for Yhwh your God.
15 Sound the shofar in Zion!
Order a fast!
Proclaim a solemn assembly!
16 Gather the people!
Purify the community!
Assemble the elders!
Gather the children—
even infants at the breast!
Let the bridegroom leave his bedroom
and the bride her canopied bed!
17 Let the priests, the ministers of Yhwh,
stand weeping between the portico and the altar
and say, “Spare your people, Yhwh!
Don’t let your heritage become an object of ridicule,
a byword for the Nations!
Don’t let the peoples say, ‘where is their God?’”
Isaiah 58:1-12
1 Shout for all you are worth,
raise your voice like a trumpet!
Proclaim to the people their faults,
tell the house of Leah and Rachel and Jacob their sins!
2 They seek me daily, they long to know my ways,
like a nation that wants to act with integrity
and not ignore the Law of its God.
They ask me for laws that are just,
they long for God to draw near.
3 Yet they say, ‘why should we fast if you never see it?
Why do penance if you never notice?’
Because when you fast, it’s business as usual,
and you oppress all your workers!
4 Because when you fast, you quarrel and fight
and strike the poor with your fist!
Fasting like yours today
will never make your voice heard on high!
5 Is that the sort of fast that pleases me—
a day when people humiliate themselves,
hanging their heads like a reed,
lying down on sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call fasting,
a day acceptable to Yhwh?
6 On the contrary! This is the sort of fast that pleases me:
Remove the chains of injustice! Undo the ropes of the yoke!
Let those who are oppressed go free,
And break every yoke you encounter!
7 Share your bread with those who are hungry,
and shelter homeless poor people!
Clothe those who are naked,
and don’t hide from the needs of your own flesh and blood!
8 Do this, and your light will shine like the dawn—
and your healing will break forth like lightning!
Your integrity will go before you,
and the Glory of Yhwh will be your rearguard.
9 Cry, and Yhwh will answer;
call, and God will say, ‘I am here’—
provided you remove from your midst
all oppression, finger pointing, and malicious talk!
10 If you give yourself to the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your shadows will become like noon.
11 Yhwh will always guide you,
giving relief in desert places.
God will give strength to your bones
and you will be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water whose waters never run dry.
12 You will rebuild the ancient ruins,
and build upon age-old foundations.
You will be called Repairer of broken walls,
and Restorer of Ruined neighborhoods.
2 Corinthians 5:20b – 6:10
20b We implore you in Christ’s name: be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake, God made the One who was without sin to be sin, so that by this means we might become the very holiness of God. 6:1 As Christ’s coworkers we beg you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 2 For God says through Isaiah, “At the acceptable time I heard you, and on the day of salvation I helped you.” Now is the acceptable time! Now is the day of salvation!
3 We take pains to avoid giving offense to anyone, for we don’t want our ministry to be blamed. 4 Instead, in all that we do we try to present ourselves as ministers of God, acting with patient endurance amid trials, difficulties, distresses, 5 beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger. 6 We conduct ourselves with innocence, knowledge, patience and kindness in the Holy Spirit, in sincere love, 7 with the message of truth and the power of God, wielding the weapons of justice with both right hand and left— 8 regardless of whether we are honored or dishonored, spoken of favorably or unfavorably. We are called impostors, yet we are truthful; 9 we are called unknowns, yet we are famous; we are said to be dying, yet we are alive; punished, but not put to death; 10sorrowful, though we are always rejoicing; poor, yet we enrich many. We seem to have nothing, yet we possess everything!
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
1 “Beware of practicing your piety before others to attract their attention; if you do this, you will have no reward from your Abba God in heaven.
2 “When you do acts of charity, for example, don’t have it trumpeted before you; that is what hypocrites do in the synagogues and the streets, that they may be praised by others. The truth is, they’ve already received their reward in full. 3 But when you do acts of charity, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing; 4 your good deeds must be done in secret, and your Abba God—who sees all that is done in secret—will repay you.
5 “And when you pray, don’t behave like the hypocrites; they love to pray standing up in the synagogues and on street corners for people to see them. The truth is, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go to your room, shut the door, and pray to God who is in that secret place, and your Abba God—who sees all that is done in secret—will reward you.
16 “And when you fast, don’t look depressed like the hypocrites. They deliberately neglect their appearance to let everyone know that they are fasting. The truth is, they have already received their reward. 17 But when you fast, brush your hair and wash your face.
18 Don’t let anyone know you’re fasting except your Abba God, who sees all that is done in secret. and Abba God—who sees everything that is done in secret—will reward you.
19 “Don’t store up earthly treasures for yourselves, which moths and rust destroy and thieves can break in and steal. 20 But store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor rust can destroy them and thieves cannot break in and steal them. 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be as well.
From The Inclusive Bible, a translation by Priests for Equality. This is a movement of women and men throughout the world—laity, religious and clergy—who work for the full participation of women and men in church and society. A project of the Quixote Center in Brentwood, Maryland, Priests for Equality is a grass-roots organization committed to creating a culture where sexism and exclusion are left behind and equality and full participation are the order of the day.