Photo: Derbrauni licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.

How do you experience repentance and renewal in your life? Join Rev. Rob McPherson as he prays with Marianne von Werefkin’s Ash Wednesday, exploring themes of humility, mortality, and God’s mercy. What is God inviting you to leave behind and what new path might God be calling you to walk?

Joel 2:12-13

Use this guide for prayer and contemplation. Read slowly, pausing as needed for silence and reflection.

Opening

Settle into a comfortable position. Let your shoulders soften. Unclench your jaw. Rest your hands.

Take a slow breath in. And a slower breath out.

God of mercy, meet us here.

Reflection on Contemplative Prayer

As we encounter God in the intimacy of prayer, there are times when we become aware of our sinfulness and our mortality. Sometimes we feel how small we are in the presence of God’s greatness. Sometimes we feel how frail our lives are beside God’s power. Sometimes we feel how imperfect we are when faced with the Holy One. Such emotions are okay. And they call us to respond.

In Scripture, people put on sackcloth and ashes as signs of repentance as they draw near to you and ask forgiveness. From this came the tradition of Ash Wednesday: a day of repentance and return, acknowledging our humanness as we come to you in worship. Often we receive ashes in the shape of a cross, with the words, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Scripture

Joel 2:12-13 (The Inclusive Bible)

“But know this,” says YHWH: “Return to me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning. 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.

Holy Spirit, come near in these words. As qw gaze on the painting, let this call to return find a home in your our heart.

Artwork for Prayerful Reflection

Ash Wednesday, by Marianne von Werefkin

Notice the leafless tree, touched with ice or snow, rising at the left.

See the line of people, dressed in color, walking toward it through light, colorful snow. They seem hunched against the wind, wrapped tightly, hands tucked in, eyes lowered. No one speaks. And yet they walk the same path.

In the distance there is a church, and calm water with a solitary boat—while other boats remain on shore. The light hangs low, as if it is morning or evening.

Stay here a moment.

Reflection Questions

As you look over the painting, what detail draws your attention first?

What do you notice in the leafless, icy tree, and what does it awaken in you—memory, grief, honesty, hope?

As you watch the people walk together in silence, what do you sense about the weight each person carries?

Where do you feel the cold in your own life right now, and what words do you want to speak to God about it?

When you hear, “Return to me with all your heart,” what part of your heart feels most distant or guarded?

What might it mean for you today to “tear open your heart,” and what might you need to release to make space for God?

As you notice the church in the background, what kind of return do you long for—toward worship, toward community, toward truth, toward rest?

As you see the solitary boat on calm water, what image comes to you of beginning again—or of coming home at last?

What do you sense God saying to you about the path you are on, and how do you want to answer?

If God is calling you to something in this season of repentance and return, what is one small, faithful next step?

Closing

May the almighty and merciful God, who desires not the death of a sinner, but that we turn from wickedness and live, accept your repentance, forgive your sins, and restore you by the Holy Spirit to newness of life. Amen.