“For hundreds of years, Christians have observed with great devotion the days of our Lord’s passion and resurrection, and it became a custom to the Church to prepare for them by a season of penitence and fasting.”
The Common Book of Prayer
It is a time dedicated to “self-examination and repentance; by prayer and fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.” (CBP)
Below is a prayer for Ash Wednesday. I invite you into this season of self-examination and repentance by prayer and fasting and self-denial and by reading and meditating on God’s Holy Word. We will be reciting a prayer for each of the five weeks of Lent on Sunday mornings, after we read the Psalms, and before we recite the creed. May this season truly be a time in which God creates in us a clean heart and restores to use the joy of our salvation, through Jesus Christ the crucified and risen Lord. (You can read these five prayers in The Common Book of Prayer). Here is a prayer for Ash Wednesday:
Almighty and Everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive all the sins of all who are penitent;
Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting of our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.