February 18, 2026 – Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday, is the first day of Lent, the 40 days that precede Holy Week and Easter. In the Christian Scriptures the number 40 relates to the period spent in the Ark by Noah, the period spent by Israel seeking the Promised Land after the Exodus, and the amount of time Jesus was in the Wilderness after his baptism and prior to beginning his ministry. For us, the Season of Lent is an invitation to 40 days of renewal (“Lent” means “spring”), 40 days to prepare ourselves to take in the Good News of Easter through deeper disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Ashes are the traditional sign of sorrow and repentance and are also a sign of “mortality”. Receiving this symbol reminds us that God’s love is triumphant over sin and death, and that God remains “in communion” with us, that in Christ, our mortality is overcome.
Call to Worship
We come burdened by regrets,
trembling in our mourning.
We know that the Lord is gracious and merciful,
and we trust that God will lift our burdens.
As one people, with all our differences,
we give ourselves to God,
seeking healing and redemption.
In honesty and repentance,
we worship the Lord
and bless God’s holy name.
Unison Prayer of the Day
God of wisdom and mercy,
we turn to you aware of our need for you.
In a season of wandering,
we pray that you will guide us along right paths:
paths of curiosity when we are disillusioned,
paths of hope when we despair,
paths of open doors when we are stuck,
and paths of transformation
when we are corrupted.
Wipe the stain of shame from our brows
and mark us instead
with the sign of your holy presence,
so that we may travel with you
in renewed joy and courage,
living as your people
and acting with your wisdom and mercy,
in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Hymn No. 829 “My Faith Looks Up to Thee”
1 My faith looks up to thee,
thou Lamb of Calvary,
Savior divine!
Now hear me while I pray;
take all my guilt away;
O let me from this day
be wholly thine!
2 May thy rich grace impart
strength to my fainting heart,
my zeal inspire;
as thou hast died for me,
O may my love to thee
pure, warm, and changeless be,
a living fire!
3 While life’s dark maze I tread
and griefs around me spread,
be thou my guide;
bid darkness turn to day;
wipe sorrow’s tears away;
nor let me ever stray
from thee aside.
4 When ends life’s transient dream,
when death’s cold, sullen stream
shall o’er me roll;
blest Savior, then, in love,
fear and distrust remove;
O bear me safe above,
a ransomed soul!
Scripture Readings Psalm 51
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.
18Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
19then you will delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
Hymn No. 708 “We Give Thee but Thine Own”
1 We give thee but thine own,
whate’er the gift may be;
all that we have is thine alone,
a trust, O Lord, from thee.
2 May we thy bounties thus
as stewards true receive,
and gladly, as thou blessest us,
to thee our firstfruits give.
3 The captive to release,
to God the lost to bring,
to teach the way of life and peace:
it is a Christ-like thing.
4 And we believe thy word,
though dim our faith may be;
whate’er we do for thine, O Lord,
we do it unto thee.
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
6 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before others in order to be seen by them, for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your alms may be done in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
5 “And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
16 “And whenever you fast, do not look somber, like the hypocrites, for they mark their faces to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Meditation
“How is it with your Soul?” is the question John Wesley would ask at the beginning of a small group gathering. Wesley was an 18th century Anglican priest, better known as an evangelist who started the Methodist movement. He traveled to England preaching the Gospel on the streets to thousands of people, forming societies to disciple converts to mature faith in Jesus through an emphasis on holiness of heart and life. These societies formed small groups called Bands that met on a weekly basis to pray, worship, and discuss the spiritual condition of their hearts. Although the discussions varied, the starting question was always the same.
“How is it with your Soul?” This is such a personal, deep question. Educators know that you often have to warm up a small group, asking simple and safe questions to get a discussion going. Not so with Wesley, he dove deep from the very start, cutting to the chase and setting the tone for these group meetings – namely, that what they were talking about was both a serious and a personal matter.
Tonight, as we begin the season of Lent, this is the question that confronts us. We start a 40 day period of time, not including Sundays, that is designed to be an intense time of self-reflection and introspection. It reminds us of the time that Jesus spent in the wilderness following his baptism, described in the gospels as a time of trial and testing. Lent seeks to strip us down, remove those distractions in our lives, and helps us focus our attentions on what really matters in our lives – the very condition of our souls. Or, to put it in the words of Jesus at the end of our text this evening, where are our hearts?
For us, the word “heart” does not really carry the weight it did in Biblical times. We associate it with Valentine’s day and romantic love, and often leave it at that. In contrast, the word “heart” appears more than a thousand times in the Bible, and is seen as a comprehensive metaphor for the self. As Marcus Borg describes it, in Scripture:
The heart is an image for the self at a deep level, deeper than our perception, intellect, emotion, and volition. As the spiritual center of the total self, it affects all of these: our sight, thought, feelings, and will.
So, to identify where one’s heart is means identifying what is at the center of one’s core identity and motivations in this life. What is it that drives everything else?
Our text indicates that finding the location of our hearts is as easy as looking to where our treasures are. There are many things that we treasure, aren’t there? We first think about material possessions – our homes, cars, clothing, all the “stuff” that we have surrounded ourselves with to try to make us feel happy, successful and fulfilled. Other things we treasure because of their meaningfulness to us – a family heirloom for example, a childhood teddy bear. In my family of origin, there is an ongoing debate between my siblings and me about a set of plastic ketchup and mustard containers that look like pigs, and who will inherit them. They have minimal “real” value, but tremendous nostalgia for us – they are treasures. One commentator notes that:
“Treasure is defined by being a focus of attention, energy, imagination, and resourcefulness. While we often think of the treasures that Jesus warns against as material goods, “treasures upon the earth” is probably a wider category, encompassing not only physical possessions but such values as success, security, happiness, or even life itself.”
We can treasure non-material things, too. Whether it is a focus on physical appearance, promotions at work, our reputation, or a gift or ability. There are many things in our lives that are important to us and that we value. Lent asks us to consider which of these “treasures” might be getting in the way of our relationship with God.
To help discern this, many use these 40 days as an opportunity to deny themselves something – from chocolate to soda to Facebook. I’ve even seen countless postings suggesting that people use this season to literally de-clutter their homes, from putting one item in a donation bag each day, to filling one bag each day, ending up with a pile of 40 bags of “stuff” that we no longer need. These can be valuable ways to help us identify where we really are placing our time and energy. But, Lent is about more than just depriving ourselves of something we enjoy or kicking a bad habit. And it has to be more than about a good spring cleaning for our homes. It is about where our heart is in all of this. The key to any of these practices of “giving things up for Lent” is to remember that by freeing ourselves from the binds of these other “treasures” in the world, we believe we might be more open to deepening our relationship with God. Our hearts have to have this intention in order to make it a spiritual practice, rather than just a self-improvement tool.
There’s another way some approach Lenten disciplines, and that is by adding a spiritual practice. One of my friends is using these 40 days to intentionally take walks on her own and be more aware of the world around her. She intends for these walks to be a way of embodied prayer, making her slow down and spend intentional time on her spiritual life. Often, additions like these incorporate the three traditional spiritual practices of Lent – Almsgiving (or service), prayer, and fasting. These ways of living out faith have deep biblical roots, and have been practiced by Christians throughout the centuries as a way of drawing closer to God. However, sometimes our best intentions for these practices end up misguided. As author, Patrick Wilson notes:
God gives us the good gifts of almsgiving, prayer, and fasting so that we may draw near to God, and we anxiously transform them into performances.
If we aren’t careful, we turn these practices into being all about us – how pious and good we are at being Christian. They become just like treasures to us, distracting our hearts from what matters.
This is the caution Jesus is giving in the Sermon on the Mount to those who are practicing their faith in ways that are more about showing off to others than showing up with God. Lavish displays of how much money is placed in an offering plate, boasting about how much one does for the church to get the recognition of others, prayers that are over the top and meant for others to overhear (perhaps more than God), and fasting done to such an extreme that it is paraded around to garner the sympathy and respect of others. All of these examples, Jesus indicates, seem to miss the point. They have become more about the person’s ego than about their relationship with God. Jesus shines the spotlight in these examples on our tendency to be self-absorbed, even in our faith practices. In these instances, the heart is misplaced in pride and self-interest.
In our desire to be “seen by others,” “heard by others,” and “praised by others,” we lose touch with the very theological foundations of this faith: communion with and the glorification of God.
Lent humbles us out of these ways, and seeks to help us get our hearts back in the right place.
Because when we start to really look around us, we realize that our hearts are often surrounded by “treasures” that may in fact be building walls around us that close us off from God. And on top of those treasures, we see all those other instances of ways in which we have become separated from the people God has created us to be. We notice our sinfulness, a painful reflection in the mirror and looming tower before us. On Ash Wednesday, we begin to break down those walls and are left with a mess. The dust of our mess marks us as we place ashes on our forehead. We are reminded of our sinfulness and our mortality. At the same time, though, we are marked with the cross, a reminder of whose we are, a God who not only sits on the hillside with us, but went to that same cross that marks us this night for us, so that sin and death would never have the final world. On this night, we can be marked with a sign of death because we know that we worship a God who can overcome it. Our ashes are a witness to our belief that we cannot do this on our own – we are solely and utterly dependent on God.
And so, we speak the words of the Psalmist in prayer, “Create in me a clean heart, O God,” expressing our desire to get our hearts in the right place again, and humbly asking God to help us in that task. In these 40 days of Lent, may we trust God to put a new and right spirit within us, so that the treasures we have in this world, and indeed our very hearts, might also be with the Lord. Amen.
Affirmation of Faith Patmos Abbey—The Order of Saint Columba
We believe that our lives are held within the encircling love of God, who knows our names and recognizes our deepest needs. We believe that Christ is the divine Child of the living God, and that his grace is like living waters that can never be exhausted. We believe in the birthing, renewing, enabling Spirit of God who yearns over our welfare as a mother yearns for her child. We believe that God is in the arid desert as well as in green pastures, and that hard times and disciplines are also loving gifts. We believe that our journey has a purpose and a destination, and that our path leads to a human glory we cannot yet imagine. We believe that in the church we are fellow pilgrims on the road, and that we are called to love one another as God loves us. This is our faith and we are humbled to profess in Jesus the Christ. Amen
Hymn No. 223 “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”
1 When I survey the wondrous cross
on which the Prince of glory died,
my richest gain I count but loss,
and pour contempt on all my pride.
2 Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
save in the death of Christ my God;
all the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to his blood.
3 See, from his head, his hands, his feet,
sorrow and love flow mingled down;
did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
or thorns compose so rich a crown?
4 Were the whole realm of nature mine,
that were a present far too small;
love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all.
Invitation to the Observation of the Lenten Discipline
Friends in Christ, every year at the time of the Christian Passover we celebrate our redemption through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Lent is a time to prepare for this celebration and to renew our lives in the paschal mystery. We begin this holy season by acknowledging our need for repentance, and for the mercy and forgiveness proclaimed in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We begin our journey to Easter with the sign of ashes. This ancient sign speaks of the frailty and uncertainty of human life, and marks the penitence of this community.
I invite you, therefore, in the name of Christ, to observe a holy Lent by self-examination and penitence, by prayer and fasting, by works of love, and by reading and meditating on the Word of God.
Let us bow before God, our Creator and Redeemer, and confess our sins.
Silent Confession
Imposition of Ashes & Reception of Symbol of the Season
*Do you fast? — John Chrysostom (347-407)
Do you fast? Give me proof of it by your works.
If you see a poor man, take pity on him.
If you see a friend being honored, do not envy him. Do not let only your mouth fast, but also the eye and the ear and the feet and the hands and all the members of our bodies.
Let the hands fast, by being free of avarice.
Let the feet fast, by ceasing to run after sin.
Let the eyes fast, by disciplining them not to glare at that which is sinful.
Let the ear fast, by not listening to evil talk and gossip.
Let the mouth fast from foul words and unjust criticism.
For what good is it if we abstain from birds and fishes, but bite and devour our brothers?
May He who came to the world to save sinners, strengthen us to complete the fast with humility, have mercy on us and save us.
Amen.