On Ash Wednesday at Holy Covenant United Church of Christ, we entered Lent the way we most need to: not by pretending we are fine, but by telling the truth with tenderness. We were welcomed into a Service of Ashes that named both the ache we carry and the hope God keeps offering—moment by moment, breath by breath, new beginning by new beginning.

Our Call to Worship framed the night as a shared pilgrimage: a journey of learning to love, learning the ways of peace, and returning home to God—together. We came to listen to each other’s stories, to acknowledge our complicity in the state of the world, to receive forgiveness and to practice reconciliation as authentic community.

The opening hymn, “Near to the Heart of God”, did what true worship does: it made room. A place of quiet rest. A place of comfort. A place of release. Then the opening prayer asked for what Lent always asks for—clean hearts, renewed spirits, and lives worthy of love.

In Psalm 51, we heard the raw honesty of a soul that refuses denial: Create a clean heart for me, O God… put a new, faithful spirit deep inside me. It was confession without self-destruction—truth spoken in the presence of mercy.

The hymn “Sunday’s Palms Are Wednesday’s Ashes” held up a mirror: naming jealousy, pride, impatience, wasted resources, ignored suffering—then turning that naming into offering. Not to wallow, but to return. Not to spiral, but to begin again.

The heart of the service came through Pastor Chris’ reflection on han—a Korean word for the deep sadness and suffering that emerges from violence and injustice, a sense of powerlessness that can become a heavy “lump” in a life. Han was described as tangled webs of wrongs and hurts—fear, resentment, hostility, neglect—layer upon layer. And then we were invited to do something holy: to gather our own layers, and bring them into the light.

In a symbolic act of transformation (han-pu-ri), we wrote what needed release—what needed forgiveness, what needed to die—then carried it to the fire. We did not burn these truths to forget them, but as a sign that we will be aware and choose differently. We offered our han to God, praying it might be transformed into power and hope.

Afterward, the ashes of our prayers were mixed with the ashes of last year’s palms—a profound sign that our endings are never wasted, and that even grief can become soil. Then came the invitation that makes Ash Wednesday unmistakably real: traditional ashes and glitter ashes.

Glitter ashes were offered as a visible witness that repentance and hope can coexist—and as a reclaiming of this day for those harmed or excluded by the church. Glitter, a symbol of resilience and flourishing in the queer community, was blended with ashes to proclaim a faith that reconciles rather than harms, a faith that reflects Christ’s radical and boundless love for all.

As each person received the sign of the cross, we heard the ancient words—“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” And we answered with a promise shaped by Easter before Easter arrives: “Yet, out of death comes new life.”

We closed with prayer that God can hold what we cannot admit, name what we cannot speak, remember what we try to forget—and make us whole through Christ. Then we sang “Abide with Me”, a hymn for twilight seasons, trusting the One who stays when other helpers fail.

📖🙏 Order of Worship Highlights:

• Call to Worship: A shared journey of love, mercy, humility, and authentic community
• Hymn: “Near to the Heart of God” (McAfee)
• Opening Prayer: “Create in us clean hearts… renew our spirits”
• Song: “God, Be Merciful to Me” (Redhead 76)
• Scripture: Psalm 51 (CEB)
• Hymn: “Sunday’s Palms Are Wednesday’s Ashes” (Beach Spring)
• Reflection: “Story of Han” — Rev. Christopher Czarnecki
• Symbolic Act: Writing our han; bringing it to the fire (han-pu-ri)
• Mixing of Ashes: Ashes of our prayers + last year’s palms
• Traditional & Glitter Ashes: A sign that repentance and hope can coexist
• Imposition of Ashes: “Remember that you are dust…” / “Yet, out of death comes new life.”
• Hymn: “Abide with Me” (Eventide)
• Benediction: Rev. Christopher Czarnecki

“Repentance is not punishment—it is turning. And even now, God is already at work: releasing, renewing, making all things new.”