February 18, 2026
Ash Wednesday
Isaiah 58:1-12 | "Break Forth"

Call to Worship (Inspired by Isaiah 58:6-9 NRSVUE)
One: Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free and break every yoke?
Many: Is it not sharing our bread with the hungry and bringing the homeless poor into our house when we see the naked, to cover them and not hide ourselves from our own kin?
One: Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you; the glory of God shall be your rear guard.
Many: Then we shall call, and HE will answer.
All: We shall cry for help, and SHE will say, “Here I am.”

Invocation
Divine Maker, the One who crafted bodies both earthly and celestial, we attune to your presence. May the words spoken, the songs sung, and the prayers offered in this sacred space, resonate with us and through us. May what we experience here cause us to break forth with a renewed sense of hope and joy. Amen

Prayer for Transformation and New Life 
Lifter of Our Heads, help us to turn away from hollow thoughts and empty rituals. Let nothing false be found in us. Sustain us in our desire to worship you in spirit and in truth. Help us to see the sacred all around us and in us and to treat each other like the Divine image bearers we are.

Words of Grace (Inspired by Isaiah 58:11 NRSVUE)
Beloved, rest assured that the Holy one will guide you continually and satisfy your needs in parched places and make your bones strong, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters never fail.

Communion and Ritual of Breath and Ashes
In a beginning, Spirit formed the human body from dust and then breathed into that body and the human became a living soul. The dust was pulled from the cosmos, the stars. Stars contain oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen, and so do we. We are alive because the Spirit animates us and our spirits are clothed in flesh made from stars.  Let us honor the words of Ecclesiastes 12:7 (MSG)

The body is put back in the same ground it came from.
The spirit returns to God, who first breathed it.

One: We give thanks for the closeness we have in you and with you O God.
Many: You are always as close as our next breath.
One: We marvel at how intentional you were in our design.
Many: You crafted us from stars and like stars, bid us to shine
One: We broke forth with you, shining in a beginning.
Many: And we will return to you luminously, in the end.
One: Beloved, we gather in this solemn moment, to pause and to reflect.
Many: We reflect on the bread that was broken and the cup that was shared.
All: We remember.

Words of Institution (I Corinthians 11:23-26 NRSVUE)
One: On the night Jesus was betrayed, he took a loaf of bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
Many: We remember
One: In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.” Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me”.
Many: We remember
One: For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
All: We partake in remembrance

Sharing of Bread and Cup

Marking with Ashes:
“From dust/ stardust you came and to dust/stardust you shall return”

Breath of Life, thank you for bread/ body and cup/blood, for breath and dust, and for all that makes you and us, we. Keep us ever flourishing in our becoming. Amen.

Invitation to Generosity
The gifts of God break forth in many forms. Let us give from the flow of how we’ve been gifted and blessed, back to the One who had gifted and blessed us. Amen.

Prayer of Thanksgiving and Dedication
Holy one, receive these gifts in the gratitude we give them. May every need to be met throughout the kin-dom and some wants too! Amen.

Benediction
As you make your way back out into the world at large, remember that you are made of the stuff of stars, that you are animated by the Divine and that we are here to light each other’s path home. Go forth, break forth, renew, and transform, every space you inhabit.

Break Forth: Service Prayers for Ash Wednesday Year A was written by Rev. Teña T. Nock, who serves as The Associate Pastor of Digital Ministry, First United Church of Tampa, United Church of Christ. Mystic in the making.