“Alas! And did my Savior bleed, And did my sov’reign die? Would He devote that sacred head For such a worm as I?” (LSB 437:1) These words of Isaac Watts set the tone for our Ash Wednesday worship. We begin our time in Isaiah 40–55 with a verse where God calls the exilic community in Babylon a worm (41:14). Their hopelessness is epitomized in Psalm 22:1, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” And then in Psalm 22:6 David says, “I am a worm and not a man.” Ash Wednesday is a time to acknowledge who we are in God’s sight and then receive His gracious absolution. Our Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, declares us loved and forgiven. And He goes one step further. In Jesus Christ, our God transforms worms into mountain movers (Isaiah 41:15). There is a word for that—grace!

 Isaiah 41:14–16

14Fear not, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel! I am the one who helps you, declares the Lord;  your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

15Behold, I make of you a threshing sledge, new, sharp, and having teeth;

you shall thresh the mountains and crush them, and you shall make the hills like chaff;

16you shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away,

and the tempest shall scatter them.

And you shall rejoice in the Lord; in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.