Ash Wednesday comes, and Lord, we hear
The word for which our spirits yearn;
Amid this world's distress and fear,
We hear your loving call: "Return!"
"Return to me with all your heart"
With fasting, weeping, mourning, too.
O God, we seek a brand new start,
A new beginning here with you.
You call to us — the old, the young;
You summon nations strong and weak.
When we have drifted toward the wrong,
You call us back, your way to seek.
O God most merciful and kind,
Your love is not a prize we earn;
Yet in our life with you we find
The joy that comes when we return.
