Today is Ash Wednesday and millions of Christians begin their Lenten journey, but do they have time to stop for an Ash Wednesday service? Many churches only offer a morning or evening service. Busy commuters and schedules do not allow some to be able to receive ashes on this day. How do churches and ministers solve this problem?
Like a drive through church, Ashes To Go enables busy commuters the chance to begin the season of Lent with the words, “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” A powerful statement to hear as one heads into the complex and competitive business world.
Ashes To Go started in 2007 with three Chicago-area Episcopal congregations that took ashes and prayer to suburban train stations. For many commuters, Ashes To Go gave them a chance to be prayed for or to be reminded about a tradition that they abandoned long ago. The practice has spread to New York City, San Francisco, Newark, St. Louis, and more cities continue to embrace the practice every year.
Is this Ash Wednesday practice of Ashes To Go really meeting a need or is just a cop-out for Christians? Some may think this is just another dumbing down of a Christian practice or responsibility to attend worship. It could appear that this gives people an easy out to not attend an evening Ash Wednesday service, however something greater is at work here. All mainline churches are losing members. Many have become disenfranchised or become uninterested in church. How can churches reach out?
The Ash Wednesday practice of Ashes To Go is outreach. According to Bishop Stacy F. Sauls, chief operating officer for the Episcopal Church, he says, “We live in a time where we can’t just sit back and wait for people to come to us. We have to meet people where they actually are.” Indeed. We live in a world where people do not come to church because it is their duty or out of an innate sense of appreciation to God. We live in a world where people need a reason to come to church.
By bringing an Ash Wednesday practice to the people, many whom would never come back to church, it communicates a message that Christians care. It sends a message that churches want to reach out and meet the spiritual needs of the people. The stories from Ashes To Go are amazing. People in tears because they are grateful that a pastor cared about them enough to pray. Others remark how they never been back to church until Ashes To Go came to their train stop.
If anything, we have to be reminded that Jesus brought salvation to the people. He took the message of God from the confines of the temple and brought it to the least, the lost, the needy, and the poor. People were healed, lives were saved, and others found redemption.
On this Ash Wednesday, find the time to attend an Ash Wednesday service. Or, perhaps churches around here need to start our own Ashes To Go. Who is with me?
3 Comments
It’s better than nothing! And who knows what fruit that one simple act and those few words might yield?
It’s all good. I remember the stories of John Wesley. Many folks would not come inside the churches so he got a box crate and stood on the corners preaching the word of God. Wish someone would get back to that. Although, now-a-days, I guess they might be called ‘extreme.’ Are we allow to do things like this? That’s the question.
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