By The Christian Post | Created at 2025-03-03 14:45:02 | Updated at 2025-03-03 20:45:44
6 hours ago
By Michael Gryboski, Editor Monday, March 03, 2025
Many churches will mark the beginning of the liturgical season of Lent by holding Ash Wednesday services in which attendees receive a cross made of ashes on their foreheads.
While this ritual is customarily performed during a solemn worship service, some churches bestow the ash cross on people who are just passing through via car or a metro station.
One such congregation is Centreville United Methodist Church of Centreville, Virginia, which has offered “ashes to go” for busy commuters for the past couple of years.
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The Rev. Matthew G. Smith, lead pastor at Centreville UMC, told The Christian Post that he first performed an “ashes to go” event at a metro station 10 years ago.
“The response was overwhelmingly positive, with many commuters expressing gratitude for the opportunity to begin their day with this meaningful Lenten observance. As a result, we expanded the practice to multiple metro locations,” explained Smith.
“When I began serving at Centreville UMC, where there is no metro station, we adapted the practice into a drive-thru format to meet people where they are — offering ashes as they start their morning commute.”
Along with the imposing of ashes on the forehead, each commuter who comes to the drive-thru ashes event also receives a brief prayer, according to Smith, and a small card with a Scripture-based reflection about the Lenten season.
“Our hope is that this experience serves as a holy moment in the midst of a busy day, allowing people to pause, reflect, and embrace the spiritual significance of Ash Wednesday,” Smith said.
“It is a visible and personal act of faith — one that reminds us of our mortality, our need for grace, and the hope we have in Christ. It is a way of wearing one's faith boldly while humbly relying on God's saving grace.”
The Rev. Doug Cushing, senior pastor at The Bridge Presbyterian Church of Leland, North Carolina, told CP that his congregation first held their drive-thru ashes event “a bit out of necessity.”
“During the pandemic, we sensed a deep need in people to reconnect with a church while also a need to be connected with some of the rituals of the church,” Cushing added.
“The idea of a drive-thru imposition of ashes seemed to fill the need of people to reconnect with God, the Church and the rituals many were missing.”
2025 marks the fifth year that Bridge Presbyterian has offered the drive-thru Ash Wednesday event, with Cushing telling CP that he has been surprised by the positive response.
“We never envisioned that the drive-thru ash imposition would become so popular and appreciated,” he said. “We typically have over 200 folks drive through at either our noon hour time slot or our 4:45 to 6 time slot.”
“We see folks who come back every year. Sometimes, we meet people who begin weeping during our short ritual. Other times, people bring the family and the family pet and make it an adventure.”
Cushing’s church also provides prayer and free Lenten devotional guides to the commuters, as well as more information about his growing congregation.
“All we hope for is that we can be a blessing, the tangible touch of God to everyone who participates,” he noted. “That said, we see people whose lives are touched and who feel they have reconnected with God and God with them.”
Marion Phipps, rector at St. Hugh of Lincoln Episcopal Church of Elgin, Illinois, told CP that he was initially “skeptical when folks started talking about” doing an ashes to go event, noting that “it was hard to see why that would be meaningful.”
“Some of my colleagues were showing up at train stations early in the morning on Ash Wednesday to offer people ashes,” Phipps recalled. “I talked to one of my best friends from seminary who had done it and he talked about what an amazing experience it was being able to not only offer ashes to folks but also pray with them.”
Phipps explained that his church is “located at the corner of a busy road” and that “it seemed that we might attract some people on their way home from work who might like to receive ashes but may not have the time or inclination to seek out a service.”
St. Hugh of Lincoln first did a drive thru ashes event in 2020, with volunteers also providing commuters with a pamphlet with more information about the history of Ash Wednesday, as well as an invitation to join them for services.
“Additionally, we include information about what our Lenten study program will be that year and an invitation for them to join us for that,” said Phipps.
“I also ask if there is anything they’d like me to pray for them about. This year, we’re offering a prayer card with the prayer attributed to St. Francis. Some years, we’ve given them a Lenten Devotional with the pamphlet.”
When asked by CP what he hopes commuters will take away from the drive-thru experience, Phipps responded: “My hope for them is the same as it is for my parishioners who attend services. That somehow the invitation to a holy lent will plant a seed that will cause them to further explore their relationship with God, and in that time spent, they will find themselves engaged in a deeper relationship with God.”
“In the book of James, it says to ‘draw near to God and God will draw near to you.’ I hope it’s a seed planted that continues to grow throughout the Lenten season and beyond.”
