Ashes to Go on Whyte – 2013
Last year on Ash Wednesday from 11 AM to 2 PM, Fr. Jonathan, Rev. Sue from St. George’s, Walter Scott and I did something new for Edmonton: we took ashes outside of our church buildings and offered them to people on the streets. Of all the days in the Church’s year, we thought, Ash Wednesday is a day when God’s love and mercy meet people wherever they might be, whatever their connection to church or God has been.
Seeking to embody this, we stood at the corner of Whyte Avenue and 104th Street, imposing ashes on people’s foreheads and offering prayers. When people asked about who we were and what would compel us to stand out in the cold for hours, we told them about the Anglican Church and invited them to come on Sunday. “Ashes to Go” was an incredibly simple, easily organized event, yet one that had a huge impact on both those offered and received ashes. People who came and received were thrilled that the “church” was outside of its walls and meeting them. Others were happy to be able to receive ashes in spite of their busy schedules. Still others said that they had been estranged from the church for a while but would now go back again. Some even indicated that they “wanted to be part of a church that did something like that.”
This Ash Wednesday, February 13, we will return to Whyte Avenue between 12-1 PM for Ashes to Go on Whyte along with our friends at Trinity Lutheran. We will also be joining other clergy from around the Anglican Diocese of Edmonton as part of an international movement that has clergy and lay people visiting transit stops, street corners, coffee shops, and college campuses to mark the foreheads of interested passers-by with ashes and invite them to repent of past wrongdoing and seek forgiveness and renewal. Clergy and Lay people from many Greater Edmonton Anglican Churches will be present between 7-9 AM at select LRT stations throughout the city to offer up ashes to the busy people of this city as they commute to and from work.
In the Christian tradition, Ash Wednesday marks the start of the holy season of Lent, a time for reflection and repentance in preparation for the celebration of Easter. For centuries, Christians have received a cross of ashes on the face at the beginning of that season as a reminder of mortal failings and an invitation to receive God’s forgiveness. Ashes to Go provides the opportunity to participate in that tradition for people who have lost their connection to a church, or have never participated before.
Ashes to Go is about bringing the important traditions of our faith out from behind church walls and into the places where people gather and work so that these elements can become part of who we are every day. As people get busier and busier, we need the church in new and non- traditional ways. We especially need reminders of forgiveness in the tough places of our working lives. The people who accept ashes on the street are often people longing to make a connection between their faith and the forces of daily life, and Ashes to Go helps them feel that connection.
If you are interested in being part of this ministry please contact me.
Blessings,
Chris+
From Ashes to Go on Whtye 2012
