“Drive-Thru Ashes” for Ash Wednesday

Want to recieve the blessing of Ash Wednesday, but you don’t have time to go to service or Mass?

A church in Michigan is taking a cue from parishes in downtown Chicago, who have done this for a while.

Saint Andrews Presbyterian Church in Decatur, Michigan, offers parishioners a drive-thru ash ceremony.  For 2 hours, the pastor will perform the ritual of spreading ashes on the foreheads, for anyone who drives up.  The church will have a traditional service in the evening.

Here, in Chicago, priests have offered walk-up blessings and ashes, for several years, on downtown streets – particularly where commuters hustle by.

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