‘Ashes to Go’ appeals to busy believers

For some observant Christians in Fort Worth, Wednesday was a chance to grab a hot latte along with a sacred side of Lenten ashes.

Episcopal churches in southwest and east Fort Worth, Hurst, Keller and Southlake, plus Stephenville and Hamilton, coordinated their daytime schedules so passers-by could get ritual ashes applied while on their commute to work, when buying morning coffee, during a lunch break and into the afternoon.

The on-the-street events were called “Ashes to Go.” (It was “Drive-Thru Ashes” in the parking lot of the Episcopal Church of Hamilton County.)

“We’ve waved at lots of people and had 12 or 13 stop,” said the Rev. Bill Stanford, rector of St. Christopher Episcopal Church on Southwest Loop 820 in Fort Worth. “This is our first year to do this, but it’s all about the church realizing it’s got to get out of its walls.”

Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent, observed by many Christians as a season of reflection and repentance that lasts 40 days and concludes on Easter Sunday. The shape of a cross is traced in ashes on a believer’s forehead during the Ash Wednesday ritual.

Stanford and Stephanie Wingate, a St. Christopher worship leader, had stationed themselves near the drive-through of the nearby Starbucks. It was about 45 minutes into their 9-to-11-a.m. shift, and traffic was picking up.

The general reaction? “Most people say it’s a ray of sunshine,” Stanford said on a bright morning that needed little help in illumination. His and Wingate’s colorful vestments fluttered a bit in the wind. “I thought we’d be cold, but it’s getting warm out here.”

Wingate’s cheerful smile and perky winter hat, plus the hoodie under her robe, drew waves from many drivers.

“Thank God you’re here!” one car passenger shouted.

Stanford did acknowledge “one challenge” from a skeptical driver who demanded to know what the Ash Wednesday thing was all about.

“He asked if we knew what this meant,” Stanford said. “We said it was for mourning. It’s about repentance and turning yourself around.”

Dave Rader of Grand Prairie knew what it was about. He drove up in his truck with two small dogs inside and stepped out to receive ashes.

“I’m glad they’re here because I’m working at night and can’t go to a service,” he said.

For others, it was a nudge to connect with their past.

“You’ve blessed my day,” said one young Starbucks customer, who told Stanford that she had grown up Catholic but had not been active in years. “I saw you over here and thought, ‘I’ve really missed that.’”

That’s a common response, said Tracie Middleton, deacon at the storefront St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church on Harwood Road in Hurst.

“Once I helped with ‘Ashes to Go’ on the [University of Texas at Arlington] campus,” she said. “A lot of people had been away from church for a while, and that gave them an easy way to reconnect.”

The ashes-to-go concept was new this year for St. Stephen’s. “It’ll be an adventure,” said the Rev. Bob Gross, interim priest.

St. Stephen’s has been meeting in its shopping center space since August. Two other churches, St. Patrick Anglican and Pathways Unitarian Universalist, also have storefronts there.

Although St. Stephen’s leaders had planned to use the shopping center’s gazebo to offer the prayers and ashes, they found a better way as lunchtime traffic picked up. Gross stood at the parking lot entrance off Harwood Road while Deacon Tracie Middleton stationed herself near at the intersection of Harwood and Hurstview Drive.

By noon, more than a dozen believers had stopped to receive ashes from Gross.

“One woman said, ‘My mother was horrified that I started going to a storefront church,’” Gross said. “She laughed and said, ‘Now I can tell her I had ashes imposed on the parking lot.’”

This story was originally published February 18, 2015 at 3:47 PM with the headline "‘Ashes to Go’ appeals to busy believers."