Modern-day Lent: Ashes to Go

Rev. Alexander McCurdy, left, blesses and Rev. Matthew Holcombe, right, sketches the sign of the cross on a parishner who left her car running, jumped out, got ehr ashes andd ran back and drove off. Ashes to Go for real. Wayne Train Station: Several area churches are participating in Ashes-to-Go, a national movement encouraging clergy to administer Ash Wednesday ashes outside the church walls. The Rev. Matt Holcombe and The Rev. Alexander McCurdy, of St. David's Episcopal Church, will administer ashes at the Wayne SEPTA train station between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m 02/13/2013 ( MICHAEL BRYANT / Staff Photographer )

Julie Lord, a St. David's parishner, has the sign of the cross sketched over her forehead by Rev. Alexander McCurdy Wednesday morning. She was not going to be able to get to church so she came to the train station. Wayne Train Station: Several area churches are participating in Ashes-to-Go, a national movement encouraging clergy to administer Ash Wednesday ashes outside the church walls. The Rev. Matt Holcombe and The Rev. Alexander McCurdy, of St. David's Episcopal Church, will administer ashes at the Wayne SEPTA train station between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m 02/13/2013 ( MICHAEL BRYANT / Staff Photographer )

GALLERY: Julie Lord, a St. David's parishner, has the sign…

By Kristin E. Holmes, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Posted: February 14, 2013

Christians throughout the region observed the beginning of Lent on Wednesday with observances in churches -- and on street corners. Some got their ashes to go.

While many adhered to tradition and attended services, receiving the sign of the cross on their foreheads to mark Ash Wednesday, others tried something new.

Believers stood in line at train stations and in front of coffeeshops to receive their ashes outside the church walls.

It is part of a nationwide initiative called Ashes to Go, an effort to take Ash Wednesday to the streets. Clergy set up stations to offer ashes to believers in public spaces.

"The church needs to be ready to step out and meet people at unexpected places," said the Rev. Emily Mellott, a Bryn Mawr College graduate and Illinois Episcopal pastor who helped start the movement. "I hope people who experience Ashes to Go learn that God and faith are not confined to the church."

Ashes were offered at SEPTA's Wayne and Lansdale train stations, in front of a Starbucks on Chestnut Street in Center City, and across from the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown.

In Wayne, the Revs. Alexander McCurdy and Matthew Holcombe, of St. David's Episcopal Church, set up shop at 7 a.m. The Rev. W. Frank Allen, the church's rector, joined them later.

"Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return," the clergy told commuters who stopped to receive their ashes.

"This is wonderful," said Carlotta Johnston-Pugh, of Wayne, after a cross was made on her forehead. "The church came to us."

Contact Kristin E. Holmes at 610-313-8211 or kholmes@phillynew.com.