On Wednesday, February 26, the clergy of the Episcopal Church of the Covenant will take the traditional Ash Wednesday practice of the imposition of ashes outside the doors of the church to the Junction City community.
Started by Episcopal clergy in Chicago in 2007 and first offered on a commuter rail platform, Ashes to Go can now be found in communities across the U.S. Ashes to Go brings the church into the world and into the busy daily lives of people.
Covenant clergy will offer Ashes to Go in front of the church at 4th and Adams from 1:30 to 3 p.m. on Ash Wednesday, February 26. This is in addition to two traditional “indoor” services that day at Noon and 7 p.m.
If schedules are tight, Covenant clergy will impose ashes while people sit in their cars or during a brief pause as they walk by the church!
Since the 9th century, Christians around the world have recognized the start of the 40 days of Lent with the placing of ashes on the forehead, often in the sign of a cross.
The ashes are a sign of penitence and mortality and are imposed with the words, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
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