Ashes to Go

For the fourth year in a row I want to encourage you to join me in taking the liturgy to the streets! "Ashes to Go" is a somewhat irreverent title for a very serious attempt to make use of our rich liturgical tradition in a day of public witness and evangelization. In the last couple of years, various congregations throughout the diocese have made use of Ash Wednesday to offer the prayer of the church to commuters and others, engaging them with a brief and invitational encounter with one of the most evocative symbolic gestures of the season.

Last year at least four other Oak Park Churches joined in this ministry. The origins of our liturgical tradition include ritual observances and prayer in the public square. I believe it is appropriate for us to rediscover the potential power of some of these elements for own time and cultural context. There is a vast hunger in our world for the presence of the Lord Jesus and for a declaration of the truth that we are finite and human creatures, dependent on a loving and merciful God. The rites of Ash Wednesday can be a powerful tool to offer just this message to folks who would never walk through the doors of our churches to experience it. I hope many of you will join in offering this ministry to people outside the walls of our churches. Christ is there.

Please email me for more information. Feel free to chat with Nadia Stefko, Bill Voss, John Seaton, Flora Green and Barbara Larsen about their experiences with this ministry.

Photos from last year's Ashes-to-Go are at this link, and a video is at this link.  

-Shawn 

The Grace Church Annual Meeting took place last Sunday.