Churches teams up to host Ashes To Go
(Seguin) – Today is not only about love but also about sacrifice. Today marks the start of the Lenten season and the continuation of the annual Ashes-To-Go.
Pastors from Emanuel’s Lutheran Church, Spirit of Joy Lutheran Church and Friedens United Church of Chris will again hit the streets this Ash Wednesday for the distribution of ashes outside Emanuel’s Church facing Gonzales Street.
Pastor Marcus Bigott says both ashes and blessings will be given out to passers-by in cars or those on bike or foot.
Bigott reminds the community of the Lenten season and its countdown to the Easter holiday.
“The importance to Ash Wednesday is the beginning of our Lenten journey but in a way that folks might be able to fit better into a busy schedule — maybe folks that can’t make it to worship or couldn’t get back to church whenever those services happen to be as a way of being reminded of the journey that is to come, to be reminded of their own humanity and need for love and grace and hope and all of those things but done in a space that also doesn’t look like church and maybe that is also an opportunity for folks that have felt disenfranchised by the church to maybe gently engage with their faith once again,” said Bigott.
He says Ash Wednesday is a Holy day observed by various faith communities and hopes the drive through Ashes to Go event will reach as many people as possible.
“My personal take is being able to engage with folks — as I said, people who have found the church to not be a place of welcome. Over these last few years that I have been here at Emanuel’s, I have found this to be a beautiful way of engaging with people who struggle with what church is but still have in their hearts and in their minds, a deep seeded place of faith — knowing and realizing that this is something that is much larger than institutions. It is much larger than the physical structures of our churches but it is about relationship. So, when I boil down the ashes to go and Ash Wednesday itself, it is about rekindling the relationships with people as they rekindle their relationship with God,” said Bigott.
The Ashes will be distributed on foreheads today from noon to 1 p.m. outside Emanuel’s Lutheran Church. The church is located at 206 N. Travis St.