Celebrating Ash Wednesday outside Starbucks
TRUMBULL -- Would you like your tall latte with one pump of sugar-free vanilla syrup and a sacramental blessing? People getting their coffee fix at the Starbucks in Trumbull Center can do just that on the first day of Lent today.
Priests from two local churches, Grace Church on Main Street and Christ Church in Tashua, will stand at the bus stop outside of the national coffee chain from 2:30 to 4 p.m. and dab ashes on the foreheads and deliver a quick prayer to any passer-by interested in participating in the Christian tradition of Ash Wednesday.
The event, called "Ashes to Go," is an attempt to reach out to people who may not have time to come into church for the traditional Ash Wednesday sermon, Grace Church rector Elsa Worth said.
"Christian churches are all about following in the path of Jesus and he was always moving, going place to place and bringing healing," Worth said. "If we never go out of our doors, we're not following his footsteps."
Ashes to Go started at an Episcopal church in St. Louis, according to the event's website. In 2007, the church's rector organized a "drive thru" for ashes on a busy intersection outside of a popular coffeehouse in one of St. Louis' business districts. They marked more than 100 people, the website said. The event has spread to clergies in Chicago, parts of California, and New York City.
