The Rev. Deacon George Packer (left) and Lay Eucharistic Minister, Richard Muniz, at last year’s event.
At 8 a.m. on Ash Wednesday, the Rev. George Packer will be at the corner of Topanga Canyon and Ventura boulevards in Woodland Hills, blessing commuters with ashes. He’ll be there at 6 p.m., too. Packer is deacon at Prince of Peace Episcopal Church, Woodland Hills, and in addition to organizing the parish’s “Ashes to Go” event, he’s always on the opening and closing shifts.
Prince of Peace began its Ashes to Go event 14 years ago, and currently offers ashes from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at one of the busiest intersections in the valley, Packer said. The event is run by lay members of the church taking two-hour shifts in teams of two or three.
Two major bus lines pass through the intersection, and Packer said that sometimes they’re invited on to the bus, to offer ashes to all who would like them. “These are usually people who either don’t have an inclination to go to church or don’t have the opportunity because they’re working,” Packer said. “We do about 600 foreheads.”
Packer said that the event is always a good opportunity for volunteers to interact and share their faith with strangers. “People have come by and they can’t believe we’re doing this,” Packer said. “And so they’ve got to take pictures of us and we take pictures of them so they can send it to their relatives back east or something, saying, ‘Look what they do here in California!’”
Packer tries to have kind and friendly conversations with everyone who shows up, whether or not they support the event. The Prince of Peace volunteers invite people to their services inside the church as well, and sometimes people show up for a service after getting ashes on the street corner, Packer said.
St. Mark’s lay ministers offer drive-though ashes.
The Very Rev. Keith Yamamoto, rector of Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church in Upland, runs his “Ash and Dash” service on 16th Street, using the church’s driveway to offer commuters a drive-through Ash Wednesday blessing. Last year, Yamamoto said, St. Mark’s blessed sanitation workers, the trash collectors, postal workers, delivery people, commuters on their way to work, and even some dogs that people had with them in their cars. Yamamoto estimates that they offered ash to about 150 people in their “Ash and Dash” not to mention at their actual church services.
St. Mark’s always offers coffee to those stopping to receive a blessing, and this year will hand out “know your rights” cards as well.
A lay minister from St. Mark’s offers ashes to a sanitation worker.
Yamamoto said the volunteers ask if there’s anything participants want them to pray for, and the prayers are included in the noonday service at the church. “It’s just very touching, it’s amazing, just what people share, a lot of personal situations, health issues that people are going through,” Yamamoto said. He added that the event is an opportunity to be present with and support those who attend, even if they’re total strangers.
The Very Rev. Melissa Campbell-Langdell, rector at All-Saints Episcopal Church, Oxnard, has also had a similar presence for several years, standing on a corner near the church and offering ashes to passersby. This year, she’s planning to take ashes to a plaza in downtown Oxnard, walking distance from the church, and spend the afternoon offering ashes there.
Cambell-Langdell and a young parishioner at their ashes to go event.
Campbell-Langdell said that she doesn’t do a big all-day event, or have a long queue of people, but a smaller event has its own benefits. She said that it’s often a moment of one-on-one connection.
“It gives you an opportunity to say, ‘is there something I can also pray for for you?’” Campbell-Langdell said. “Or we talk a little bit about the meaning of Lent, if someone isn’t just familiar, and why we’re doing the ashes.”
She said that while some people may say that these services cheapen or take away from the dignity of the day, for her that is outweighed by the opportunity to reach people who might otherwise not spare the time or know how to connect with faith.
“There are folks who kind of have the sense that they want to be doing something religious or faith-based, but aren’t really connected to it,” she said. “We’re trying to make a point of entry where you can kind of explore something about your faith without the full step, when you don’t know anything about faith, of walking into a service and doing a full service.”