“Jesus met people on the streets so why can’t we,” says Associate Pastor Anna Kate Rawles. For the first time, Munholland United Methodist Church offered drive-thru ashes on Ash Wednesday.
“We have so many people who can’t come to church either their work schedule won’t allow them to come to church in the middle of the week or they’re disabled and handicapped and so they just can’t make it to a service and sit for an hour and then we also have folks that just don’t think they can go to church,” says Rawles.
They didn’t expect such a great turnout. Over 150 cars drove through before noon. They stopped, they prayed, received ashes and went on their way.
“Everyone that has come through has been really glad to be able to do this. For the most part they’ve said they weren’t going to be able to go to a service so this was an opportunity for them to have ashes on their head all day and be able to tell people why they have ashes on their forehead.”
“I actually work right off of Labarre Road, being able to come at lunch time, I actually live in Gentilly, trying to go back to my church which is Transfiguration is just out of the way so this is just really awesome,” says a parishioner.
If you’re thinking ‘religion on the run’ is no way to begin the Lenten Season , think again, according to Associate Pastor Anna Kate Rawles, the experience was just spiritual as a traditional service.
“You know, when you go to a service you only walk up for just a moment to have ashes placed on your head and here at least we get to talk to people for a few minutes one on one. We just want to be sure that everyone feels they can be part of this tradition whether it’s sitting in the pews or sitting in your front seat.”