Isn’t this cheap grace?
Well, what we do in church is so much more than we do on the sidewalk. We confess, repent, reflect, pray, and receive God’s gifts in community. Ideally, people who receive ashes on the street would join their faith community for corporate worship on Ash Wednesday.
But some people literally cannot get to church on Ash Wednesday – some students have classes during our service times, others can’t be absent from jobs, others are committed to substantial family or community needs.
Others have forgotten that the church is here for all people.
That’s why we go to the streets. Our actions speak louder than our words. If a person isn't ready or able to come to church, then the church steps into the street to bring God’s invitation to relationship, repentance and healing.
Ashes to Go moves the encounter with God (in the form of God’s people prayer and symbol) into the spaces of everyday life where we live out our response to God.
The grace comes from God, the same free gift at the same cost, as God’s grace made known inside the church.