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Ridgewood Church offers drive-through & walk-up Ash Wednesday service
Father Tom Mathews & Barbara Monahan with Christ Episcopal Church in Ridgewood, NJ offer drive-through & walk-up Ash Wednesday service.
Anne-Marie Caruso, NorthJersey.com
This week, Christians around the world will observe Ash Wednesday, marking the beginning of the 40-day period of repentance known as Lent. The solemn season ends on Easter, which falls this year on March 31.
Ash Wednesday is celebrated with a Mass during which a priest places ashes in the shape of a cross on worshippers’ foreheads while reciting the words “You are dust, and to dust you shall return.” The ashes, typically made from burning palms, symbolize penitence and mortality.
Over the past decade, an increasing number of priests in North Jersey, recognizing that busy commuters don’t always have time to stop into church on weekdays, have been bringing ashes to the time-crunched masses at bus stops, train stations and intersections.
The idea is to meet people where they are, said the Rev. Emily Mellott, a pastor at Trinity Episcopal Church in Moorestown, who helped popularize the phenomenon with a website, ashestogo.org.
“Many of us need those reminders more when we are in the middle of our daily business of life than when we’ve made time and preparation to come to a church building, so we take the ashes and prayer outside the church.”
The Rev. Andrew Wright of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark added that although the act of receiving ashes on Ash Wednesday is a Christian practice, “it’s available for anyone (of any denomination) who wishes to participate.”
Ashes to Go in North Jersey
Here’s a partial list of locations around the region offering ashes-to-go. The Episcopal Diocese of Newark maintains an map with the most up to date information at the “Ashes to Go in Northern New Jersey” webpage.
Bergen County
- Allendale train station, Main Street and East Street, 6 to 8:30 a.m.
- Glen Rock, Borough Hall train station, 6 to 8 a.m.
- Hillsdale, 6:30 to 8 a.m. at the borough train station and 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Holy Trinity Church, 326 Hillsdale Ave.
- Ridgewood, 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. at Christ Church, 105 Cottage Place; drive-thru ashes from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.
- Tenafly, 7 to 7:45 a.m. at the town bus stop.
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