In Western New York, morning drivers in Orchard Park were surprised to see an outdoor service being held in the parking lot of Saint Mark's Episcopal Church on East Quaker Street. St. Mark's was one of seven Episcopal Churches in Western New York that was trying out something new called "Ashes to Go."

Started in Saint Louis in 2007, "Ashes to Go" offered a drive-thru service so people could receive the traditional marking on their foreheads of a cross drawn with ashes.

Thirteen priests and the Episcopal Bishop, Rt. Rev. William Franklin, distributed "Ashes to Go" at several locations throughout the area. This was the first year that "Ashes to Go" was tried in the Western New York area. A Diocesan spokesperson said it was so popular that it will most likely be done again next year.

In Providence, Rhode Island, Episcopal Bishop W. Nicholas Knisely and other members of the Rhode Island clergy fanned out around the state to distribute ashes to people who want to keep the faith even if they couldn't get to church on Ash Wednesday.

"I think people are looking for meaning in their daily life," Knisely said. "And if it's in a quick encounter with the Holy, that's a wonderful thing."

Yolanda Young said she was happy to be able to mix her faith into her day without having it interrupt her job. She works right down the street from the Providence Amtrak station where the Episcopal diocese distributed "ashes to go."

"It's a very nice service," Young said. "It's a great opportunity to get out from your work grind and realize what's important to you."

The practice of distributing ashes in public started in Chicago three years ago. It has been spreading nationwide. This is the second year it's been done in Rhode Island. The bishop said it will continue to be an Ash Wednesday tradition around the state.

In Medford, Mass., the priest and members of Grace Episcopal Church, Medford offered "Ashes to Go," at the Medford Square and the West Medford Train Station.

Ashes to Go provides the opportunity for people who have lost their connection to a church or have never participated before to participate in that tradition.

"Ashes to Go is about meeting people where they are, and bringing the important practices of our faith out from behind church walls and into the places we need them every day," says the Rev. Noah Evans, Priest at Grace Episcopal Church.

"As the spiritual and religious landscape of our culture changes, we need the church in new and non-traditional ways. We especially need reminders of forgiveness and renewal, like ashes on Ash Wednesday. Many people are longing to make a connection between their faith and the forces of modern daily life, and Ashes to Go is an attempt to help them to find that connection. We gave out ashes to over 40 people at our two stations this morning, including many folks who had not been inside a church in years."

In Maine, Episcopalians put a new public face on Ash Wednesday. Clergy and lay people administered "Ashes to Go" in Monument Square and elsewhere. Gale Murphy, a Roman Catholic, got ashes Wednesday from Gwen DeCicco, a layperson at the Cathedral Church of St. Luke in Portland, and Nina Pooley, a rector at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in Yarmouth. "I wasn't feeling great when I woke up, so I didn't attend the 7:30 a.m. Mass in Holy Cross Parish to mark the beginning of Lent." Even though she's Roman Catholic, Murphy didn't see a problem with getting ashes from an Episcopal deacon.

Three women from local Episcopal churches were in Monument Square to administer the ritual, which took all of 30 seconds.

Episcopal clergy members and lay people also provided ashes Wednesday in Tommy's Park in Portland outside the post office in Windham and outside Pratt-Abbott Cleaners in Falmouth.

Leta Dunham got her breakfast order to go at a Roland Avenue Starbucks Wednesday morning: a grande triple skim latte in her cup and, on her forehead, an ashen reminder that we are all destined to become dust.

"It's a little more convenient, but why not?" said Dunham, who stopped by the Starbucks at Roland and Deepdene at about 8 a.m. - first for the latte, then for the ashes imposed by the Rev. M. Cristina Paglinauan, associate rector of the Church of the Redeemer in Homeland.

Wearing a white surplice and purple stole, Paglinauan stood outside Starbucks for about an hour Wednesday with Emily Perper, an intern with the Episcopal Service Corps, asking passers-by if they would like to receive ashes. She held in her left hand a small container of crushed palm ashes, an ancient symbol of penitence.

The pastors outside light rail stops, Penn Station, coffee shops, pubs, wine stores and churches were not inclined to check religious denominations. The ritual - marking the beginning of the 40-day season of Lent that culminates in the celebration of Jesus Christ's death and resurrection on Easter Sunday - is observed chiefly in Catholic and Episcopal churches, though some Lutheran congregations and other Protestant denominations also take part.

In the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, Ashes to Go started in 2011 with Epiphany Episcopal Church in Timonium. Last year eight churches took part; this year there were at least nine, said Sharon Tillman, a spokeswoman for the diocese.

Calvary Episcopal Church pastor Rev. Emily Mellott and lay ministers of the church performed the imposition of ashes on the foreheads of the faithful on Ash Wednesday at the Lombard Metra train station near Chicago.

As trains rumbled past and commuters dashed by, the ministers dipped their thumbs into small containers of ash to make the sign of the cross on the foreheads of those who asked, and who might otherwise have found it difficult to take part in the tradition that marks the beginning of the Lenten season for many Christians.

The Rev. Emily Mellott, pastor at Calvary Episcopal Church of Lombard, said the ashes were being offered at 35 train stations and college campuses throughout the Chicago area. She estimated that 3,000 to 4,000 people would receive the blessing and prayer that reminds faithful, "You are dust, and to dust you shall return."

Bob Luberda of Lombard, who described himself as a Catholic, said,"It's a tradition I've been doing ever since I can remember."

Mellott said Ashes to Go reaches people outside the walls of a church, especially those who might not be able or want to squeeze in a weekday visit.

"We do this here because there are a lot of folks who are disconnected from the church by their schedule, or because they've been hurt by the church or bored by it," she said. "They've lost the connection between the church and daily life."

More than 100 commuters over several hours stopped to receive ashes in the sign of the cross in Lombard. Many others did not.

"We're careful not to push. We're offering," said lay minister Marilyn Stein, of Lombard.

Several Madison-area pastors hit some of the city's busiest streets and intersections Wednesday to offer drive-thru ashes for the start of Lent.

Motorists need not exit their vehicles to get their foreheads smudged.

"Anywhere a car can pull over, I'll go right up to their window," said the Rev. Mike Tess, pastor of Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Sun Prairie. He plans to be at Market Street Square, across from Sun Prairie City Hall, from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The effort is part of a national "Ashes To Go" campaign intended to engage people who otherwise might not be planning to attend an Ash Wednesday service.

Five Madison-area Episcopal churches in Wisconsin are among those that participated each for the first time.

"We need to be the church to the world, not just to those who come through our doors," said the Rev. Andy Jones, pastor of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Madison.

In the Christian tradition, Ash Wednesday marks the start of the holy season of Lent, a time for reflection and repentance in preparation for the celebration of Easter. For centuries, Christians have received a cross of ashes on the face at the beginning of that season as a reminder of mortal failings and an invitation to receive God's forgiveness.

BUT is it right?

The Rev. David Wilson, senior pastor and rector of the Anglican Parish of Christ the Redeemer in the South Hills (Canonsburg PA) formerly St David's Anglican Church (ACNA) Peters Township PA, said one of his parishioners asked him about 10 days ago if he was going to do "drive-by ashes" this year on the main street corner in Canonsburg. "I politely declined her appeal to do so. I find the practice of applying ashes to someone's forehead willy-nilly on the street to be repugnant, demeaning, and impersonal. It is taking totally out of context the solemn liturgy that calls for repentance of sin and amendment of life. To me it can be likened to the difference of receiving cash from an ATM machine and receiving cash from a human bank teller. And cheapens the seriousness of it all. It reminds of that other uniquely Episcopal innovation, The Clown Eucharist."

Wilson said that one of his colleagues told him that the main Roman Catholic Church in downtown Pittsburgh has a somewhat similar practice. "You enter the church on the front street entrance receive your ashes right inside the door, walk down the side aisle and exit out the entrance on the side street - as if you were going through the take out line at the local fast food emporium - 'you're in, you're out, that's what McDonalds is all about.' This isn't a whole lot different than Ashes to Go on the street. And I would hardly call either the method used by the Romans or the Episcopalians evangelistic," concluded Wilson.

Last night my wife and I attended a jointly sponsored service with a United Methodist Church and Christ Church Anglican on the Mainline in Wayne, PA. It was solemn (as it should be) occasion. We were reminded by the preacher, the Rev. Dr. Alan Crippen, that the Lenten season is an opportunity to follow our Lord in enduring the cross.

"I am tasked to preach to you about sin, the very sin that the writer to the Hebrews describes as, 'the sin which clings so closely.' Today is Ash Wednesday, a holy day of fasting that is set apart for us to consider and reflect upon our mortality and impending death, the very consequence of our sinfulness. It is from the chains of sin and death that Christ's passion and resurrection have set us free, and to more fully appreciate the gravity of our own unworthiness and our desperate need of the Savior, we observe Ash Wednesday and the forty days of Lent that follow it. On Ash Wednesday and throughout the Lenten season we mourn our sins.

"The appropriate response to the grave reality of your own spiritual condition is to weep. Weep over your own sin, and to weep for the sin of others as well. It is the mourners who God comforts, and there can be no comfort without weeping. There can be no humility without sorrow. Today, we sorrow. We do so publicly as a people of God in a holy fast, and in doing so there are some guidelines to fasting found in our Scripture lesson from Isaiah."

You won't hear those words in a parking lot or train station or outside Starbucks.

END