Bethel Churches Offer 'Ashes to Go' to Start Lent

BETHEL, CT — Two local churches are offering an ancient ritual on-the-run to mark the start of Lent on Wednesday.

Representatives from St. Thomas' Episcopal Church and First Congregational Church of Bethel will be out in front of Molten Java on Ash Wednesday — March 6 — marking the foreheads of the willing faithful with ashes.

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, the 40-day season of Christian penitence leading up to Easter. The ashes, typically made from burning the palms from the previous year's Palm Sunday celebration, are intended as a sobering reminder of man's mortality.

A modern spin was placed on the age-old rite with the start of the Ashes to Go movement in 2007. The ecumenical movement is intended to bring "...spirit, belief, and belonging out from behind church doors, and into the places where we go every day. It’s a simple event with deep meaning, drawing on centuries of tradition and worship to provide a contemporary moment of grace," according to the movement's website.

Ashes will be offered from 7 to 9 a.m. and from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. curbside at 213 Greenwood Avenue in Bethel.