By Ashley M. Casey

Staff Writer

Each Ash Wednesday, many Christians flock to their churches to receive a blessing and a cross made of ashes on their foreheads, made from the ashes of the previous year’s Palm Sunday palm branches. But between work, school and the myriad other activities of modern society, it can be difficult to squeeze a midday church service into one’s schedule.

Enter the Liverpool First Presbyterian Church, known to many as “Old First.” Rev. Garrett Anderson set up shop outside Nichols Supermarket and inside Café at 407 last Wednesday to provide “Ashes to Go” for busy believers.

Anderson said he had seen the idea several years ago on social media. This year was not his first foray into Ashes to Go. A few years ago, he partnered with Mother Carrie Schofield-Broadbent, then the rector of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, to provide blessings and ashes in the village.

This year, Anderson decided to do it again on a lark. Because brutal winter weather had stymied Ashes to Go plans in years past, he only posted about his plan on Old First’s Facebook page Feb. 28. If it was too cold and no one showed up, no harm done. If people happened to see the post and stopped by, even better.

Fortunately for Anderson, Ash Wednesday’s weather was unusually balmy for the first of March. He stayed at Nichols from 10 a.m. to noon. The afternoon shift, which was a little slower, took place from 2 to 4 p.m. at Café at 407.

Anderson said many people told him they wouldn’t have the chance to go to their home church to get ashes because of work and other obligations, but “a lot of the people I met this morning were headed to church anyway.”

“It was great,” Anderson said of Ashes to Go at Nichols. “We probably had a couple dozen folks stop by. A lot of them stayed and talked.”

Anderson said Ashes to Go is one of his favorite ways to bring his ministry out of the church into the community. He said the initiative fits into Old First’s motto of “at the intersection of God and the world” — fitting, since the church is located at the intersection of Tulip and Oswego streets.

“It’s easy to define ourselves by church walls,” Anderson said. Ashes to Go provides an “outward focus” for Anderson and his parishioners to figure out, “What can we do as Christians … that can be beneficial to the world?”

Lori Mentel, whose home church is Christ the King Catholic Church in Bayberry, came upon Anderson when she arrived at Café at 407 to do some work and grab coffee.

“It’s perfect,” she said. “I was just sitting here. I didn’t even really notice [Anderson] at first.”

Mentel said she wasn’t able to attend Christ the King’s Ash Wednesday services because she had a meeting at lunchtime and another in the evening.

“Do I have to make an appointment?” Mentel asked Anderson.

“You just did,” he replied, so Mentel sat down to receive her ashes.

Mentel is one Christian joining the trend of “taking on” something for Lent instead of “giving up” something. She said she used to give up chocolate or sweets.

“What I do is try to be a better person overall: have more patience, don’t be so quick to judge,” she said. “I try to do my best to be a good Catholic. Lent is a great time to reflect on things that we want to improve on.”

As for Anderson, he is giving up processed and added sugar for Lent and taking on mindfulness.

“This year, I realized it’s important to make more space to take something on,” he said. “It’s a way for me to be mindful of what I let into my life.”