Milton church offers ashes to go

Connie and Bud Clark of Milton pulled up to Zion United Methodist Church Feb. 14 for an Ash Wednesday tradition.

They got out of their car on a blustery day on Broadkill Road, but they didn’t have to. Pastor Patricia Bollinger and a small group of church members were ready to come to them to deliver ashes to go.

“We’re not having Ash Wednesday service at our church in Ellendale, so we saw the sign and thought we would come in,” Connie said. “We’ve been here before. It’s a wonderful church.”

Bollinger just started at Zion in January, so this was her first time doing drive-up ashes on Broadkill Road.

But she has been mixing Christ with convenience at Indian Mission United Methodist Church in Millsboro and Goshen United Methodist Church in Milton. She is also pastor at both churches.

“I used to do Ash Wednesday worship at night, but it wasn’t well attended,” Bollinger said. “I decided if I took it out to the street, more people would see it and might remember it from their childhood.”

Bollinger said she usually gets 15 to 20 cars stopping at Indian Mission and Goshen. 

Only one other car stopped to take advantage of ashes to go in the hour that Bollinger and her volunteers stood outside the Zion church.

She hopes that when word gets out, ashes to go will become a reason to stop in Milton on one of Christianity’s holiest days.

This Feb. 14 was a day that meant a lot of things to a lot of people: Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, and Valentine’s Day. It was also the Clarks’ 23rd wedding anniversary.