The sign outside Advent Lutheran Church on S. Arlington Ridge Road reads “Drive up ashes 2/14 8-10 am.” This will be the first day of Lent on which some Christians will have ashes applied to their foreheads in the form of a cross. 

But Pastor Alexander Stall says, “I really start at 7:30 am but it wouldn’t fit on the sign. We’re hoping to get people driving by on their way to work. Last year the first people were five Latin men who parked on 23rd and all piled out of their truck on their way to their construction work. They walked all the way down the driveway.” He explains they stood in line just like they were getting ready to receive communion.

“This is not a frivolous thing. We’re trying to bring the appropriate mindset. This is a time to go inward, to reflect on the word, how we relate to God. A lot of people think [Lent] as a time of sacrifice and give something up. Maybe you don’t give up something. This isn’t about punishment; it’s about refreshment. “ He continues, “Maybe you add something instead like more Bible reading or more praying.”

Stall says he will be there with a table and a little container of ashes. I pray with the people who come … ‘Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.’ It is a reminder of our mortality.” Biblical reference can be found In Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament where it says, “God formed man from dust of the ground.” And Ecclesiastes where the words are found: “All go to one place. All are from the dust and to dust all return.”

This is Stall’s second year as a Lutheran pastor and his second drive up ashes ceremony. “I had to learn how to make ashes for Ash Wednesday. Everyone knows you use the palm leaves from last year’s Palm Sunday and you burn them and grind them up. But nobody tells you what to do next with adding the olive oil. My first batch was soup.”

Stall says there is a driving loop on 22nd Street and he will have a table out in front of the church. “Some people will drive up and roll down their window, and others will choose to park and come up.” He says all people are welcome. “It is our way of reaching out into the community for a minute. Last year I got the idea at the last minute but we still had over 20 people — Methodist, Episcopal, some Catholics.” He says most of his congregation attends the 5:30 p.m. service.

“I used to be a Catholic but when I married my second wife she wasn’t Catholic and couldn’t participate in Communion. And since I was divorced I couldn’t participate either. So it just didn’t work for either of us and she finally convinced me to try her Lutheran church. At first I hated it.” 

But now after 31 years in software development “and a tap on the shoulder” in 2014, he has gone to seminary and become a second career “old guy” Lutheran pastor. “I said you’ve got to be kidding but God wasn’t. I got fully engaged with Lutheran theology which is not about fearing God—’I made one mistake, and it will cost me my soul,’ but instead God loves you and what do you do in response.

“I call Advent ‘the church on the hill.’ We’re located at one of the high spots in Arlington. I have never been happier; I love what I do.”