Drive-by offering: Herminie pastor heads outside to tend to Ash Wednesday flock

Carol Diemert had just a few minutes between school bus runs, but that was plenty of time to have her forehead marked with ashes.

On Wednesday morning, she pulled her mini school bus into a small Herminie parking lot and climbed out. Pastor Randy Landman was waiting with ashes and a prayer.

“I have a break, so I thought I’d come now while I could,” she said.

It was a convenient way for her and others to observe Ash Wednesday, a holy day of prayer and fasting for Christians that marks the start of the Lent season. Landman, pastor of Herminie United Methodist Church, set up before the sun at the intersection of Pike Street and Sewickley Avenue. Donning a retro Steelers jacket, he had a folding chair and a small canopy — along with a small bowl containing a mixture of ash and oil.

As the cloudy sky lightened with the temperature in the 40s, more people pulled over to get a cross of ashes placed on their foreheads. Connie Tierney stopped on her way to work after seeing Landman’s sign. It was unlikely she would have made a church service Wednesday, she said.

“I just came past and it was on my way to work,” Tierney said.

The outdoor ashes started about eight years ago as a collaboration between Diemert, a lay leader at Herminie United Methodist Church, and a former pastor there.

“Too many people don’t attend church on Ash Wednesday,” she said. “This way, we thought they could stop on their way to work, from work.”

And while outdoor ashes is “not the ideal way of doing this,” Landman said it helps connect the importance of the day with the community. In addition to Herminie, he is pastor at First United Methodist Church of West Newton, which holds an evening Ash Wednesday service. The two churches rotate having the service annually.

He spent more than three hours outside Wednesday morning as a steady stream of traffic passed by in the Sewickley Township village. As the sun peeked through the clouds around 8 a.m., he started recognizing some faces who pulled over.

Sharon Johns of Herminie, a church member, said she likes to get her ashes in the morning, rather than wait until an evening service.

“It’s before you start your day, before you get into the business of your day,” she said. “Christ should always come first. It’s a good reminder for those who may have forgotten what today was about.”

Joel Libbos of West Newton brought his 1-year-old grandson, Joel Morrison. Though he is a member of the West Newton church, morning ashes worked best for his schedule.

“This is a great idea,” Libbos said.

Nanette Kuttler of Herminie recognized Landman, a family friend, as she drove by. Her family’s schedule also was going to prevent them from going to an Ash Wednesday evening service, so the outdoor offering was a perfect option, she said. Kuttler and her 10-year-old daughter, Mya, stopped to receive ashes.

“Hope you got lots of customers, Randy,” she said, laughing as she drove away.