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No time to stop everything for an Ash Wednesday services, prayers and dabbing your forehead with ashes to mark the start of Lent? No worries. Ashland's First Congregational United Church of Christ had the fix. Those needing the benediction drove up, grabbed a doughnut and coffee, and received their "Ashes to Go." Yes, right there in your car, and then back on the boulevard in no time. Ash Wednesday is normally a solemn time, marked by penitence for things you've done wrong, along with a pledge to give up some kind of indulgence, but the Rev. Christina Kukuk’s UCC decided to brighten things up. Along with sugary treats Kukuk added humor,as she handed out leaflets with the droll notice that “Your fellow dirt-bags at Ashland UCC want to remind you today: you are Beloved.” Dirt-bags? She explained it is meant lovingly and that we are all dust, and, as Genesis instructs, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” Standing out in the rain on the church driveway for two hours on Wednesday morning, Kukuk jokingly recalled the description of humans by “Life Force” on Star Trek as “ugly bags of mostly water” — and this lent a sense of humility to the day. As she painted the ashes on forehead or hand, Kukuk spoke the person’s name and the benediction, “Remember you are dust and to dust will return, but remember also you are a beloved child of God.” “I looked in her eyes as she said it and felt an unexpected surge of emotion that I can’t describe, said David King-Gabriel after the ritual. “It felt important, is all I can say. We live in constant denial of the impermanence of our own lives, so it feels good to have someone look in your eyes and say you’re going to die. I think it’s going to change my self-talk. I’m going to be a little kinder to myself.” Kukuk remarks, “It’s pretty holy to look someone in the eyes and tell them they’re going to die.” Church member and retired UCC minister Dorothy Brooks said it reminds her how short life actually is. “It’s a time of spiritual discipline, she said. “You can barrel forward and live life as if it has no end, but it’s useful to remember you can change the way you think and deal with people.” “It was a sweet thing, to get that blessing,” said Marilyn Gibbens. Lent is the 40 days — minus Sundays — from Ash Wednesday to Easter, and through the centuries has been marked by fasting from meat or drink, but in these times of political and environmental upheaval, Kukuk said this year some believers have sworn off plastic, which is choking our landfills and oceans. Some are eschewing time-gobbling Facebook, she noted, and others vowed to cut back on political news and rants. Some said they will abstain from meat because of its carbon-heavy impact on the planet, and others are sacrificing money, donating what they would have spent on alcohol to good causes. The basic idea of Ash Wednesday and Lent, said Kukuk, is “to clear out something in order to practice more of Jesus’ way in the world.” In her leaflets, Kukuk notes there’s information on plastic fasting at https://lessplastic.co.uk/. She refers people to Alfred Street Baptist Church, which has been raising huge sums to relieve student debt. “Do what you can, not what you can’t,” she said. “These life investments are easier to make with a friend.” Sherrill Rinehart said the s a “reminder that God is present and God is love and I need to follow that path.”