West Central Abbey Serves Up Valentines from God this Ash Wednesday
News Story By Mia Gallegos | FāVS News
With Ash Wednesday falling on Valentine’s Day this year, West Central Abbey found a way to couple their usual Lenten season kick-off with something unique to the holiday.
“Our plan is to make Valentines from God for each other,” the Rev. Katy Shedlock said in an email.
On Wednesdays West Central Abbey hosts Dinner Table, where they serve a meal to the community surrounding their church. This is an opportunity for outreach in an area that is historically underserved, explained Shedlock, adding that the abbey has been hosting the meal for about a decade.
“We try to cultivate community by serving food,” she said. “It invites people to let their guard down.”
Dinner Table is typically served family style, with place settings and large tables where people can sit and share experiences with one another.
“I think anytime that we break bread with people who are different from us, [it] is a transformative encounter or has the potential to be,” Shedlock said.
Dinner Table Meets Valentines from God
This week, as dinner is being served parishioners and attendees of Dinner Table will have the opportunity to write the Valentines from God to one another.
“Our penitence is rooted in God’s love for us and valentines are a fun way to show love and care for one another,” Shedlock said.
All supplies for the Valentine creation are contributed by parishioners. It is an event that didn’t take extensive planning since the West Central Abbey had the opportunity to experiment with ideas surrounding Valentine’s Day coupled with Ash Wednesday back in 2018, the last time that these two holidays fell on the same date.
At the Valentines from God event, “to-go” ashes will be offered to attendees as they are leaving the meal, as the traditional implication of this holy day is applied.
“We have a retired priest who will be offering a more quiet and traditional time of reflection. She has taken the litany of Penitence and found some art to go with it and some reflection questions. The idea is that you can walk around the chapel at your own pace and look at the image, reflect on the questions, a more sort of slow reflective grounding,” Shedlock said.
West Central Abbey’s creative congregation was part of the inspiration for this fun event that incorporates two holidays.
“Their creative lives and spiritual lives are intertwined,” Shedlock said.
The Valentines for God event will be taking place at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday with the hour of reflection and contemplation taking place right after at 7 p.m.
