Churches postpone Ash Wednesday services ahead of snow storm

WHITEWATER, Wis. (WMTV) - People are finishing their paczkis while churches around Wisconsin are planning to postpone Ash Wednesday services.

Wednesday is the start of Lent and Whitewater’s First English Lutheran Church’s Pastor Joseph O’Donnell says he has gone through many weather delays in the past.

His church will hold Ash Wednesday service on Sunday. Last year at the church, he experienced a bad storm and only three members came. O’Donnell says he wants people to remind themselves that Easter is not going anywhere. He says life is about making a personal sacrifice and being considerate of others.

“People’s health and lives and wellbeing are an important part of what we do as a church,” O’Donnell said. “We don’t want to encourage people just for the sake of meeting a calendar deadline to risk their well-being.”

He says Ash Wednesday can still be personal and celebrated when the weather is in control.

“It’s going to be a pretty typical Lent and Sunday service, but we’ll have sort of an added moment of confession,” O’Donnell said. “We’ll have the imposition of ashes, which is where you get the cross of ashes on your forehead. It’s the introduction, the movement Into the season of Lent.”

When there are cancellations, the church sends out a mass email, makes a posting on their digital church sign and they also go through their directory to see who might need to know through phone call.

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