Christians Around Chicago Receive Ashes To Mark Beginning Of Lent
(CBS) -- Chicago church members are scattered all around the city today on Ash Wednesday giving Christians ashes.
Larry Leonard of Urban Village Church used ashes to make the sign of the cross on the foreheads of people who stopped on the sidewalk outside Water Tower Place.
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"We believe that our faith should be lived, not inside the walls of a church but rather out in the streets - in our everyday lives, in our workplaces, our families, our homes," Leonard said. "So that's why we're out here. We think out here in the streets is a great place to be."
A 19-year-old art student from Wheaton was one of the passersby who stopped for ashes. He likes the symbolism.
"Hope, mostly. The world we live in now is crazy and it gives me something to hope for... I know things can get better. I've seen things get better. So, I might as well. I mean, you got to hope for something, right?"
