Hungry for a quick bite? Pick a restaurant and head to the drive-through.

But for those on the run seeking to observe Ash Wednesday, there’s the “ash and dash” alternative to church services that’s been making inroads throughout Pennsylvania. A quick prayer and a cross of ashes on the forehead and you’re on your way. 

Two such churches in the Pittsburgh area, Sampson’s Mills Presbyterian Church and Faith Lutheran Church, both in White Oak, teamed up to offer drive-through ashes to the faithful Wednesday. St. John’s Lutheran Church in North Versailles was also among those offering a faster way to observe the holy day.

The concept of “drive-through ashes” has been increasing for people who feel they’re too busy to come to church for a more traditional service.

Many Christian denominations hold Ash Wednesday services at the outset of Lent with priests or pastors dabbing ashes on the foreheads of people to symbolize mortality. The six-week Lenten season, marked by fasting and other forms of penance, ends at Easter, which this year falls on April 1.

The Rev. Michael Ryan, of Faith Lutheran Church, bestows ashes to a visitor of the church's "ash and dash drive-through" early Wednesday in White Oak.(Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette)

The Rev. Michael Ryan, of the Faith Lutheran Church, waits as the Rev. Jessica McClure Archer, of the Sampson's Mills Presbyterian Church, approaches another vehicle as it pulls in during the "Ash and Dash Drive-Through" outside Faith Lutheran in White Oak Wednesday morning.(Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette)

First Published: February 14, 2018, 2:52 p.m.