A pastor at Vine Campus Ministries has developed her own service that caters toward the LGBTQ community. On Wednesday, she held a small group service for students at The Vine at Collegiate Presbyterian Church.
Ash Wednesday is a yearly Christian tradition that marks the beginning of Lent, a 40-day period of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. Jen Hibben, a pastor at Vine Campus Ministries, holds a service that consists of several interactive stations each year.
In the first station, members wrote something they wanted to let go of during Lent. Then, they’d release the paper into water and watch it dissolve. In the second station, members were presented cards to write something they wanted to start doing during Lent.
On a table filled with candles, the members took turns lighting each one. Last was the element of the ash, where Pastor Hibben placed a cross of ash either on the member’s hand or forehead.
Hibben has been a pastor for thirteen years and began implementing the use of the stations and glitter a few years ago.
“I developed this particular service because I started working with students who have had a variety of experiences or no experience with Ash Wednesday, and I wanted them again to be able to see with new eyes or participate in a new way so that the meaningful parts could come through,” Hibben said. “I’ve done glitter ashes probably since 2014 or 2015 and at that point I was really working on a greater inclusion of the LGBTQ community in the Christian church, specifically the United Methodist Church.”
Pastor Hibben told a story of a time she put on an Ash Wednesday event outside of The Blazing Saddle bar in Des Moines.
“A woman came up to me and she was a queer person, said it was her first time she had been able to receive ashes in like ten years and she was sobbing because it meant so much to her,” Hibben said. “She had been told she couldn’t participate in that ritual because of who she was.”
Pastor Hibben hosts many different services throughout the year and has many students who regularly participate.
Jeff McAllister, a junior in art and design, is one of the regular students.
“I think for me, mindfulness, working on my relationships with people in my life, working on strengthening the ones that matter,” McAllister said about goals for lent.
Carly Dolan, a junior in marketing and another student who participates regularly, said she is “deserving of good things.”
“I think with my past experiences in the church, I think there is a lack of intentionality in the Catholic Church, and I found myself zoning out a lot,” Dolan said. “What I like about my approach in college is that I am a lot more intentional about things. I’m deserving of good things.”
For more information about The Vine and Collegiate Presbyterian Church, visit their website.
