On Good Friday, Southfield church offers Christians drive-thru prayer, crosses

Lenette Price smiled on Good Friday after she stopped by St. David’s Episcopal Church on 12 Mile near Greenfield Road in Southfield and prayed with a minister from behind the steering wheel of her Chevy Malibu.

"I think this is wonderful, " said the 63-year-old retired nurse from Oak Park. "To be able to come somewhere to get blessed, pray and feel good about it is just wonderful."

Price was among many Metro Detroiters who visited the church Friday for its annual "Good Friday Drive Thru Prayer and Cross Giveaway." Good Friday marks the crucifixion and death of Jesus, the central figure of the Christian faith.

The church is known for offering ashes in a drive-through on Ash Wednesday and kicking off the Lenten season that precedes Easter, one of the holiest holidays for Christians. Sitting in her beige car in the church's driveway, Price said she had come to the church before to receive ashes.

For her, she said Easter means recognizing "our Lord and Savior, that he gave his life for us sinners, that we can still be here and he forgives us for our sins. We all fall short every day but to be able to acknowledge him and give him all the praise."

From 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday, ministers from the church gave crosses to visitors who drove up to its south entrance and prayed with them. Church officials said the crosses are made of olive wood from Jerusalem.

Traffic on 12 Mile moved steadily as ministers, dressed in white robes tied at the waist with white ropes, greeted visitors who pulled into the driveway in front of the church. They greeted motorists, prayed with them and then gave them a wooden cross. Orange cones separated two lanes in the driveway and a couple of small signs marked the entrances from 12 Mile.

"Last year, hundreds of people received prayer and ashes through this ministry," Rev. Chris Yaw, the church's rector, said in a statement. "What’s more, many of us, who served on that day, were blessed by the opportunity we had to meet and pray with others."

Carol Taylor, of Oak Park, was one of the ministers who tended to the motorists who stopped by at the church after noon Friday. She said it was her first time ministering to people in the church drive-through.

"People come in with a lot of different circumstances, but the response is always gratitude," Taylor, who retired from the clergy, said. "It's been an interesting day."

She said she has a standard prayer that she says with visitors and then she asks each one if there's something on their mind or something they would like to pray about. If there is, then she comes up with one, usually a healing, on the spot.

In addition to the prayer drive-thru, St. David's also planned two Good Friday masses, one at noon and another scheduled for 7 p.m.

cramirez@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @CharlesERamirez