Note: Today marks the first of the 49 daily readings that comprise my “Reaching Toward Easter” initiative. Each post will open (or close) with a short reference to the day’s meditation. But it’s not necessary to read the book to derive meaning from the post.
Then Jesus said…, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples…”
SHROVE TUESDAY: Today is also known as “Fat Tuesday” on the Gulf Coast. Or, back when I was growing up in the south of England, “Pancake Day.” My mother used to make crepe-style pancakes that we’d soak with fresh-squeezed lemon and sugar. They were sooooooo good and I’d keep eating them for so long as she was willing to keep making them.
I’m quite sure the spiritual meaning of Shrove Tuesday was lost on me at the time. I either didn’t know, or didn’t understand the principle of using up all “the good stuff” in the pantry before beginning the coming season of self-denial. There certainly wasn’t any shortage of good stuff in our kitchen once Lent started. In all honestly I can’t locate the recollection of even an ounce of self-denial in my memory of childhood.
CONSUME THIS! And there’s precious little self-denial in the way most of us experience the world today. What’s more likely is self-indulgence, or denying somebody else in favor of more for ourselves. We’re still trying to emerge from a decade or two of a “Grab all you can, when you can” mentality that pretty-much defines the consumer culture. And it isn’t pretty at all, is it…?
The reason I’m beginning this journey to Easter today, essentially one day early, is so that the core idea of Lent will begin to take root. I want us to give ourselves the best chance of waking up tomorrow morning in anticipation that Ash Wednesday really will begin to prepare us to walk with Jesus.
There’s a phrase I’ve been using at just about every speaking engagement I’ve had over the past week or so. It goes like this: “The big deal about Lent is to make sure we arrive at Easter in six-and-a-half weeks having already been somewhere with Jesus,”
I want us to hit our stride, walking with God.
One more small point: I believe that the evidence is out. Approaching Easter as a “one-off” holy day typically leaves us momentarily gorged, but eventually disappointed; and the way so many of us acquire consumer goods does not even begin to make us happy.
However, tomorrow marks the beginning of the Season of Lent. Isn’t this a great opportunity to start down a new path?
– DEREK