Ash Wednesday

Create in me a clean heart, O God,

And renew a right spirit within me.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,

And renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from your presence, O Lord,

And take not your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation,

And renew a right spirit within me.

- Based on Psalm 51:11-13

Remember you are but dust, and to dust you shall return.

May you have a holy Lent.

Not All Pancakes and Parties

Today is Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday which signals the beginning of Lent.

Especially in North America, Shrove Tuesday is more commonly thought of as "Pancake Day" or "Mardi Gras" -- aka "Fat Tuesday" (the literal translation from the French).

Certainly, 'all-you-can-eat' pancake suppers has the potential not only for Fat Tuesday, but also Fat Wednesday, Thursday, Friday....but I digress!

I seem to have been more reflective than usual this year about ST, AW, and indeed, the entire Lenten Season.  What does 'shrove' mean, anyway?  Turns out it's from the verb 'to shrive'; that is, to make confession and obtain absolution of one's sins in this, 'Shrovetide' or the first week or so from ST and AW into Lent.  Lent itself is a period of penance, reflection and almsgiving for Christians -- sacrifice made for the sake of Jesus, commemorating his own desert time prior to the beginning of his years of active earthly ministry, and remembering his ultimate sacrifice, once-for-all, for the sins of the world -- yesterday, today and forever.

'Fat' Tuesday became the practice of cleaning one's larder of that which is considered indulgent -- like butter, cream, chocolate, sweets and pastry.  Pancakes became an efficient way of doing some of this.  Typically, we've expanded this concept -- created great festivals like Carnival celebrated each year at this time in New Orleans, and its northern equivalent, Carnaval in Quebec City.  "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow --  you fast!"

But...

Though I too will be making pancakes for my dinner tonight, I won't be out dancing in the streets or tying one on at the local bar.

Today and tomorrow I want to take time to pause, reflect, undertake an examen, and enter the season of Lent with at least some of my spiritual fat cleaned out of the larder of my heart.

May those of us who choose to observe Lent this year find blessing in the weeks ahead.  Amen!

Lenten Reflections

I've been mulling over the notion that Lent is as much about release as it is about sacrifice. Both involve letting go, but the former seems to me to be done with greater freedom -- with intention and enthusiasm, and a corresponding feeling of joy and true resurrection.

Nowadays we "give up" things for Lent -- behaviours, habits -- like eating chocolate or drinking alcohol or playing computer Solitaire -- symbolic of Christ's sacrifice on Good Friday. And yes, this is a type of fasting.

But if we are, instead, making/marking an observance of His 40 days in the Wilderness where, in addition to fasting, He resisted temptations put before him by the Devil -- should we not also ponder the courage, internal strength and joy that came to Him as a result of His choices to renounce Satan, to, in effect, release the (potential) worldly hold that food, wealth and power could have over Him in his humanity?

I am not 'giving up' things this Lent, so much as I am taking on new habits -- reflection and reading in the Benedictine practice of lectio divina. I am using this time to anchor my day, in the fond hope that I will carry the gift of hearing God into my daily routines, into my studio, and from there, do and be as He would have me do and be...

Ash Wednesday*

Today is "...the seventh Wednesday before Easter Sunday...the first day of the Season of Lent. Its name comes from the ancient practice of placing ashes on worshippers’ heads or foreheads as a sign of humility before God, a symbol of mourning and sorrow at the death that sin brings into the world. It not only prefigures the mourning at the death of Jesus, but also places the worshipper in a position to realize the consequences of sin. (See Reflections on Ash Wednesday). Ash Wednesday is a somber day of reflection on what needs to change in our lives if we are to be fully Christian. "

"In the early church, ashes were not offered to everyone but were only used to mark the forehead of worshippers who had made public confession of sin and sought to be restored to the fellowship of the community at the Easter celebration. However, over the years others began to show their humility and identification with the penitents by asking that they, too, be marked as sinners. Finally, the imposition of ashes was extended to the whole congregation in services similar to those that are now observed in many Christian churches on Ash Wednesday. Ashes became symbolic of that attitude of penitence reflected in the Lord’s prayer: “forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us” (Luke 11:4, NRSV)."


*Once again, thanks to Dennis Bratcher, the same source I turned to at Advent.