Mardi Gras devotion: Reveling and Rebuilding - Isaiah 51:3

Isaiah 51:3      The LORD will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing. 

Tonight the streets of New Orleans will be full of party goers, revelers, and celebrants. People will be singing loudly, joyfully, and drunkenly because Mardi Gras has come to the Big Easy. It’s a remarkable occasion and amazing turnaround for a city that was left devastated and desolate when the levees broke after Hurricane Katrina. What was once a city of destruction has now become a place of re-construction. The people have a right to make merry and be joyful; they have worked hard to rebuild and to restore.

Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day always takes on the eve before Lent begins. Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday when Christians all over the world are supposed to begin a six week season of penance and sacrifice, humility and contrition. It’s a time to remember that we sin constantly and because of that Christ has to die for us. It’s meant to be a somber time and a quiet month and a half of sobriety, steadfastness, and sanctification.

But Lent is also a time of rebuilding our faith and restoring our confidence in God’s salvation. It’s a wonderful season of redemption and liberation, reconnection and love through Christ. Yes, we all sorrowfully know that we are sinners, but we also rejoice that Jesus is our Savior and that He alone can bring us back to God’s kingdom, favor, and love.

Sin may have wrecked our lives, but Christ can reclaim our souls.

Prayer:            Lord Jesus, thank You for this special time of year, which is celebratory and somber, full of self-reflection and divine compassion. Open our hearts to Your ways and help us to meaningfully prepare ourselves for the passion and the pain, as well as the joy and jubilation of Easter. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Today’s image is one of John’s latest images for Mardi Gras. It’s called “Mardi Gras Masks.” If you would like to view a larger version, please click on the following link: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7004/6806639485_cee4d33105_b.jpg

Shrove Tuesday

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

Today is Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras as the French call it. It’s also known as Pancake Day in Britain, or more precisely “Shrove Tuesday.” It’s supposed to be the day that we all go to confession and have our sins ‘shriven’ or absolved by the priest, so that we can be better Christians throughout the six weeks of Lent.

Pancakes are part of the celebrations because Lent was traditionally a time of fasting, so fatty foods like meat and sausage were all used up during the Fat Tuesday feasting. The easiest way to prepare and eat was through the making of pancakes. This part of the celebrations probably pre-dates Christianity because communities all over the world would hold an end of winter feast to use up the last of their winter meat before it spoiled.

Fat Tuesday and Ash Wednesday weren’t originally celebrated in Reformed Presbyterian churches because of the strong connections to the Roman Catholic Church. These days, however, people are more interested and intrigued with mixing traditions rather than maintaining doctrinal standards. We’re more into what I term “Pancake Piety,” where we mix the best of the different strands of Christianity in order to be more inclusive in our community. There’s nothing wrong with doing that, because some of the oldest traditions on our Christian calendar were once a mixture of Biblical celebrations and pagan feasts.

So, today we gather to feast and have fun, to sing and party, to revel and relax. And whether or not we go to confession and have our sins shriven, we all understand that Jesus, and not the priest, is the Holy and Only One who absolves us from our past mistakes and justifies us before God. We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, but with Christ as our Savior, we can be forgiven and restored to God’s Kingdom.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, from what we read in the Gospels, You loved to feast and have fun with other people. We know that at the heart of our celebrations, You are in the midst of us. As we gather together to celebrate this day, we seek Your forgiveness and long for Your absolution from all of our sins. In Your Holy Name, we ask and pray. Amen.