Happy Fat Tuesday!
And so we prepare to begin the season of Lent by having a day of feasting, drinking and partying! It always reminds me of the the folks who attend Saturday mass before going out for a night of bar hopping and sheet shuffling....kind of like paying on a soul insurance policy before hitting the town.
Fat Tuesday is a "get it all out of your system" before getting down to the seriousness of Lent. Today, is the time to use up all the sugar and milk and butter before the fasting that anchors so much of the Lenten journey. It's why on this day we have pancakes and beignets.....who doesn't love this holiday!!!
With the pandemic preventing the traditional Mardi Gras parades, kudos to New Orleans for instituting "YARDI-GRAS" and decorating their homes and porches!
While speaking about this new practice, a resident of New Orleans said, "Our souls need this." Amen. We need times to just cut loose and "get it all out of our system." I always am most comfortable in the congregations that are honest about this need we each have and understand instead of doing the "frozen chosen" tsk-tsk finger wag. Lighten up....and I mean that in every way from metaphorical to literal.
YARDI-GRAS highlights another important aspect of the human soul and that is resilience. We must be able to rebound, to risk and fail and fall down and then get back up. I offer that as we begin this Lenten journey and ask to pay attention to how many of the stories read and preached will focus upon the falling down and the getting up.....I dare say it is at the very journey of Lent.
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