Shrove Tuesday - 5 February 2008

Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Carnival time: a time of celebration before the disciplines of Lent come in tomorrow. We have a Pancake Party in our church. It’s a popular time when we celebrate our togetherness with games and craft work and lots of fun as well as the pancakes. We even go outside into the dark to run pancake races in the car park! Those in the area are invited to come in to enjoy this with us. Celebration has always been a part of Christianity and it is good to see the revival in recent years of Holy Spirit worship and celebration that occasionally spills into the streets of our towns and cities. It’s too late to arrange that today, but you could think about your church doing something outside on Easter Day! You could even offer to organise it.

I hope you are going to celebrate today! It’s a time to eat up all the nice things ahead of the more austere days of Lent starting tomorrow. We can also celebrate in other ways too. Why not a random act of kindness on someone you don’t know, or send a cheque to someone you know is in need? It’s amazing how much pleasure it gives to both giver and recipient! And I suspect Our Father likes the idea too.