SCRIPTURE READINGS
ASH WEDNESDAY
Psalm 51
Joel 2
Isaiah 58:1-12
2 Corinthians 5:20-6:10
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 14
Psalm 91
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Romans 10:8-13
Luke 4:1-13
By the time you get this, we will be in the season of Lent, but this morning, I’m still getting ready for Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday.
Lent is the traditional period of forty days (besides Sundays) leading up to Easter, during which Christians prepare their hearts to more fully appreciate the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Since early Christian times, Lent has been honored as a time for repenting of our sins, a time for cleansing our hearts of worldly passions and filling them instead with the pure and self-sacrificing Holy Spirit of God that was in Jesus.
The kickoff for Lent each year is Ash Wednesday, and this year it falls this week. We at Bethel have a worship service planned for Wednesday evening to help us all begin this journey toward the cross— and beyond the cross, to the glorious celebration of resurrection life that we call Easter.
But before the Ash Wednesday of repentance for sins, many Christian communities celebrate a centuries-old tradition called Fat Tuesday (French: “Mardi Gras”). Where Lenten self-sacrifice calls for abstaining from meat (“carne”) and fat (“gras”), Fat Tuesday is a last fling when folks get all of that sinning out of their system. Mardi Gras flaunts the fat and the flesh— everything that Lent forbids.
Here are some samples of the carnival (literally, “goodbye to meat”) spirit, from our all-American New Orleans Mardi Gras carnival tradition:
You old so-and-so,
you’re gonna wish you’d never been born !
I took you into my home--
You wouldn’t leave my woman alone !
You old so-and-so,
you’re gonna wish you’d never been born !
I’ll be glad when you’re dead, you rascal you !
You’ll be hangin’ in a tree--
We’ll ship your body C.O.D.--
I’ll be glad when you’re dead, you rascal you !
♠ ♣ ♥ ♦
Next, a classic from the “second line” tradition: in a funeral, on the way to the cemetery, the brass band plays solemn hymns about holy living and hopes that the deceased will rest in peace. But after the burial, on the way back, the band breaks into what they call “second line” music, rollicking and bawdy, a funeral-day party, recounting the wild life that the deceased actually lived:
Teachers used to warn that boy,
time and time again,
‘You’re holdin’ a losing hand
And you’re playin’ a losing game’--
Said, ‘When you play you got to pay,
And you gotta pay one day--
Ah, but when you do,
the groundhog’s gonna be shakin’ your hand !’
Didn’t he ramble ? Didn’t he ramble ?
He rambled ‘round and ‘round, in and out of town--
Didn’t he ramble ? Didn’t he ramble ?
He rambled ‘til the butcher shot him down !
His head was in the market place,
And his feet were in the street;
The lady was passing by;
She said, ‘Look at the market meat.’
He tried to lift her pocketbook
And he said, ‘I wish you well.’
She pulled out a .32,
Said, ‘I’ll see you first in hell !’
Didn’t he ramble ? …
Now he snuck into the cathouse
And made love to the stable;
The Madam caught him cold--
He said, ‘I’ll pay you when I be able.’
Six months went past,
And she stood all she could stand:
She said, ‘When I’m through with you,
The groundhog’s gonna shake your hand !
Didn’t he ramble ? …
Ashes to ashes and dust to dust--
If the brown whiskey didn’t kill him,
All the rambling must.
The carnival spirit is not restricted to the notorious neighborhoods of New Orleans: there is a bit of it in each of our hearts. What to do about it ?
Yet even now, says the LORD,
return to Me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
tear your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the LORD, your God,
for He is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,
and relents from punishing. Joel 2:12-13
ASH WEDNESDAY
Psalm 51
Joel 2
Isaiah 58:1-12
2 Corinthians 5:20-6:10
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 14
Psalm 91
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Romans 10:8-13
Luke 4:1-13
By the time you get this, we will be in the season of Lent, but this morning, I’m still getting ready for Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday.
Lent is the traditional period of forty days (besides Sundays) leading up to Easter, during which Christians prepare their hearts to more fully appreciate the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Since early Christian times, Lent has been honored as a time for repenting of our sins, a time for cleansing our hearts of worldly passions and filling them instead with the pure and self-sacrificing Holy Spirit of God that was in Jesus.
The kickoff for Lent each year is Ash Wednesday, and this year it falls this week. We at Bethel have a worship service planned for Wednesday evening to help us all begin this journey toward the cross— and beyond the cross, to the glorious celebration of resurrection life that we call Easter.
But before the Ash Wednesday of repentance for sins, many Christian communities celebrate a centuries-old tradition called Fat Tuesday (French: “Mardi Gras”). Where Lenten self-sacrifice calls for abstaining from meat (“carne”) and fat (“gras”), Fat Tuesday is a last fling when folks get all of that sinning out of their system. Mardi Gras flaunts the fat and the flesh— everything that Lent forbids.
Here are some samples of the carnival (literally, “goodbye to meat”) spirit, from our all-American New Orleans Mardi Gras carnival tradition:
You old so-and-so,
you’re gonna wish you’d never been born !
I took you into my home--
You wouldn’t leave my woman alone !
You old so-and-so,
you’re gonna wish you’d never been born !
I’ll be glad when you’re dead, you rascal you !
You’ll be hangin’ in a tree--
We’ll ship your body C.O.D.--
I’ll be glad when you’re dead, you rascal you !
♠ ♣ ♥ ♦
Next, a classic from the “second line” tradition: in a funeral, on the way to the cemetery, the brass band plays solemn hymns about holy living and hopes that the deceased will rest in peace. But after the burial, on the way back, the band breaks into what they call “second line” music, rollicking and bawdy, a funeral-day party, recounting the wild life that the deceased actually lived:
Teachers used to warn that boy,
time and time again,
‘You’re holdin’ a losing hand
And you’re playin’ a losing game’--
Said, ‘When you play you got to pay,
And you gotta pay one day--
Ah, but when you do,
the groundhog’s gonna be shakin’ your hand !’
Didn’t he ramble ? Didn’t he ramble ?
He rambled ‘round and ‘round, in and out of town--
Didn’t he ramble ? Didn’t he ramble ?
He rambled ‘til the butcher shot him down !
His head was in the market place,
And his feet were in the street;
The lady was passing by;
She said, ‘Look at the market meat.’
He tried to lift her pocketbook
And he said, ‘I wish you well.’
She pulled out a .32,
Said, ‘I’ll see you first in hell !’
Didn’t he ramble ? …
Now he snuck into the cathouse
And made love to the stable;
The Madam caught him cold--
He said, ‘I’ll pay you when I be able.’
Six months went past,
And she stood all she could stand:
She said, ‘When I’m through with you,
The groundhog’s gonna shake your hand !
Didn’t he ramble ? …
Ashes to ashes and dust to dust--
If the brown whiskey didn’t kill him,
All the rambling must.
The carnival spirit is not restricted to the notorious neighborhoods of New Orleans: there is a bit of it in each of our hearts. What to do about it ?
Yet even now, says the LORD,
return to Me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
tear your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the LORD, your God,
for He is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,
and relents from punishing. Joel 2:12-13
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