Almost two years ago, I switched from a smartphone to a flip phone. I wasn’t taking some stand against technology. In fact, I just switched back this week! Instead, I made the change because I realized I had warped the helpful things the smartphone offers to strictly cater to my own agenda. My smartphone simply made me more efficient at being self centered. In the end, I gave it up, not because doing so made me less selfish, but as a declaration that I wanted to live a different way. (If you are interested in what I learned during my “flip phone life”, you can read some thoughts here).
I share that antidote because I believe it begins to touch on the reason the Church engages the Lenten season and why I am especially excited about our Fat Tuesday gathering that will take place on Feb. 25th from 5:30 to 7:00 pm at the church building.
For those unfamiliar, Fat Tuesday (or Shrove Tuesday as it is called outside of France and Louisiana) traditionally takes place the day before Ash Wednesday. It is a celebratory gathering where people rounded up perfectly good ingredients they had in their possession, and then, in preparation for fasting from those things during Lent, they used them up. In many European countries, this was accomplished through a pancake feast because making pancakes was a great way to get rid of their butter, sugar, and eggs that they weren’t going to need for the next six weeks.
And just like my phone decision, it was not that butter and eggs were bad and to be avoided. Instead, It was that people saw the 40 days of Lent as a chance to relearn what it meant to submit those things to the way of Jesus. The food fast was a reminder and encouragement to keep one’s focus on the Lord and learn to prioritize His agenda.
Friends, this is such a refreshing way of understanding the season of Lent! Repentance begins, not in gloom, but celebration. Fat Tuesday is a joyful reminder that we turn toward the Lord because the Lord has already turned toward us. We fast or give things up not to take a break from bad habits, solve a problem, or arbitrarily suffer for a few weeks, but because we want to be open to God’s redeeming way of life. We desire for good things (like food, alcohol, technology, money, etc.) to actually be pointed toward what is good!
With this in mind, my prayer is that we will choose to engage the practice of fasting during Lent with a belief that the Lord desires to lead us to a life of feasting. My hope is each of us will ask, “What part of my life would I like to practice fasting because I desire for it to become a faith filled celebration pointed toward the Lord?”
And as I mentioned, to begin this journey, we are inviting the entire Kairos community to join for our Fat Tuesday celebration. There is no cost, but we do ask that you let us know you are coming, and if you are able, sign up to bring a side.
We believe this gathering is a simple way to prepare our hearts for Lent by celebrating that we have been invited to put down our disordered, self centered agenda and to be shaped toward the Lord’s life giving ways. We hope you can join us.
Grace and peace,
Drew
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