Do you ever ask why someone does something? Are you ever curious about why you do certain things? One area we all do things that are different than others…but same among many would be Church. To the non-christian or un-believer the next 43 days of the church calendar are one of those…they do what? Those who ask “WHY DO THEY DO THAT?…well at least they wonder why, we …most Christians just do it by rote, it becomes a habit, just something we do as part of our heritage. I kinda compare our behavior to that of what we do when we read the Bible. I use the term surface read which means not every thing stays with us. I include myself in this observation of humanities efforts to embrace the faith…we tend to miss the big picture. Join us in The Pew as we take some time to look at the liturgical calendar…Whaaat? A liturgical calendar is a cycle of seasons and feast days that guides the prayers and liturgies of some but not all mainline churches. It’s also known as the church year, Christian year, or ecclesiastical calendar.  The liturgical calendar was primarily observed by Catholics, but also by many Lutherans, United Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and Anglicans. Note most Methodists follow the liturgical calendar, and some use the Revised Common Lectionary. The liturgical calendar is an annual schedule that commemorates certain days and seasons related to the history of salvation. I may have been a bit repetitive but that brings us to the first three of these dates on the calendar. We will list them in order.

Shrove Tuesday is a Christian holy day that marks the beginning of Lent, a 40-day period of fasting and penance leading up to Easter. Shrove Tuesday is also known as Pancake Day. Number one on my list is Confession,  Shrove Tuesday is a day to confess sins. We need to talk more about Repentance in our churches these days. It is also the day many of us will allow a little indulgence before the season starts, more about that in a moment. It is a big pancake day because they use ingredients that people gave up for Lent, like eggs, flour, and milk. Now about that indulgence thing. Mardi Gras In France, Shrove Tuesday is called Mardi Gras, which means “Fat Tuesday” which you can do right here state side…in good ole New Orleans. The second on our list would be  Ash Wednesday…Ash Wednesday is a Christian holy day that marks the beginning of Lent, a 46-day period of penitence and preparation for Easter. It’s a day of prayer, fasting, and repentance and usually occurs on March 5. Christians receive ashes on their foreheads as a sign of repentance and human mortality and the  Ashes are made from burning palm leaves from the previous year’s Palm Sunday. Most all churches in many of the Christian denominations will have services on this day. In Old Testament times, people used ashes as a sign of repentance by sitting in them, rolling around in them, or sprinkling them on their heads. For our part here they are used to place the mark of the cross on our forehead. The third on our list would be Lent which Christians celebrate to remember Jesus’s 40 days of fasting and preparation in the wilderness before his public ministry. Lent is a time of self-denial, prayer, and penance that leads up to Easter. We should use this time to reflect on our behavior and consider how to live by Jesus’s teachings. We also should use this time to prepare for Easter by studying the Bible and giving up something we enjoy, such as food, drink, or smoking, as a test of self-discipline. It is also a time we should mourn Jesus’s suffering on the cross. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Easter Eve.

Life Is Good 

jk