Mardi Gras ⚜️
Mardi Gras, which means Fat Tuesday in French, started as the day before Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent. Halloween started as All Hallow’s Eve just before All Saints’ Day which is the first day in November and All Saints’ Sunday which is the first Sunday in November. Mardi Gras’s months long Tuesday carnivals and parades ended with Fat Tuesday as the last day that all kinds of fatty foods would be consumed before beginning the season of Lent on Ash Wednesday.
Ash Wednesday
Sitting in or having ashes placed on repentant followers of God ties all the way back to Genesis, but the day of Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent have been celebrated for over 1700 years. The Ashes posited on the forehead on Ash Wednesday are made up of the ashes from the previous year’s Palm Sunday branches. The ashes remind us that we are entering a season of reflection, repentance, fasting, and prayer based on confession. The ashes on our foreheads are a way of humbling ourselves to remember that we are mortal and in need of repentance. For hundreds of years, pastors and priests said, “From dust you came, to dust you shall return.” However, for many years now, most pastors and priests say, “Repent, and believe the gospel.”
Lent
The season of Lent is 40 days long, but Ash Wednesday begins 46 days before Easter. The six-day difference is made up of the 6 Sundays between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday. Every Sunday is a mini-Easter and a reminder that Christ rose from the dead on Easter Sunday. This is why we worship on Sunday instead of the original Sabbath day of Saturday. The 40 days of Lent remind Christ-followers of the 40 days and nights that Jesus was in the wilderness of Jericho (Matthew 4:2), the 40 days and nights of the flood with Noah (Genesis 7:12), the 40 days and nights that Moses met with the Lord to receive the 10 Commandments (Exodus 24:18), the 40 days and nights that Moses interceded on Israel’s behalf after they made the golden calf (Deuteronomy 9:18), the 40 days and nights that Elijah fled from Jezebel after defeating the false prophets on Mt Carmel (1 Kings 19:8), and Jonah’s condemnation prophecy from the Lord that caused Nineveh to put on sackcloth and ashes for 40 days (Jonah 3:4-6).
The Invitation
I invite you, your family, friends, and co-workers to join us for the Ash Wednesday Service on March 5th at Noon and/or 6PM for special opportunities to sing, pray, hear God’s word, and receive the imposition of Ashes. I invite you to use the season of Lent to give up at least one thing. Here are some good examples: caffeine, meats, sweets, alcohol, smoking, carbs, social media, TV, news, complaining, and gossip. I also invite you to take up at least one thing. Here are some good examples: reading God’s word every day, praying the Lord’s prayer (I do so every day at 11AM), being a better tipper, writing a letter of encouragement and appreciation every day, doing a random act of kindness every day or starting and ending every day with prayer.
Whether you use the season of Lent to repent like Nineveh, travel like Elijah, intercede like Moses, meet with God like Moses, trust in God like Noah, I pray that it prepares you like Jesus for the ministry He wants to do through you.
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