Mardi Gras just stinks around our house. Every year, just by stepping on the back porch, I can tell that tomorrow marks the beginning of Lent. The smell permeates my hair, my clothes, and even seeps in the house occasionally. To make things even more invasive, it doesn't matter whether or not I handle my usual observance of this day on the porch of the house, the church, or elsewhere; the fact is that the mess of Mardi Gras reminds me more and more of the need for Lent. Every one of us who has participated in the events of Mardi Gras in south Louisiana know that today is messy, has a unique smell, and, usually, requires a shower before bed to get the mess out of your system.
However, the mess I am talking about involves the annual ritual of the burning of the palm branches from the previous year's Palm Sunday celebration in preparing the ashes for Ash Wednesday. Lent is unique in the season of the Christian year in that through this time - starting with the reminder on Ash Wednesday that it is from ashes we come and to ashes we return, through the season of reflection and introspection, into the crowds of Christ's final entry into Jerusalem, up to the Upper Room for the Last Supper, to Golgotha for the victorious moment of Christ's triumph over evil - the journey through all these events leads us to examine just how estranged we allow ourselves to be from God and how much we are in desperate need of divine grace.
Like many of you, I love the joy of Easter Sunday. However, if you really want to have even a hint of what Easter Sunday is all about, don't miss Lent. Don't miss Ash Wednesday. Don't miss the worship and study opportunities of Lent.
So, to that end, join us in worship tomorrow morning at 6:30AM or 6:00PM for a traditional observance of Ash Wednesday, including the sacrament of Holy Communion and the Imposition of Ashes. Our Easter Sunday worship starts tomorrow.
See you Sunday!
Lamar
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