Well, it will be pancakes and sausages for supper tonight, our nod to Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras. This is the last day before Lent begins and the idea is that all the fat in a household is to be consumed before the beginning of this season of reflection and fasting. We will literally give our pancakes a Canadian flavour with a stream of maple syrup.
Lent has traditionally been a time of austerity and contraction -- giving up -- hence the concept of fasting. In recent years the notion of expansion has been attached to Lent, the things we prayerfully take on as intentional Christian practice. One of the initiatives is Seasoning Lent, a series of recipes for healthy eating during the season. http://chreader.org/contentPage.aspx?resource_id=667 The resource offers this introduction:
How do you observe the Christian season of Lent? Is Lent a yearly season that you are familiar with, or something you have never heard of? Do you have classic traditions that you keep each year, or do you struggle to commit to even the smallest of sacrifices? Does celebrating Lent seem like a chore or an opportunity? A chance to explore your Christian faith or just another seasonal resolution you have to keep? And how does the practice of Lent prepare you for a more joyful, more glorious Easter Sunday? All of these are questions that we bring to this Lenten devotional, Seasoning Lent. For the next eight weeks, we invite you to explore an ancient Christian practice through a modern lens: cooking and eating special foods in the season of Lent.
This might be interpreted as a fast from unhealthy, quick-as-you-can meals, but it can be framed positively as choosing to care for the bodies God gave us. Tonight's pancakes may not fit the bill, but we are considering getting on board with this one.
Will you do anything this Lent to move through the season mindfully? Give something up? Take something on? Maybe read a psalm a day? Write a "snail mail letter a day?
3 comments:
Going to give up the leftover Halloween candy ... er .... early Easter candy?!
Just a little to catholic for me.
I do try to be mindful of Lent, not so much with the giving up of things, (except maybe perpetual busy-ness) but more with the adding in of reflection and prayer and quiet. Reorganizing even a small part of each day has indeed changed my experience of Easter to a more profound and enduring celebration.
Post a Comment