Today (Wednesday) is Ash Wednesday which marks the start of the Lenten Season which ends with the Last Supper on the Thursday before Easter although some churches count Lent as ending on the Saturday before Easter and others start it on either the Monday before Ash Wednesday of the Sunday after. So, take you pick. But this also means that yesterday was Fat Tuesday, also known as Shrove Tuesday
or in many parts of the world and especially in Louisiana, Mardi Gras
(which interestingly enough in colloquial French translates as “Fat Tuesday”).
Since one is expected to give up something during Lent, Mardi Gras is
the festival to make up for whatever you’re giving up before the fact.
Hmm, don’t think that’s anywhere in the Bible, though.
On
the serious side, although Lent does not actually appear in the Bible
is a period traditionally set aside to to allow Christians to prepare
for Easter though prayer and self examination. The forty day period
commemorates the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness before the
start of his ministry and so many traditions suggest that believers give
up something during that time to help them focus on Jesus and relate to
his experience. The culmination of all that was what was originally
seen as a much bigger feast and holiday than Christmas and that is
Easter - the sacrifice on the cross and the resurrection. Whereas
Christmas is the celebration of the gift given, Easter is the
celebration the promise fulfilled.
Well, besides the Christian calendar, Friday, April 12th
is Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. If he were alive today he would be 206
years old this Friday. And you thought he looked old on the penny and
five dollar bill! (I hate to say it, but he was actually younger than I
am now when he was president). And then this Sunday
is Valentine’s Day! How many of you remembered? This is a heads up for
everyone that needs to rush out to get a card and flowers.
Saint
Valentine (or Valeninius as he was known to his family and friends)
lived during the third century and apparently was martyred in the year
273 on July 23rd, or July 6th, or February 14th
- no one really knows for sure. I wonder if that is how we got the
arrow through the heart? I don’t know. In 496 Pope Gelasius I declared
that February 14th
would be his day. And to be honest, not much more is known about the
guy. In fact, there were actually several Valentines around the same
time (It was popular name in Rome) so it’s a little difficult to be sure
even who it’s really all about. The one thing that is known, though is
that they were all martyrs which means that they all suffered unnatural
and probably rather gruesome ends that had relatively little to do with
roses and chocolates. As to the modern celebration of Valentine’s Day,
you can probably thank Geoffrey Chaucer as much as anyone else for
making it a celebration of romance when in 1382 he mentioned it in his
poem “Parliament of Fools." The flowers and candy and cards came about
with the Industrial Revolution in England during the late 1800s. So, all
you guys who have to spend so much every year - blame it on the Brits.
So,
what will we be talking about this Friday? Love or Sacrifice? Or both?
Guess you’ll just have to be there it find out. And even though I really
admire the guy and may mention him, I probably won't discuss Abraham
Lincoln. OK, I might show the Geico commercial with him which is one of
my favorites, but that is far as I’ll go down that path.
Cheers!
Duane
When:
7:15pm on Friday, February 12
Where:
Grace Community Covenant Church
Foothill Covenant Church
1555 Oak Avenue
Los Altos, CA 94024
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