🦁 Epiphany 6-6
Readings: Psalm 110:1-4; Job 19:23-27; 1 Timothy 3:14-16.
Reflection
Good morning. This is Tim Tribble, broadcasting from Sacramento, California. Today's readings come to us from Psalm 110, verses 1 to 4 Jobe. Chapter 19 versus 23 to 27. And first Timothy, Chapter three. Verses 14 to 16. And welcome to Shrove Tuesday, The celebration Before we enter the penitential season of Lent. As we get rid of our fat and our sugar and we celebrate the last hurrah before we become penitent during what a lot of you may recognize as Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, New Orleans, the big party and all that. And then we move into the season of Lent. And that's something. Today is a day of preparation. So in Lent, there's things that we do and we usually give something up for Lent. That's been a long standing practice for the 40 days when you give something up. So people come always say to you, I'm going to give up smoking for what doesn't work out real well. The giving up of things is very, very difficult because, again, we have habits. We're very habitual creatures.
And it makes it very, very difficult. And then we don't have a good success rate. And that kind of gets lost because I didn't do a good job for Lent. And that's not what it's about. In all honesty, that's not where we're supposed to be, and that's not what God wants for us. So on Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, a lot of liturgical church, especially us in the Episcopal tradition, will have the Shrove Tuesday dinner with pancakes and sausage. We'll have a king cake, which is a cake, and there's a plastic baby Jesus that's baked inside the cake. And you cut the cake and the person who gets the baby Jesus in there slices the winner. I never quite understood that one, but it's a day to prepare. And so I want to talk about real quick today, because preparing for Lent, which again starts tomorrow on Ash Wednesday. It's a couple of things. So just go to your favorite Internet search engine and type in ashes to go something that is done. It's a nationwide thing. It depends on the churches that do it. We do it very much in the Episcopal Church. But this is we were outside, so we're out on a street corner where the bus station somewhere there's a lot of traffic and the priest is there and their outfit and a couple of people acolytes with them. And they do the imposition of the ashes. So this is for people don't have time to go in Ash Wednesday service. You know, a lot of commuters, things like that who come up they can get that that mark of the block cross from the ashes on their forehead and it gets them into that mood of going into Lent. And this is what we're doing now. So look that one up. I highly recommend that. And I also recommend going to an Ash Wednesday service. So you can look that up today. Find out if your local church has one if they don't go online again, your favorite search engine. Now I recommend the one at the National Cathedral so you can just look up Episcopal National Cathedral. That's in Washington, D.C. They have a beautiful service and they're on. So it is online available. So you can watch it live. You can watch it recorded afterwards on YouTube. So they have that available or there may be something in your local area. But the hell I recommend going to a Ash Wednesday service and working towards reviewing your life. The last year and preparing ourselves for the death and resurrection and ascension of our Lord and Savior that will be coming in the Easter season and then the Pentecost. And then we, you know, go back into ordinary time. That's something to look out and think about as we go through the day, look those things up and see how what you can do. I don't give things up for Lent. Like I said earlier, it doesn't really work. Never worked well for me. Don't ever try calling Copenhagen stuff for Lent. It does not work. Great idea, but it doesn't work.
What I'd like to recommend or challenge our listeners is to do something extra for the 40 days of Lent. Start a new habit. Now, this can be something. Of course, you're already listening to first formation, but maybe there's something else. Do a little additional reading. Maybe do know what and study it that's available. You look those up online. Also, maybe it's going on volunteering. Hey, so love your neighbor yourself. You hear me talk about that a lot. That's something I very, very firmly believe in. And I really feel that is the crux of being a Christian. So for me, let's go do go out and find a new place to volunteer something to spend a little extra time each week to do something for someone else. It can be going to your vet center can be working out and talking with you. Veteran means go packing boxes to be shipped overseas. There's lots of places now they're doing that. You can get involved with a group that does that go visit, work with some kids, go volunteer something for the kids for 40 days. You're going to find out. There's a wonderful thing. There are lots and lots of kids out there. They're really, really, really dying and looking for some positive adult role models. So that's something else you can deal with as we move into move into Lent for the 40 days, just come up with something that motor way to use something that is core that you really like and believe in and put a little extra into it for, for the 40 days of Lent. And as we move on and go through preparing yourself for Easter and we'll talk more about that tomorrow on Ash Wednesday. Amen.
