FROM THE PASTOR
Let the good times roll!
“Then [the Pharisees] said to him, ‘John’s disciples, like the disciples of the Pharisees, frequently fast and pray, but your disciples eat and drink.’ Jesus said to them, ‘You cannot make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? The days are coming when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.’”
– Luke 5:33-35
Mardi Gras. Festival. Carnival. Fasching. Carneval. Maslenitas.
Fat Tuesday. Shrove Tuesday. Donut Day. Pancake Day. Paczki Day. Among my people, the Pennsylvania Dutch, Fastnacht Day.
To many cultures shaped by Christian tradition, this pre-Lenten season is a time of celebration, a time to “eat and drink.” It is no wonder we think of partying, especially if we remember this year the season began with the story of Jesus making gallons and gallons of wine for a wedding celebration. Jesus ate and drink, and his disciples with him.
Many years ago, my spouse and I took a vacation at this time of year and went to (G-rated) Mardi Gras in Galveston, Texas. The year was 2006, only two years after the devastation caused by Hurricane Ivan. It was obvious the island was still coming back. The high-water marks above our heads were still visible on some buildings. A hotel/casino down the beach from our hotel sat empty, windows blown out and roof torn off. The Mardi Gras celebration, we were told, was scaled back from the kinds of revelry seen in most years.
But what was clearest to us in the Mardi Gras celebration was a sense of gratitude. The gracious people of Galveston were grateful to have been sheltered through a massively traumatic event, to be alive, to rebuild, to celebrate Mardi Gras, and to welcome the guests (like us) who came to celebrate with them.
There are times, like the season of Lent, when we choose to keep the fast and not celebrate. There are times when it is difficult to celebrate, especially in the midst of this pandemic with the confusion, conflict, uncertainty, and loss it has brought us. Yet, like the people of Galveston many years ago, we have good reason to join in pre-Lenten celebration. This Mardi Gras we are grateful for having been kept safe thus far, for being alive, for looking forward to the possibility of rebuilding “normal” life, and for welcoming and being welcomed here as the bridegroom’s guests around gifts of bread and wine.
It is time to eat. Time to drink. Time to celebrate.
Let the good times roll!
– Pastor John Schumacher, BCC
