People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.
• Rogers Hornsby
• • •
Photo from Shooting from the Hip
by Chicago Tribune Photojournalist Scott Strazzante
The Feast Before the Fast
“One will have to give account in the judgment day of every good thing which one might have enjoyed and did not.”
• The Talmud
• • •
The seriousness of Lent that begins on Ash Wednesday is preceded on Tuesday each year by a day of frivolousness and indulgence. We feast before we fast.
Yet even the feasting and festivities have traditionally served a purpose. You will note below that the day is often named after various confections. During Lent there are many foods that some Christians — historically and today — do not eat: such as meat, fats, eggs, and milky foods. In order to avoid wasting them, families and communities hold feasts to use them up so they do not go bad over the forty days of Lenten observance. Pancakes and other rich confections developed because these were good ways of using up all the eggs, fats, milk, and sweets in the house with just the addition of flour.
This feast day before Ash Wednesday is known by different names around the world. Here are a few of them:
- Shrove Tuesday (to shrive = to repent)
- Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday)
- Pancake Day
- Fasnacht Day (a German-American confection)
- Malasada Day (a Portugese confection)
- Pączki Day (a Polish confection)
- Sprengidagur (Iceland: Bursting Day)
One of the venerable traditions on this day is the Pancake Race.
Here’s a link to a story about the most famous race, the one in Olney, England, which is said to have been inaugurated in 1445: Olney Pancake Race History.
And here’s a video of the Great Spitalfields Pancake Race in London, where teams dress up in wacky costumes and race to raise money for charity:
It’s on days like these that we might do well to heed the sage advice of Qoheleth, who said: “Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself?” (Eccles. 7:16) Our good friend Robert Farrar Capon teases this out, encouraging us to enjoy Fat Tuesday for all its worth:
O Lord, refresh our sensibilities. Give us this day our daily taste. Restore to us our soups that spoons will not sink in, and sauces which are never the same twice. Raise up among us stews with more gravy than we have bread to blot it with, and casseroles that put starch and substance in our limp modernity. Take away our fear of fat, and make us glad of the oil which ran upon Aaron’s beard. Give us pasta with a hundred fillings, and rice in a thousand variations. Above all, give us grace to live as true folk — to fast till we come to a refreshed sense of what we have and then to dine gratefully on all that comes to hand. Drive far from us, O Most Bountiful, all creatures of air and darkness; cast out the demons that possess us; deliver us from fear of calories and the bondage of nutrition; and set us free once more in our own land, where we shall serve thee as thou hast blessed us — with the dew of heaven, the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine.
Dueling Political Media
Today, two clever, attention-getting media offerings, capturing opposite perspectives on the role of government in American life.
First, from the right…
After the jump, the left strikes back…
Lent 2012: A Journey into the Wilderness
“We are all outside of paradise. We are locked up aboard an unsteerable ship, and we bide our time, unsure of ever reaching land, hungrily eyeing each other as the foodstores fail. We are that tainted generation of former slaves who now must perish in the wilderness on the outside chance that it will help our freeborn children enter into their promised rest.”
• A Lent Sourcebook
edited by Baker, Kaehler, Mazar
• • •
The season of Lent begins Wednesday.
The word “Lent” means “spring.” In the Church it refers to the forty day period leading up to Easter, beginning on Ash Wednesday. Traditionally, it has been the season during which the Church prepared catechumens for baptism at Easter. The practice of Lent recalls Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness, while the season also focuses on that portion of the Gospel that depicts Jesus’ journey to the Cross after Peter’s pivotal confession. It was at that point that Jesus began foretelling his Passion and challenging his disciples to take up their cross and follow him as he “set his face toward Jerusalem.”
At ChurchYear.net, we read the following description of the purpose and practices of Lent:
The purpose of Lent is to be a season of fasting, self-denial, spiritual growth, conversion, and simplicity. Lent, which comes from the Teutonic (Germanic) word for springtime, can be viewed as a spiritual spring cleaning: a time for taking spiritual inventory and then cleaning out those things which hinder our corporate and personal relationships with Jesus Christ and our service to him. Thus it is fitting that the season of Lent begin with a symbol of repentance: placing ashes mixed with oil on one’s head or forehead. However, we must remember that our Lenten disciplines are supposed to ultimately transform our entire person: body, soul, and spirit, and help us become more like Christ. Eastern Christians call this process theosis, which St. Athanasius describes as “becoming by grace what God is by nature.”
This year, on Internet Monk, we plan a special emphasis to mark Lent.
‘Cause every girl’s crazy ’bout…
From the you couldn’t possibly make this stuff up in a million years department, today we refer you to:
At Ed Young’s new site, PastorFashion.com, you can learn that he wears Spanx, that wearing Spanx can give you gas (but better posture), and that those who are “clothed in Christ” should be clothed in fashionable, trend-setting styles too.
There’s a rumor out there that this is a joke. Please, God, let it be.
Here’s the scoop, right from the celebrity pastor’s mouth:
Pastors aren’t typically known for their fashion. Most people don’t think of the runway leading up to the pulpit. But why not?! Why can’t the men and women of God set the standard for the rest of the world in fashion as well as faith? That’s why we’re launching PastorFashion.com. We want to set the trends.
…We’re not trying to be like the world…we just want to be fashionable while we try to change it!
Maybe if enough of us petition the site, we can have him model the right jammies to wear for our Sexperiments.
• • •
As for me, I wanna look like these guys some day…
We Point People to Jesus
A Letter for the Church Today (6, conclusion)
A Study of 2 Corinthians 10-13
“Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.”
• 2Corinthians 13:11, NRSV
• • •
It’s decision time in Corinth. As we come to the end of 2 Corinthians, Paul lets the church know that they have come to a fork in the road. They must choose which path they will follow: either the way of Christ, to which he as Christ’s apostle introduced them, or the way of the “super-apostles.” Essentially, to use Lutheran language, it is the choice between a theology of the cross and a theology of glory.
Paul’s opponents sought the glory (what D.A. Carson calls “triumphalism”) — practicing a religion that was all about impressive credentials and appearances, power, human wisdom, and outward results. Evidence suggests there was a strong Jewish emphasis in their movement (for example, 11:22-23). Therefore, it is likely that their “gospel” required adherence to the requirements of the Law in order for one to be considered a true follower of Messiah and a member of God’s people. Mixing faith with the works of the Law, they appealed to human pride, self-justification, and a sense of superiority over others.
Throughout 2Cor 10-13, Paul turned this whole perspective upside down, insisting that the ministry of Christ runs directly counter to all this. Christ’s way is the way of weakness and humble service. It’s not about impressing others, but loving them; not about big crowds and visible “success,” but about genuine pastoral concern that leads people to trust Christ and love their neighbors.
In this final section, Paul announces that he is coming to town to check on the church. On which road will he find them?
New Every Morning: Lessons about Grace
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
• Lamentations 3:22-23, NRSV
• • •
The Hebrew word translated “steadfast love” in Lam. 3 is my favorite biblical word: Hesed (חסד). Its meaning is so rich that Miles Coverdale had to coin a new word when he produced his 1535 English translation of the Bible. He called it lovingkindness. Hesed is, essentially, the Hebrew Bible’s word for grace.
Its use in the center of Lamentations is significant. Here, in a chapter in which a sufferer describes his sad experience with language that reflects the exact opposite of Psalm 23 (“your rod and your staff comfort me” vs. “under the rod of God’s wrath”), this poor man points to an underlying reality that keeps him from complete despair: God’s grace and faithful love that never ends and which is renewed every day.
I can’t think of a better way to end our “Jubilee Week,” with its focus on God’s grace, than by hearing these words from Lamentations 3:22-23. Since God’s “steadfast love” never ceases, since his grace and mercy is served fresh each morning, let me share with you today a few lessons about grace that I’ve learned over the years.
Saturday Ramblings 2.18.12
Sigh. Just when you try to do something right, the world intrudes all over your good intentions. I had decided earlier in the week that today’s ramblings would be Ed Young, Jr- and Mark Driscoll-free. And darn if they don’t both go and get themselves into the news once again. So I figured, “What not through in some Rob Bell as well?” Add a splash of Linsanity, a Noah’s Ark themepark update, and a tip of the fight helmet to one of the greatest American heroes, and it all adds up to a giant helping of Saturday Ramblings.
Let’s start with Ed Young, Jr. I don’t know if I get more of a kick of him handing out “sexual chocolate” or him implying that I don’t know the Lord. In either case, I think you can see that Young takes just a wee bit of liberty with scriptures, statistics, and, yes, chocolate.
Oops. Looks like Mark Driscoll’s Mars Hill Church had to do a little housekeeping this week. They fired two of the ministers involved in the church discipline case we have hightlighted on these pages in the past week or so. There, heads have rolled. Can we please move on now?
iMonk friend Skye Jethani chatted recently with Christian lightning rod Rob Bell. I really like Bell’s thoughts here. You?
Recommended: N.T. Wright on Extension 720
One of the great graces of life is good conversation and respectful dialogue between neighbors.
The best talk show I have ever heard, which embodies this grace, is Extension 720 on WGN Radio in Chicago. It is hosted by Dr. Milton J. Rosenberg. Milt is a professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago, where he has served as the director of the doctoral program in Social and Organizational Psychology. Prior to coming to Chicago, he taught at Yale, Ohio State University and Dartmouth College.
He has been hosting Extension 720 since 1973, and has interviewed thousands of public figures, scholars, authors, and experts on topics ranging from politics and foreign affairs to financial investment, entertainment, religion, literature, sports, media, medicine, and, always, many special shows that carry a “Chicago” flavor.
Last November, Dr. Rosenberg talked to N.T. Wright on the radio program when the Bishop was in Chicago. The result is a breathtaking interview between two of the best thinkers and conversationalists around. What makes it even more interesting is that Rosenberg is a secular Jewish academic. Yet he expresses profound admiration for Wright’s book, Simply Jesus: A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Did, and Why He Matters
This one gets my highest recommendation, and if I could give it an even higher one I would.
Go to THIS PAGE at WGN to listen to the interview or download an audio file of it. Even better, you can go to WGN or iTunes and subscribe to the Extension 720 podcast so that you can join me in enjoying one of our great cultural institutions.
iMonk Classic: Our Problem with Grace
Classic iMonk Post
by Michael Spencer
Undated
NOTE FROM CM: No emphasis on grace would be complete without a review of Michael Spencer’s classic post on the subject. Take your time with this one, and savor it. Michael never wrote better, and he never pointed us to a more important subject.
• • •
Q. 1. What is your only comfort, in life and in death?
A. That I belong–body and soul, in life and in death–not to myself but to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, who at the cost of his own blood has fully paid for all my sins and has completely freed me from the dominion of the devil; that he protects me so well that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, that everything must fit his purpose for my salvation. Therefore, by his Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life, and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.
Q. 2. How many things must you know that you may live and die in the blessedness of this comfort?
A. Three. First, the greatness of my sin and wretchedness. Second, how I am freed from all my sins and their wretched consequences. Third, what gratitude I owe to God for such redemption.
• The Heidelberg Catechism
• • •
Grace. It’s dangerous stuff.
“Amazing Grace” may be the church’s favorite hymn, but I’m not the first person to notice that the subject of God’s actual grace seems to give many Christians a case of hives. Singing about it is way cool. After that we need a team of lawyers to interpret all the codicils and footnotes we’ve written for the new covenant.
I don’t really care whether we all agree on how to reconcile Paul’s justification by faith and James’s justification by works. I don’t care whether we agree on the application of the threat of Bonhoeffer’s sermons on “cheap grace.” I don’t care all that much about Catholic grace vs. Protestant grace or conservative grace vs. liberal grace, though I have my convictions. Grace as merely a point or a subpoint in theology seems rather bizarre to me. Grace is an all or nothing gig, not some percentage of the take. Get with it, or get out of the kitchen.
The Internet Monk Archives 