Pancakes all round
In case it escaped your notice we are current- ly in Lent. This is the 40 day period leading up to Easter starting the day after Shrove Tuesday (or Pancake Day to you and me!) I could hardly miss it thanks to Waitrose piling high the eggs, flour and lemons. I am always eager to partake in my share of pancake eating – and I still wonder why in the UK these tasty treats are consigned to one day where our cousins in the US and Canada manage to liberate them for enjoyment all year round. That aside…
Lent is an interesting Christian tradition – observed in a variety of ways but with a theme of prayerful reflection, preparation and denial running throughout. The pancakes, a way of using up ‘rich’ foods before the more sombre diet traditionally anticipated during the Lent period. I doubt many people cut back so radically that eggs and milk are seen as a finally fling of luxury – however people do still observe Lent by giving things up.
Usually when we give things up it is for our own immediate benefit – the classic New Year’s Resolution designed to take back control and reshape ourselves (often quite literally!)
These are all well and good albeit often unsuccessful; however, this is not the spirit behind Lent. Whilst I’m sure many people use it as a time to diet or cut out a particular unhealthy treat its intended purpose is not for our self-controlled betterment. Instead it is intended as a time of considered reflection: The denial of rich food designed to help focus our attention on God and to show we want to take his costly offer of salvation seriously. This is because it leads up to Good Friday, the day set aside to remember the death of Jesus Christ: who willingly allowed himself to be killed so that the problem of wrongdoing would be dealt with once and for all. Whilst the outcome is wonderful, the sacrifice was enormously significant as God himself, in Jesus, took
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on the punishment for the wrongdoing of mankind.
It is in this context that Lent is significant. Whilst in my own church background we tend not to focus on the traditional Church calendar, Lent is a reminder to me that my freedom to know God came at a cost – and reminds me to consider the choices I make in response.
I hope you enjoyed your pancakes – and would encourage you to take some time this side of Easter to consider your own life – and the opportunity for friendship with your creator.
Have a great month. Peter Russell
Prayer for Coulsdon & Old Coulsdon exists to encourage Christians to pray for the town and its residents. If you are interested in praying with us you are warmly invited to join us for one of our prayer gatherings (which last an hour) on:
Monday 6th March – 9am – 56 Bradmore Way, Old Coulsdon Tuesday 28th March – 8pm – 183 St Andrews Road, Coulsdon Monday 3rd April - 9am - 56 Bradmore way
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