The 40 days before Easter have been celebrated as a time of penitence and fasting since the 4th century. And immediately preceding this time of Lent is Shrove Tuesday.
Shrove Tuesday is both a day of confession and celebration.
I can’t say I ever knew what ‘shrove’ meant until I looked it up in the dictionary yesterday. The dictionary says that it s the past tense of ‘shrive’, so I was none the wiser! But I’m sure most of you can tell me what ‘shrive’ means…
So the day before Lent was a day for soul searching and confession. If that hasn’t already been part of your day, I urge you to still find some time before going to sleep to meet with God and in humility to bring your faults before God.
In Christianity, confession is always closely followed by forgiveness. And so ‘to shrive’ is a bit of an ambidextrous word: on the one hand it can mean both to confess and to hear someone’s confession; and on the other hand it can mean to pronounce or receive absolution.
But Shrove Tuesday is also a day of celebration.
Another thing I didn’t know until yesterday was that Mardi Gras (which these days always seems to have the connotation of ‘gay’ mardi gras) is just another name for Shrove Tuesday. I only ever learnt French for one month back in 1974, so it’s no surprise that I didn’t know ‘Mardi’ is French for ‘Tuesday’, or that ‘Gras’ is French for ‘fat’. Mardi Gras is the Tuesday on which all the fat (and butter and eggs) must be eaten, because otherwise they would go off during Lent. Mardi Gras is a day of feasting and celebrating.
So, having shown my ignorance of these matters, I just want to make one observation about this day of confession and celebration. It is this: that in our Christian faith there is only a hair’s breadth between the two. The church is often known as a dull place full of guilt and inadequacy and repeated repentance. But to see that is to miss the purpose. Churcu ought not be an institution that instills guilt, but one that, by encouraging repentance, brings cleansing and life and wholeness and freedom. That is worth celebrating. Our Christian celebrations are not the sort of carefree parties in which fun is both the means and the ends. We celebrate and rejoice because the remarkable grace of Christ has drawn us in to share with him the full joy of real life.
Just as Good Friday goes hand-in-hand with Easter, so confession goes hand-in-hand with forgiveness, honest soul-searching with celebration, and death with resurrection. The Shrove Tuesday of confession and penitence is the same day as the celebration and feasting of Mardi Gras.
Let us pray …
Gracious God, you have blessed us far beyond what we deserve or dare hope for. When we stand exposed before your light, we recognise with embarassment and shame the nakedness of our soul. Guide us through this period of Lent, that we might appreciate anew the love you show us through Christ. Today, we celebrate your generosity to us, symbolised by the pancakes we have enjoyed. Help us, we pray, to serve others as you have served us: to feed those who are hungry in body and in spirit, that all may come to know you as their Lord and saviour. Amen.
Brief reflections on Shrove Tuesday 2004, at Berowra Uniting Church