Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, and Lent

Every year, I need the reminder that I need to prepare for the great feasts of the Christian calendar. Jesus’ birth and his death and resurrection are simply too big to comprehend unless we prepare ourselves first. If we don’t humble ourselves and become attentive, it can be hard to see and receive Jesus in the feasts of Christmas and Easter. The celebrations can easily crowd out an intimate awareness of Jesus.
 
The Christian life is a pilgrimage into the heart of God. Along the way, there are moments when we get glimpses of the end of the journey—like a hiker who sees the mountaintop through a gap in the trees, we are given brief moments when we see who Jesus is and grasp his love for us. These moments aren’t limited to Christmas and Easter, but these holy days are certainly chief among them. But we won’t be ready for these glimpses of Jesus unless we humble ourselves and rid ourselves of the things that normally keep us from seeing God.
 
Lent is a season of throwing off the things that keep us from seeing Jesus. We throw off sin through vigorous confession and repentance, we throw off selfishness through almsgiving, we throw off self-reliance through a renewed focus on prayer, and we throw off distractions and pleasures through significant fasting. It is a penitential season, when purposeful awareness of our sin and mortality should drive us to the cross over and over in a posture of self-renunciation.
 
We focus on both our sin and mortality on Ash Wednesday. This day of fasting (of the whole year, only Good Friday’s fast should be deeper!) is a moment to come face-to-face with the facts that we will die and that we are in desperate need of mercy. We don’t like to face these truths, but unless we face them, we will not truly realize what Jesus has done for us. And so, face them we will, as we fast throughout the day and gather together on Wednesday evening.
 
But Ash Wednesday begins on Shrove Tuesday! Even though Shrove Tuesday is a time of joy—dinner together is a blessing—it is supposed to be the beginning of our self-examination and confession. The word “shrove” comes from an archaic word that means confession and absolution. Shrove Tuesday is the first step of Lent, just as packing one’s bags is the first step of taking a trip. Even before Lent begins, we begin by taking stock of the state of our souls and confessing what needs to be confessed.
 
Use Shrove Tuesday as a moment to take stock of what needs to be confessed, and then spend Ash Wednesday in penitence and fasting before you join the congregation in prayer. These acts of humility are not acts of morbidity or self-hatred, but instead simply the necessary honesty that we must have if we are to come into the presence of the merciful one, Jesus Christ the Righteous. If, as you practice this self-examination, recognize that it would be good to confess out loud to someone, do not hesitate to contact one of the priests at Incarnation.
 
In Christ,
 
Steven+