Fat Tuesday

Camp Lakeview, Indiana. 10/8/2011 dwm photo

 Fat Tuesday is the last day of Mardi Gras; a day for eating rich, fatty foods before the rituals and fasting of Lent.

 

 Lent is a season of reflection and repentance that is 40 days long but isn't observed on Sundays during the season.

 Fat Tuesday, has become a day for the "last drink" and last indulgent treats made with fat and sugars.  In the United Kingdom, pancakes are associated with Fat Tuesday because they deplete the supply of eggs, flour, and eggs.

 When we lived in Augusta, Wisconsin (1993 - 2005), the church we attended, Grace Lutheran, traditionally hosted a pancake and sausage dinner the night before Ash Wednesday.  Men of the church prepared the sausages, made pancakes, and served a hearty, sweet feast to raise funds (often for the church's youth group).

During the time we were members there, I learned the kitchen was where the men who grew up in town were likely working.  They could recall their fathers making the sausage by hand in the days before the event, so they kept the tradition by firing up the Nescos and grills to make stacks of pancakes and pans filled with sausage from the local butcher.

The last year we lived in Augusta, I was asked to work in the kitchen, serving pancakes to the folks who came to dinner.  It was an honor and surprise, another relative newcomer to the congregation and I used to joke we would need to be in the cemetery five years before we'd have enough tenure to work the kitchen.

In the Lutheran church, depriving oneself for Lent isn't required but is still frequently observed.  Fasting from certain foods, chocolate for example, is seen as a Catholic tradition.  When I was growing up, receiving ashes on your forehead was also a ritual associated with Catholicism, but in the mid to late 1980s it was offered to members of Lutheran churches we attended.  It is a way to recognize our filth and unworthiness as sinners who need to be washed in the blood of our Savior.

A strong Lutheran custom is the soup supper Wednesday evenings during Lent.  Prior to the mid-week worship, members are invited to eat a simple meal made with soup.  At Cross, we have the first of six suppers tomorrow night.

The customs and rituals aren't necessary, but helpful tools as Christians remember the sacrificial love and heavy price paid for our salvation.