Happy Lent

Last night, the anchor on our local news said that many Christians around the world were celebrating Ash Wednesday. It struck me as an odd choice of words. Do we really “celebrate” Ash Wednesday? It’s a day of repentance – a day to remember that we were created from dust and to dust we will return – a day to be humble. Ash Wednesday kicks off the liturgical season of Lent, which is 40 days (plus Sundays) that Christians observe to prepare for Easter through prayer, penance, repentance, almsgiving, and self-denial.

Sounds like a party to me!

“Don’t need nothin’ – but Contrition”
(sung to the tune of the Poison song, Nothin’ but a Good Time.)

Many Christians traditionally give something up for Lent; like carbonated beverages, chocolate, or desserts. Others add something to their routine; like an additional bible study, devotional, or prayer. Some attend special Ash Wednesday services where they may participate in a ritual of receiving the mark of ashes on their foreheads as a sign of repentance and mourning. All of this is an effort to get their hearts and minds focused on the upcoming Holy Day of Easter, or the celebration of the resurrection of Christ. (THAT I can understand referring to as a celebration!)

Here’s the thing though: All of this is great, as long as you remember that it’s a human device – a ritual designed and perpetuated by imperfect people. In the end, God isn’t going to ask if you observed Lent properly, or call you out on eating a Reece’s Peanut Butter Cup after giving up chocolate for 40 days. That isn’t what’s important to Him.

What He ultimately wants from us is exactly what He has always wanted: for us to love Him with all of our hearts, minds, and souls – and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

And if observing Lent or Ash Wednesday in whatever way we think is necessary helps us to do that – then that’s exactly what we should do.

I went to Ash Wednesday service last night, received the mark of ashes, and prayed a little extra. I am doing a couple of extra devotionals for the time being. I will be reading and writing more intentionally for spiritual reasons. I might even deny myself something that I really like. And I encourage you to do those kinds of things too. But I mostly encourage you to (as they say around Christmas) remember the reason for the season.

Prayer for the beginning of Lent:

Lord, help us to use whatever rituals and devices that we choose to do nothing more than strengthen our commitment to you, our families, our churches, our communities, and our world. Help us to love you more, and to learn how to love your people.

Amen.

Ward To Your Mutha

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it”

I know – it’s a totally overused and obvious quote – but sometimes it’s true.

One day, I looked around and realized that I was fan of a specific guitarist and I didn’t even know it. It may not be a name you are familiar with, Michael Ward, but you’ve probably heard him play. Somehow he has been a part of four projects that I have absolutely loved; He co-founded the early 90′s alternative rock band School of Fish, he was the lead guitarist in Jakob Dylan’s awesome band the Wallflowers, and has played in bands backing the legendary singer-songwriter John Hiatt and the incredibly talented Ben Harper.

Listen to these samples of his work and you can see why I was a fan, even if I didn’t realize it:

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Valentine’s Day – The Morning After

I was going to post something lovely and thoughtful for Valentine’s Day, but I missed it. So instead – here are some creepy posters from the 1940′s about syphilis… ENJOY!

 

See more at Retronaut

Serving Up a Warm Bowl of Victory

Are you ready for Super Bowl Ecks Ell Vee Eye???

Personally, growing up, I was never a big fan of soup. It seemed like such a waste of a perfectly good meal opportunity. I mean, we weren’t poor. So it wasn’t like mom had to feed the whole family on a meager handful of meat and beans, so she had to thin it down with lightly flavored water. I wanted her to pour that stuff down the drain and cook me a hotdog or some spaghetti. I was a growing boy, for goodness’ sake. Throw some meat on the grill!

But that was then.

As my tastes have matured, I have grown to really love many soups. Give me some hearty Italian Wedding Soup, a spicy Tortilla Soup, or some decadent Lobster Bisque. One of my favorites is a good homemade French Onion with croutons and melted Gruyere cheese. That’s good eating right there! Serve it in a good, crusty bread bowl and just about any soup becomes better.

Seriously though, you can keep your split pea. That stuff is disgusting. It’s like someone decided that baby food looked yummy, so they dumped several jars in a bowl and heated it up.

Wait… What?

OHHHHH! S-U-P-E-R… Not S-O-U-P!

I see my error now. So, this is some sort of sporting event, huh?

Okay.

I suppose you could still eat a bowl of soup while you are watching it though, couldn’t you?

In the words of Emily Litella, one of Gilda Radner’s recurring characters back in the glory days of SNL, “Never Mind”.