Pancake Supper Part One

As I get ready for a trip to Nepal, I am going through many preparations. Part of these preparations include making sure our music is covered when I am gone.  Normally this is not too complicated but this time I will be gone over one of those Anglican holidays.  Of course Ash Wednesday is not necessarily an Anglican holiday, or maybe holiday isn't the correct word. I believe it it a feast day, although since it marks the start of Lent, it is also a fast day.  Whoa...I know I have confused many of my Anglican't friends, Catholics are probably ok so far.  Lent, fast, feast, Ash Wednesday? Lent begins the countdown to Easter, but not like a normal countdown, 40 days but we don't count Sundays. Please remember at this point most of what I say is rhetorical, so don't send me an email to explain stuff to me. I actually get it, but this is not an educational or theological blog, it is for entertainment; mine mostly but a few others have enjoyed it as well so back off.
Ok, back to our story. 40 days not including Sundays makes it 46 days in real calendar days, but things in the Bible didn't happen for 46 days and nights. The number is 40, so apparently we rest on the Sabbath which means we rest so much we don't do anything at all.  We can't even count on that day. We wake up the next day and begin counting again.
The church also does a lot of preparing I have found.  We cannot properly celebrate Easter without preparing for the 40 days, however, we cannot have the 40 days of preparation without preparing for that. Makes perfect sense. Since many people partake in a fast during Lent ( a fast is where we give something up), why not gorge ourselves the day before the fast. Great idea. Gluttony doesn't count as a sin if we are doing it as preparation.  If I could think of one thing to have as a last supper to prepare for the Last Supper which prepares us for Easter, what would it be? Well obviously someone important thought of pancakes. I say someone important because somehow it is now the observed tradition of the church. If I thought of pancakes people would say, "thats stupid", or "pancakes are for breakfast".  And I would be defeated. But this smart person turned the tables. They obviously responded with, "it is not stupid because I am talking about pancakes..... for supper!" Wow! What should we call this event? How about a pancake supper?  That doesn't sound very churchy. Lets call the day Shrove Day, or better yet, so we remember what day it falls on, Shrove Tuesday. Brilliant! You can look up what shrove is, but as a hint, the term Mardi Gras is french for Fat Tuesday (nothing to do with beads, naked people, body paint or parades).  Once again, the world took a holiday the church had, and like Christmas and Easter, added commercialism to it and made it more fun so everyone could enjoy it.  God still has grace for the human race.

You'll Put Your Eye Out

Everyone knows this saying. The funny thing is most people never heard their mom say it.  They just hear other people quoting a line that has become infamous.  Anyone who has kids know that as a parent if you were to say this, it wouldn't carry much weight.  "Be careful with that" is about all we can say. The warning is good enough. Inventing a probable consequence or predicting what will happen if the warning is not heeded puts you in a different category somehow.
We do like warnings in America.  Thanks to lawyers we have lots of warnings that don't make much sense.  "Not intended for consumption" is one of my favorites.  You know that warning came because someone tried to eat it, whatever it was. A can of air-freshener may smell like berries, but let's not spray some on our toast.
Yesterday at church we had family sunday. The first sunday of every month is designated family sunday.  I guess every other sunday is individual sunday, but we don't call it that.  On family sunday the kids don't have sunday school.  They stay in church with their parents and we hear a children's sermon.  I think for most people the children's sermon is the one sunday everyone understands the lesson and it usually only lasts 10 minutes. Win-win.  Anyhow, on this particular children's sermon, one of the leaders in the program was scheduled to speak.  She gave a terrific lesson on light. Jesus is the light of the world, and I helped the kids sing "this little light of mine." Great! To end it on a good note (pun intended) she gave out glow sticks. She was quite proud of this give-away. First of all it went with the theme.  She even told us the glow sticks had been on sale 15 for a dollar so she went crazy and bought lots! I thought, that was brilliant!! (more pun intended, thanks)
Usually the person speaking to kids gives out candy. Then we find the wrappers all over the place and the kids make noise unwrapping them.  No noise this time, and what could be better than glow sticks during the day?
About 5 minutes into the prayers that follow the message, came a cry. Not a cry like a baby, more like a scream, then a cry, then more screaming.  Then a mom running out of the middle of the service holding her son. What could have happened? Apparently the 15 for a dollar glow sticks are not made as well as the 2 for a dollar glow sticks. The young boy had bent the stick and it broke open splashing glow stuff liquid into his eyes. And it burned.  Without warning.  People sprang into action. We had a nurse jump up to rinse with water. We had church people praying. We had lawyers investigating and doing lawyer stuff. And we had a concerned person call 911. Nice. Our emergency? Umm, a glow stick exploded in a kids face during the service. What kind of a church is that?
Well, everything turned out alright. The paramedics treated and released our kid into mom's care right there in the parking lot. He was fine. Turns out no toxic chemicals went into the making of those glow sticks. Probably because some kid did it before and now there are regulations and a label, but who reads those things anyway. I am pretty sure I heard another mom say as she took the glow sticks away from her kid's hands..."give me those, you might put your eye out!"