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.