大象传媒

A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the environmentalist and theologian Dr Ruth Valerio

Good Morning.

Are you the sort of person who likes to be in good time for things or are you a last minute person, always arriving late and hassled, trying to pack in too much and forgetting things in your hurry?

Today is Shrove Tuesday; the day before the start of Lent, the six week period leading up to the Easter weekend. It is, of course, also Pancake Day. Because people traditionally fasted foods such as eggs, milk and sugar that were considered rich, pancakes were a good way to use up those ingredients.

The traditional pancake races are thought to have begun because of a woman who was in a hurry. In 1445 a woman had lost track of the time on Shrove Tuesday and was busy cooking pancakes in her kitchen. Suddenly she heard the church bell ringing to call the faithful to church for confession. The woman raced out of her house and ran all the way to church, still holding her frying pan and wearing her apron!

Shrove Tuesday and the start of Lent can take me by surprise and come earlier than I鈥檓 expecting. I鈥檓 often so focused on my work and other things in my life that I get to Shrove Tuesday all in a hurry and not prepared, either spiritually or with the necessary ingredients to make a good pancake supper for the family.

Shrove Tuesday asks us to stop and prepare ourselves for how we want to approach Lent. Are there particular things you want to give up or rhythms you want to put in place for these next six weeks? Now is a good time for us to settle those decisions in our hearts.

Lord of all time, I bring you my busyness today. May I not hurry so much that I forget your presence with me.

Amen

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