Lent: No More Happy Talk

It's the first Sunday in Lent, so Christians know what that means: no more happy talk.

The Gospel was from Luke 4, which describes how Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness, where the devil tempted Him to use His power to feed Himself, seize authority over all the kingdoms of the world, and show that the angels will guard Him from harm. Jesus, of course, turned down the devil. On the latter temptation the lady minister said:

And then there’s what I see as a temptation to see God as the cosmic protector. If we believe all will be well, our lives will run smoothly. We’re going to be sheltered from all those bad things that happened to other people, people who don’t believe like we do, right? We won’t even dash our foot against the stone-- that’s what scripture says, right?

But God doesn’t prevent bad things from happening to us. That’s not how it works. Some people are miraculously healed. Others aren’t. Some might lose their home in a flood or a fire. Others don’t. Some people die at the hands of others, or in plane crashes or natural disasters, and some people seem to live lives of ease while others endure great suffering. I don’t know why. Things happen and at times it seems that there is no rhyme or reason.

Lent is a time of reflection, and of the testing of the faith with age-old questions of why bad things happen to good people and innocent babies, and why a just God would allow a terrible thing to happen. The usual words of comfort seem hollow, and we are in the wilderness.

The Father Brother Encourages

Under an exchange program with the Church of Our Savior in Mill Valley, its rector, the Reverend Brother Richard Edward Elmer, was our priest today.

Father Elmer, or as he jokingly referred to himself "Father Brother," is a member of the Brotherhood of Saint Gregory (BSG), a community of friars in the Episcopal Church. The BSG calls its members to service and prayer, and because it is the season of Lent, Father Elmer focused on the "Daily Office", that is, the services of Morning, Noonday, Evening, and Compline prayer, all of which may be found in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer.

Pre-1979, Episcopal services alternated between Holy Communion and Morning Prayer. Beginning in 1979 Holy Communion has been the norm nearly every Sunday. The morning prayer service, in fact the BCP itself, is used infrequently in the modern Episcopal Church.

Father Elmer encouraged us to engage with as many parts of the Daily Office that we can. If we don't have a prayer book at home, the Daily Office may conveniently be found online.

His words struck a chord. The time may be right to give it a try.

Pancake Tuesday, 2022

Pancake Tuesday 2020: Millbrae Pancake House

Last year we skipped Fat Tuesday, aka Mardi Gras. Pancakes will be on the table tonight. The dinner will be subdued, a far cry from the revelry of years past.

Eating pancakes on the day before Lent is a tradition that goes back to the Middle Ages.

During Lent there are many foods that some Christians - historically and today - would not eat: foods such as meat and fish, fats, eggs, and milky foods.

So that no food was wasted, families would have a feast on the shriving Tuesday, and eat up all the foods that wouldn't last the forty days of Lent without going off.

The need to eat up the fats gave rise to the French name Mardi Gras ('fat Tuesday'). Pancakes became associated with Shrove Tuesday as they were a dish that could use up all the eggs, fats and milk in the house with just the addition of flour.

Get your free Parade COVID tests right here (WSJ)

The most famous celebration, New Orleans' Mardi Gras parade, will make a partial comeback this evening:

Signs this year point to a partial recovery, but not a return to pre-pandemic crowds and tourist spending. Hotel occupancy rates on the weekend days before March 1 are above 80% for the roughly 26,000 rooms in the city’s French Quarter and downtown, still below pre-pandemic levels, according to New Orleans & Company, the group representing the city’s tourist industry. The expected occupancy rate for Saturday was 80%, down from 90% in 2020. The occupancy rate for actual Mardi Gras is expected to be 66%, down from 82% in 2020, according to the group.

War, inflation, and COVID-19 have put a damper on the party.

Going Full Pancake

Having cut back on sugary carbohydrates, I've laid off pancakes since November. As the lawyers like to say, there's a religious exception; it was Fat Tuesday, aka Mardi Gras (in French it sounds sophisticated, n'est ce pas?)

This year we forsook the local IHOP for the Millbrae Pancake House. If you're gonna pancake, go full pancake, that is, with lots of butter and syrup.

Lent starts the next day, and there will be 40 days devoted to controlling base impulses. All in good time. It was Pancake Tuesday.

Lent: Not if It's Too Tough

Fat Tuesday in Hawaii: malasadas and King Cake

Because its roots are in the Catholic Church, Episcopalians abide by its strictures unless they're too tough, for example, priestly celibacy or memorizing the catechism (yes, we say we have theological rationalizations for our differences). Another example--the strict rules of fasting and abstinence during Lent, which started today:

The law of abstinence requires a Catholic 14 years of age until death to abstain from eating meat on Fridays in honor of the Passion of Jesus on Good Friday. Meat is considered to be the flesh and organs of mammals and fowl. Also forbidden are soups or gravies made from them. Salt and freshwater species of fish, amphibians, reptiles and shellfish are permitted, as are animal derived products such as margarine and gelatin which do not have any meat taste...During Lent abstinence from meat on Fridays is obligatory in the United States as elsewhere...

The law of fasting requires a Catholic from the 18th Birthday (Canon 97) to the 59th Birthday (i.e. the beginning of the 60th year, a year which will be completed on the 60th birthday) to reduce the amount of food eaten from normal. The Church defines this as one meal a day, and two smaller meals which if added together would not exceed the main meal in quantity. Such fasting is obligatory on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

Thank goodness I'm not Catholic.

Momona Pōʻalua, 2019

Nearly every year we and thousands of others celebrate Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras) by eating pancakes. In Hawaii people chow down on malasadas. From 2007:

Leonard's truck at Koko Head Marina Shopping Center.

Leonard's [Bakery]'s founders came up with the idea of malasada day several years ago.

"The reason they ate all the malasadas was it used to be cooked in animal fat," said [manager Darlene] Young. So with the animal fat, they could pig out or eat a lot of meat to substitute before they went into the lent."

...They say they make about triple the amount they do on any other day.

To be fair, every day seems to be Malasada Day in Hawaii.

Springing Forward

This morning the clock sprung forward and we "lost an hour." The church administrator had thoughtfully assigned me ushering and layreading duties on the one Sunday when slothful me would have really liked to sleep in (no, Jesus, I'm just joking and happy to be of service).

Attendance was below average, but well within the margin of error---I've forgotten what that means but it sounds STEM-related and professorial. Later that day, availing myself of the Sunday Loophole, it was time to eat and drink everything that I'd been abstaining from during Lent.

I stopped by the local 99 Ranch Market and picked up some sweet and fatty items suitable for Lent-breaking. Fortified by a couple of glasses of pinot noir, I was ready for the week.

99 Ranch Market's duck tongues and duck heads---tempting, but I'll pass.

Pilgrim's Privation

Twitter's Top 100 ideas on What to Give Up for Lent

Fasting may be good for the soul and body, but some strict observers of Lent believe that Christians should not have multiple objectives when making a Lenten sacrifice:

“You should not give up food if your motivation is to lose weight or improve your health. Then it’s about you and not about God.”

Those who believe in keeping their motivations pure are much farther in the journey to the Celestial City than your humble blogger.

From sad experience the weakness of the flesh usually triumphs over the earnest pleadings of my doctor to eat wisely and exercise more, so having God as a backstop during Lent has been very helpful. To saintly Christians I plead "let not the perfect be the enemy of the good."

Go Forth

(Image from Rockwell House)

During Lent Christians traditionally refrain from pleasures like chocolate or watching TV. Another school of thought encourages a daily positive behavior, like meditation or exercise.

Pope Francis wrote last year that we should go beyond either of these negative or positive philosophies. He called for turning the inward focus outward. Christians must battle against "the globalization of indifference" to the suffering of others. [bold added]

every Christian community is called to go out of itself and to be engaged in the life of the greater society of which it is a part, especially with the poor and those who are far away...we can help by acts of charity, reaching out to both those near and far through the Church’s many charitable organizations. Lent is a favourable time for showing this concern for others by small yet concrete signs of our belonging to the one human family.

Episcopalians just have to follow the instructions in the traditional blessing:

Go forth into the world in peace;
be of good courage;
hold fast that which is good;
render to no one evil for evil;
strengthen the fainthearted; support the weak;
help the afflicted; honour everyone;
love and serve the Lord,
rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit;
and the blessing of God the Father etc.

Pancake Pleasures

Martha Stewart likes them thick, too.

On Pancake Tuesday Time describes The Science Behind Making a Perfect Pancake: [bold added]

a “standing” period of between one and three hours before cooking is vital.,,,It is important to beat the mixture hard, so that gluten forms, for the mixture to then stand to allow the starch to swell and any air bubbles to pop. Unless you do this, the structure of the pancake will be weak and it will be full of holes.

This "curing" tip pertains to the thick pancakes served in America, not to the thinner crepes preferred by Europeans.

Thick, fluffy, light pancakes for breakfast, accompanied by hot coffee, are one of life's pleasures.

Wailana's pancake breakfast--unlimited pancakes including
bacon and eggs--is a good deal at under $9.

The Advantage of Cosmopolitanism

Like last year, 2016's Chinese New Year is very close to Lent. As noted yesterday a quirk of the calendar has given us the excuse to indulge in three days of continuous gluttony. Happy New Year!

Fat Super Sunday

The Tuesday before Lent once commanded a decent turnout for the traditional pancake supper, but attendance has been dwindling for some time.

And so it is that many churches now celebrate mardi gras after the Sunday service. Liz and Brian, our recent arrivals from Louisiana by way of Texas, showed that pancakes were a poor substitute for the real thing. Homemade shrimp etouffée, chicken gumbo, and king's cake made it difficult to pace oneself in anticipation of the furious gluttony that would occur later that afternoon.

At 5:30 p.m. on Super Bowl Sunday
I had the weight room to myself.

We have an extra day in 2016, but the calendar seems compressed with the Super Bowl and "dimanche gras" occurring today and the Lunar New Year tomorrow.

Easter will come early this year--March 27th--as will Lent, six weeks of fasting and prayer that in my case are sorely needed.

Under Pressure

The master control valve was rusty but
gave way to determination + a pipe wrench

Displaying more than my usual initiative, I wielded the pickax on Friday afternoon to prepare the flower bed for spring planting. After fifteen minutes of chopping, the pickax struck something hard. Water began welling from beneath the surface. Oh #@!!% (look elsewhere, dear reader, for a blog on disciplined Lenten purification).

I turned off the valve to the house, but the water continued to flow. A fairly desperate call (it was Friday, remember) at 4:35 to the city water department, now closed, referred me to the Foster City Fire Department. And so it was that a fire truck with five firefighters pulled up, surely an inefficient use of public resources but I certainly wasn't complaining.

After 15 minutes of fiddling with various valves and connections, the firefighters unlocked the master control valve near the curb and shut off the water to the property. Apparently the developer in his haste had run a water line directly to the sprinklers without going through the house system.

On a serious note, the problem of undocumented underground utility lines is a nationwide problem:

Failure to locate underground utilities before you dig can result in disruption of services to individual homes or entire neighborhoods. Even worse, cutting into some buried cables or pipes can result in injury or death. But, underground pipes and cables can be hard to find. In some instances, they have been recorded on GIS [geographic information system] mapping. In many cases, however, there is no record of where this underground infrastructure has been buried.

Glue gets it done

Who knows what other surprises lurk beneath the surface? In these drought-ridden times perhaps it's finally time to pull out all the flora--without digging too deeply, of course--and put in a rock garden.

[Update - 3/1/15: fortunately the leak was from a PVC pipe and I was able to replace the section myself on Sunday morning.

(BTW, I found that so-called "glue-free" lockable couplings weren't leak-free under continuous water pressure)]

Sunday Loophole

"Ultimate" skillet: sausage, spinach, bell peppers, onions,
mushrooms, tomatoes, red-skinned potatoes, eggs.

When circumstances make the rules difficult to follow, Christians want to know how far they can go without breaking them. (Such was the concern when people believed in eternal salvation or damnation.)

During Lent Christians are supposed to give up earthly pleasures. Hence the all-important question: do the 40 days of Lent include Sundays?

From the very earliest days, the Church has declared that Sunday, the day of Christ's Resurrection, is always a feast day, and therefore fasting is forbidden. Since there are six Sundays within Lent, we have to subtract them from the days of fasting. Forty-six minus six is forty.

Seizing upon the Sunday loophole and after a four-year hiatus, we found ourselves at the local Denny's, which has freshened its menu and decor.

We prefer Denny's to IHOP. Competition, don't you love it?

Between Two Worlds

Yesterday was the beginning of Lent--the Christian season of prayer, fasting, and abstemiousness--but today is also the Chinese New Year, a day of great feasting.

Which tradition to follow? Such a difficult choice....

Same Time Every Year

The waitress presented a new menu, but we had gone to the local IHOP for an ancient dish on Pancake Tuesday.

(Wikipedia: "Archaeological evidence suggests that pancakes are probably the earliest and most widespread cereal food eaten in prehistoric societies.")

My pancakes were accompanied by bacon, eggs, coffee, butter, and a selection of four syrups....we like tradition, but too much authenticity we're not crazy about.

An Early Mardi Gras

Both king cakes were gone quickly.

After the morning service we adjourned to the Parish Hall, where Jill had organized an early Mardi Gras feast. (For logistical convenience many churches celebrate Fat Tuesday when everyone is gathered on Sunday, though dimanche gras doesn't have the same ring, n'est-ce pas?)

Liz, a Louisianan who recently moved to California by way of Texas, brought two king cakes. From the Christian Science Monitor:

Although extremely popular during the season of Carnival/Mardis Gras, the King’s cake traditionally has its roots in Europe, from the Middle Ages. The cakes are eaten as part of the celebrations following Christmas on Epiphany (Twelfth Night) after the birth of Christ, and the gifts of the Magi – the three kings who offered gifts to the Messiah. Celebrations would continue from then all the way through Fat Tuesday/Mardis Gras, and the beginning of the Lenten season.

Often, a token was hidden inside the cake – a coin or bean, which is said to give the person who finds it inside their bread good fortune throughout the year. This has come to include the insertion of a plastic baby after the cake is baked, usually by tucking it inside from the bottom, where no one can see.

The plastic baby hidden in each cake represents the baby Jesus. No one confessed to finding either (one tradition holds that he or she must bring the king cake next year).

There were enough sweets, jambalaya, red beans & rice, and salads to fill leftover containers. Lent, the Christian season of prayer, fasting, and the setting aside of worldly pleasures, begins Wednesday.

No Quick Fix

During Lent the rector has been leading discussions on Edwin H. Friedman's A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix after morning services.

Rabbi Friedman (1932-1996) was an expert on family systems theory, which analyzes dysfunctions from the point of view of relationships among members of the family system, not just the individual who is viewed as the "problem." Friedman's book, Generation to Generation, was well-received in 1985, and we're beginning with concepts from that book before tackling Failure of Nerve, which was completed by scholars after Friedman's death.

OK, that's enough heaviness for a short blog post. Quick comments:

1) Family systems theory is a new term to your humble observer but appears to be a branch of general systems theory, with which I am a little familiar.

2) Systems theory and analysis, with its terminology and concepts, provides useful insights to many fields of endeavor.

3) One must be wary, however, about the over-reliance on any single perspective. For example, disciples of such varied topics as original sin, Hegelian dialectic, evolution, efficient capital markets, or global warming often cannot see the world except through their respective lenses.

4) Because of the complexity of analyzing multiple actors and their relationships, a systems approach won't usually produce a "quick fix." When I was younger, I would have resisted the notion that the answers were complicated. Now, I accept it.

Ash Wednesday

A walk in the woods.

No cell reception.

Ash Wednesday.

Thoughts of mortality.

Valley. Hills. Trees. Deer.

Rest.

Triglyceride Tuesday

At least my salad and veggies were healthy

One of the reasons I need to take statins for cholesterol is that I can't resist deals like IHOP's free pancakes on Fat Tuesday. As I wrote last year,

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, during which we are to abstain from the foods that give us pleasure. The pancake supper reminds us of the centuries-old tradition of emptying the larder of perishable items that will spoil during Lent's 40 days.

Freezing and refrigeration have eliminated the need to empty the larder. Nevertheless, we must honor tradition...