It's Shrove Tuesday, the day before the season of Lent. It almost sneaked past me! While our family is not Catholic, there are some Catholic traditions that I hope to incorporate in our family. In particular, I hope to emphasize many of the holidays of Christian liturgical year.
Shrove Tuesday is meant to be a day of relaxation before Lent begins. Lent is meant to be a season of self reflection, self discipline, and, yes, self denial. Traditionally, pancakes are eaten on Shrove Tuesday. Historically, this is because indulgent foods like eggs, butter, and milk were not allowed during the season of Lent. Therefore, people made pancakes in order to use these ingredients up!
We started this tradition last year. This year we made these fabulous pancakes. I think next year I may try doughnuts. I want to honor the original meaning of Fat Tuesday as well. I came across a book that's a wonderful resource- Celebrating the Christian Year by Martha Zimmerman.
After enjoying a pancake supper, Zimmerman recommends "talk(ing) about the need for confession... Everything in our society and culture encourages self indulgence rather than self denial. Jesus taught that we should fast, pray and give." (pg 102)
Read 1 John 1:3 through 2:2. Focus especially on 1 John 1:7-10 and how many times the word sin is used:
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
Read Psalm 32:5
5 I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
Then Zimmerman recommends spending time in prayer and reflection as you begin Lent.
This is obviously above Jonathan's head right now, but it's something I want to be focusing on in the years to come. It's at least provided me points of reflection today as we move into Lent...
Pancake Recipes:
Cinnamon Bun Pancakes @ Tasty Kitchen
History of Pancake Day (with recipes) @ Baking Bites
Shrove Tuesday/Lent Links:
Observing Lent @ Semicolon
I responded to you in my posts, but I wasn't sure if you would check them so I thought I'd post my answers here too. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for the lovely comment! I did make the alligator bean bag game. I used green poster board and a diaper box (also what the game is stored in). The bean bags I found at a craft store really cheap.
The Creation Circles I found at Henny Penny's here is the link and you would just click on the creation link. Great resources at this site!
http://hennypenny.ourjunction.com/index.html
The lapbooks are so much fun! If I'm remembering correctly most if not all of the bear lapbook elements are from www.homeschoolshare.com
They have quite a few different books that they make lapbooks for and it's all free!
Thank you for reminding me that I needed to go back and site some of my sources. I had no idea how to do links when I first started this blog. Now I've learned a couple things and need to make sure and do it! :)