[Magdalen] Mardi Gras.

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

My rector does the usual, denying that Sundays are not a part of Lent.

It's kind of sad, but I understand.  For the rector, the only time he sees
a lot of the people is Sunday morning, so it's a natural to want to observe
Lent on Sunday, the fact that Sundays are specifically not in Lent
notwithstanding.

If we don't observe Lent on Sunday morning, most people might never even
notice that it's Lent at all. Most people don't do the "giving up something
I enjoy just because it's Lent" schtick anymore.  I recall that there was
some awareness of how questionable it was even when I was growing up, and
the situation has not really changed, except a very few people (hello,
Forward Movement!) have said instead of torturing yourself by giving up
something you enjoy, why not do something extra to enhance your awareness
of why one might actually want to do something like sacrifice. But most
folks don't get it. And so we continue to have the amazing vanishing Lent.
Someone gave up smoking for Lent, was amazed at how clean his lungs were,
how much better he felt, and then he went back to the ugly habit at Easter.
What the heck is THE POINT??

Jonah just didn't get it that god didn't want his blind obedience unless
Jonah actually "got it."  The writer of Jonah was so savvy that, at the end
of the novella, you still don't know.  Did Jonah finally get it, or did he
stay in that old tired we're better than you stance?

God doesn't want you obedience; She wants your heart. Hard to see what's so
complicated about that. But so far, we've manged to muck it up with all
sorts of tormenting nonsense.


James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy

On Mon, Feb 27, 2017 at 2:00 PM, Marion Thompson <marionwhitevale at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Does your church carry on with the Gloria, then?  and Alleluias?
>
> Marion, a pilgrim
>
>
> On 2/27/2017 1:16 PM, James Oppenheimer-Crawford wrote:
>
>> Ah, but not on Sunday, since Sundays are not part of Lent. Just because
>> they are within Lent makes no difference.
>>
>> James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
>> *“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
>> except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy
>>
>> On Mon, Feb 27, 2017 at 12:00 PM, Marion Thompson <
>> marionwhitevale at gmail.com
>>
>>> wrote:
>>> We certainly had a ton of Alleluias in the hymns.  As we reached the back
>>> of the church, I commented "Farewell to Alleluias".
>>>
>>> Recently saw a snippet out of Church of he Advent in Boston where the
>>> kids
>>> banging on pots and pans escorted all the Alleluias to the bowels of the
>>> church, an altar in the crypt, where they were left in a casket.
>>>
>>> Marion
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 2/27/2017 11:28 AM, Cantor03--- via Magdalen wrote:
>>>
>>> Everyone all prepped for Shrove Tuesday tomorrow?  Our helper
>>>> lady is going to do waffles for us then, which we prefer to
>>>> pancakes.
>>>>    Bring on the Lenten seafood.
>>>>    Anyone have any liturgical "farewell to alleluias" this past Sunday?
>>>>            David S.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>