Ramadan : questions and answers

Christianity is one of the three Abrahamic religions - Judaism and Islam are the others - which emerged from the deserts of the Middle East. At the moment, our Muslim brothers and sisters are celebrating Ramadan. The document below will inform.

2014 Shrove Tuesday

The picture below is from this site

To-night we will gather to-night at The Parish Centre, St Paul's, Humffray Street, Ballarat for our annual dose of pancakes - Pancake Day or Shrove Tuesday.

To-morrow is Ash Wednesday and so continues a mindful forty days until we celebrate the Risen Christ.

On 4 March 2012, the Second Sunday in Lent, the Revd Katherine Hedderly preached at St Martin in the Fields on Sacred Space.  Below is some of what she had to say and the whole may be found here.

But what does it mean to let Jesus live in us? Perhaps this journey of Lent is about allowing God to show us – show us where we need to de-clutter our lives, make space, enlarge our hearts and deepen our understanding – so that we can flourish in the bigger picture of his love – offered to us in the sacred space of Jesus’ life and death and resurrection.

Etty Hillesum, a young Jewish woman, whose inspiring and hope filled diary and letters, written during the holocaust years before her death in Auschwitz in 1943, that we are using as inspiration for our Lent Course this year, wrote of this sacred God-filled space within, at a time when she was surrounded by the worst human suffering and evil:

‘There is a deep well inside me. And in it dwells God. Sometimes I am there too. But more often stones and grit block the well and God is buried underneath. Then he must be dug out again.’

Picture at left from this site

Fasts and Feasts: sustainability and a Lenten lifestyle

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Picture from here

On 22 February 2012 -   the season of Lent leading up to Good Friday and Easter will begin with Ash Wednesday.  In the Western Christian tradition, fast days are Ash Wednesday and all Fridays.  Some add Wednesdays as an option.  Ash Wednesday and Fridays, are also abstinence days when there is abstinence from meat.  On these days Christians have fish and vegetarian dishes.

I am posting as a reminder that, in the season when Christian seafood eating is dominant, we might consider seafood sustainability and the health and welfare of oceans, rivers and watercourses from which seafood comes.  Not only can we consider these matters during the Lenten season.  We should be seeking to embed such ideas in our lifestyles as permanent patterns.  For more on this, please go to my food blog, Oz Tucker.

Are we up to the task given us? Our own need for transfiguration...

My long-time internet friend, Steve Hayes,has posted his last Sunday's sermon here.  It is worth a read - particularly since the Feast of the Transfiguration is all but upon us.

Picture of The Transfiguration from here.

Season of the Soul: Lent 3 - Mi-careme

Miss Eagle had never heard of Mi-careme until to-night when she was reading a post on The Old Foodie's blog. And what a wonderful post for the third week of Lent. Mi-careme, where the tradition has been practised or upheld, marks the midway point in Lent when people are half-way through the Lenten fast.

For one night there is a reprieve or a hiatus when people enjoy themselves. In its modern form, Mi-careme has taken on a carnival atmosphere, masks and all.

Seasons of the Soul: Fasting and abstinence

Fasting and abstinence is an ancient tradition of the Christian church. Since Reformation times, some Protestant churches have moved away from the practice but the late 20th century saw many of these churches and individuals return to the practice. Much of this return to tradition could be attributed to the writing of the Evangelical Quaker, Richard Foster, and his Renovare movement.

Traditional Lenten practice in the Christian Church in the western tradition is that Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of fast and abstinence and all Fridays in Lent are days of abstinence. Fasting means one main meal during the day and, if necessary, two smaller meals to keep up one's strength. These smaller meals should not exceed the main meal. Abstinence means abstaining from meat. Beef and poultry are out on days of abstinence but fish is permitted. From this tradition of fasting and abstinence during Lent comes the tradition of "giving up" something for Lent i.e. children might decide to give up lollies, men might give up alcohol and so on.

The purpose of such practices is to encourage a penitent way of life during this season of the soul remembering our dependency on God and how sinful human nature impeded, and continues to impede, our relationship with our Creator and brought Jesus to the Cross.

Seasons of the Soul: Quinguagesima & Forgiveness

The Expulsion of Adam and Eve

To-day, in the Western Tradition, is Quinquagesima Sunday. Quinquagesima has fallen out of remembrance somewhat so let us refresh our liturgical memories. To-day, in the Eastern Tradition, is Cheesefare Sunday or Forgiveness Sunday. For the Orthodox, this is the last day you can eat cheese (and other foods) before the Lenten fasting begins, which will last some 7 weeks. Observant Greeks observe a more or less vegan diet during Lent, abstaining from meat, dairy, olive oil and alcohol.

The Western Tradition has gone soft. The East holds fast - an example to us all. Miss Eagle believes in marking the seasons through the liturgical year. It brings focus and liveliness to the spiritual journey. Now Miss Eagle is not going to emulate the Greek practice above but she will see what she can do. Miss E is a creature of her culture too and the West does not support these types of practices as it did in Miss E's girlhood. Rationalism has taken over not only society but the church too. Laziness and ignorance is abroad.

This is why many of us look to the Desert. Yes, we are part of the soft Western Tradition. We too are part of the problem. But we seek. Who do we go out into the Desert to see?