Pancake Day

Pancakes for lunch today. Being away from home on Shrove Tuesday doesn't have to mean missing out on the best part of Lent. Today's Leap Day seems a good opportunity to celebrate Lent in style. After all, Lent is a day longer in this Leap Year.

The foundations of Lent lie in the gospel accounts of the devil tempting Jesus. Fasting during Lent is based on Jesus' refusal to alleviate his hunger by turning stones into bread. Traditionally, Christians intending to observe the Lenten fast cooked pancakes on the day before Ash Wednesday to use up some of the foods they would be denied during the forty days of the Lenten fast.

The notion of Lent as a time for giving up things we enjoy persists in today's secular world as a result of an emphasis on this one aspect of the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness. The link between fasting and spirituality continues in many Christian traditions.

While in the wilderness Jesus battled more than the single temptation to use his power to feed himself. Both Matthew and Luke record two further tests that relate to the ministry Jesus would exercise during his earthly life. Forty days of isolation and temptation were a time of preparation for Jesus as he began his life's work.

Lent in its fullest sense is a season of opportunity rather than six weeks of obligation. Pancakes on a Leap Day are just the start.

Forty days and forty nights

Given the weather in Britain so far this year the forty days and forty nights of Lent seem more likely to resemble the Days of Noah than to mirror the Wilderness experience of Jesus.

Widespread rain and high winds have made this February the wettest on record for over 250 years. Daily news reports show both the damage done and the distress of those for whom this current inundation is not their first experience of flooding. Having made what preparations they can, they now watch and wait in fear of what will come next.

The ancient story of Noah tells of a similar experience. Noah, his family and an assortment of  animals sat on the ark and watched as the flood waters rose around them. But the waiting wasn't over when the rain finally stopped. It took months for the waters to subside and even longer before it was safe to leave the ark. Eventually, life on the outside was once again possible. A rainbow appeared and a new covenant between God and humanity was established. Noah and his family gave thanks to God and began the task of starting over. Noah's story is one of challenge and change.

We cannot know how long it will take for the floods to subside in the worst affected parts of Britain. Like those living through this challenging time we watch, we wait, we hope and we pray for a change in the weather. And perhaps, as we begin our Lenten reflection on the lives we live as people of faith, God will challenge us to consider how changes in our lives might contribute to creating a world in which life without fear of flood is possible.