We were meeting with a group of people last Tuesday and the discussion turned to one of their kids talking about a special cake. They came home telling their parents that they ate a cake at school and it had a baby in it!! Yes, a baby! Now don’t get alarmed as our schools have not started cannibalizing children in an effort to cut down the cost of lunch. The king cake is a tradition celebrating the epiphany and is eaten sometime between January 6th and the day before Ash Wednesday, also known as Fat Tuesday.
Whoever finds the baby, a subtle nod to Jesus, gets to be King for the Day!
What’s the connection? Well, Fat Tuesday is the last day before a time of fasting or what we call Lent. They eat whatever they want and gorge on the things they are choosing to fast leading up to Easter. The first Methodist Church we attended would have a huge pancake breakfast to which everyone from the community was invited in the final celebration. Once Lent begins there’s no more king cake, the time for indulgence is over. The first day they may go to a service like we had this week known
as Ash Wednesday. The ashes were imposed on their forehead as a blessing over them as they prepare their hearts and minds for Easter over the next 46 days. Every week from Monday through Saturday they choose to fast something of great importance whether it be food, social media, tv, or any other activity that would be a sacrifice to live without. Sunday, they take a break and begin again the next day. There are 40 days in total of fasting representing Jesus’ time in the wilderness, all building up to Easter as we celebrate the one true King who is Risen and Risen Indeed! Sometimes we don’t realize the connections we have to those around us or even the cultures around us. When we celebrate the life of Christ, we are celebrating more than what we gain for ourselves but what we have gained in humanity. Whatever our differences may be there is a connection that holds us together that goes beyond a simple cake or traditional values. This connection is divine and only accomplished outside the realm of our own abilities. There’s nothing I can do to build it myself or to even earn it. God has done all the work ahead of me and asks that I honor it with my life, the connection that is. Sometimes our differences need to be laid to rest so that we can focus on the connection we have through Jesus. Without the connection, on another, we are nothing but a King Cake without the baby. This Lent my desire is for our focus to be on building connections with one another and the community around us. I would ask that as we fast through the season of Lent our prayer be for the church and our connection to Centerville. God has called us here for such a time as this and I know he has great plans for us if we will only see the connections around us. Connections to be built, and affirmed, and those to grow. If this is our prayer and the intention of our fasting I believe God will bless our congregation through this season of Lent in extraordinary ways making it more than just another Fat Tuesday and Ash Wednesday.
Keep The Faith,
Pastor Tommy
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