I really don’t have time to post today, so this is going to be short, but I thought it important to point out that today is Fat (or Shrove) Tuesday.
That may not really resonate, since Mormonism doesn’t really have a liturgical calendar beyond Christmas, Easter, and maybe July 24,[fn1] but Fat Tuesday marks the day before Lent begins. Lent is the 40(-ish) days between Ash Wednesday and Easter, and Catholics (and many other Christians) celebrate it through a combination of fasting, prayer, scripture study, and almsgiving, all in an effort to become more like Jesus.
Before all of that begins, though, we have Fat Tuesday, Originally a day of confession in anticipation of the Lenten season, Fat Tuesday has shifted into a celebratory day; it also has a lot of food traditions. Some places celebrate Pancake Day. (I made pancakes for breakfast.) In Chicago today is Pączki Day. (Tonight I’m headed to a bakery to pick up the pączki I ordered.) In almost all Fat Tuesday food traditions, people eat food heavy in eggs, sugar, and fat.
Like I said, in Mormonism, we don’t particularly celebrate either Fat Tuesday or Lent. But we could! The idea of celebrating with rich food has New Testament roots, as does the idea of a period of reflection and introspection.
The church isn’t going to tell us how our Lenten worship should happen. But that’s great! It provides us with the opportunity to figure out how we can become better followers of Jesus, how we can make ourselves more like Him, and it doesn’t require any intervention or instruction by the church.
So happy Fat Tuesday, and have a blessed Lent!