My Dear Friends,

I do like a bit of the old Mardi gras. 
In my previous parishes in the UK I was very involved in Community projects, organising carnivals, processions, festivals to do with Music, Arts and Drama, and I had the privilege of being founder member of Two Samba Bands, The Beach Bateria, and Samboogie.
I played top surdu, which is a huge bass drum played with big cushioned beaters.

Although we didn’t particularly have a tradition of playing on Shrove Tuesday, we did make the most of any opportunity to turn an event into a celebration, and there is something contagious about the rhythm of samba. It is almost impossible to have a big Samba Band process past you in the street and not feel like dancing.

Shrove Tuesday, or Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) is traditionally the day when one consumes all the ‘stuff’ that you will be giving up during your Lenten fast. In some parts of the world, public displays of music and dancing would not happen during Lent, and the Celebratory Carnivals would lead up to a big display on the day before Ash Wednesday.

But this is not to mean that folk were or are miserable during the Holy Season. The opposite is in fact true. Lent gives us a great opportunity to refrain from certain things in order to do something different, and for many of us it looks 3 ways. In to self – Towards others, and in to God.

I personally have always enjoyed the whole concept of Lent. Taking time to reflect on all my relationships, with partners, friends, family and God. Also to check out how I am feeling with my spirituality.

I am not one for feeling bad because I have been such a dreadful sinner, but rather I want to feel good because I have reminded myself that I could take such and such a relationship more seriously, and grow within it.

Relationships with loved ones and friends take time and energy to grow and a continuous amount of positive effort in order for them to thrive. Lent gives us a prompt to check up on those we hold dear, and get a feeling of how things are between us.
In the same way, our relationship with God takes time and energy for it to thrive.

The good news is that God has taken the initiative in starting our relationship. He was already willing and waiting to embrace us when we first ever even thought about looking for him.
But we can let things get stale, and we can easily miss out on some joy.

Let me just throw out there a few things that we all know we need in order to sustain a relationship with loved ones.
We need to spend time, we need to make that quality time, not just sitting in the same room doing our own thing. We need to speak openly and honestly, and best of all without trying to win.
We need to laugh together, to cry together, to experience new things, and relish the old. We need passion, we need stability, we need to take risks, explore, get lost and find new highs. We need to forgive, to listen, to muck about to be surprised and to trust.

I could go on, but you get the feeling.

Well it is exactly the same with God. I believe we need to do exactly the same  – exactly, to sustain our relationship with him and keep it fresh. That doesn’t only include quality time, and speaking and listening, but th4e fun and joy that comes from laughing, and surprises and mucking about.

We have all met those ‘Religious types’ who are so pious that they have a permanent frown on their faces, and disapprove of everything. Well I don’t see the gospel in that. For me God is gloriously full of laughter and joy, and he is without doubt a God of surprises.

Jesus said I have came that you may have life, and have it in all its fullness. I think that Lent is the time when we explore what the fullness of life truly means.

Bless you, Bless you, Bless you,

As ever,

Fr Marcus