It's all about that GRACE, bout that GRACE, bout that GRACE-no trouble!

 

PANCAKES!!

            As I pen this correspondence, we have just started the Lenten season and our approach to the realization/celebration of the Cross of Calvary. Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday has just passed. As I reflected on the Scriptural basis of these two dates on the Christian calendar something came to mind…PANCAKES!

            It is traditional that on Shrove Tuesday (derived from the word shrive meaning absolution for ones sins) church organizations have pancake suppers. Do you know why they do this?

            In the Old Testament, as the Israelites left Egypt, God commanded them to make bread without yeast for their journey. Why?

            As it is with God often, He has multifaceted reasons for teaching us life lessons from the Word of the Lord, leading us, and commanding from us to particular lifestyle choices.

            That was certainly the case with the Israelites and the deep meaning behind the command to prepare bread without yeast.

            Historically, yeast has been (and continues to be) a symbol of sin throughout the Bible.

            What happens when we add a little yeast to flour? It expands and can even EXPLODE if we are not careful! The same is true of our lives. We may think “just a little will not hurt us”. Yet is does and it can have devastating effects on not only our lives but also the lives of those we love.

            The reason the Israelites were enslaved by the Egyptians in the first place was a result of their sinfulness toward God.

            So, God asked them to leave Egypt “without sin”, no yeast. In a very practical way, the bread would not “spoil” without yeast as quickly. Therefore, it ensured that God’s chosen people would be provided for in a longer and more healthy manner. In a similar way God has ensured provision for us in the form of salvation through His son, Jesus Christ.

            So back to the pancakes…this tradition was formed in the western world in about 1,000 AD by Irish bakers ridding themselves of eggs, milk, yeast and oil that might spoil through their Lenten fasts.

Pancakes are yummy, golden brown bread cakes. As we turn them over on the griddle the uncooked side quickly rises as it browns and cooks the decadent tasty bread through to the other side, completing its delightful presentation to our taste buds. Can you smell the aroma?

Pancakes are just like life! They are tasty, aromatic little cakes that rise and fill our lives with a sweet experience adding to our complete JOY.

            Yet, Ash Wednesday challenges us to leave the yeast out and take a moment to observe the goodness of life with God. It is a time to really look at ourselves. Ash Wednesday is not a time to weep and mourn but rather a time of revelation in one’s own personal faith experience.

 We should ask ourselves the questions:

“Does God want more for me?”  YES!

“Are there things in my life that I need to uproot to make more space for my relationship with God?”

A person’s faith walk is a journey of adjusting. A process of either self-pruning or pruning induced by God and then replacing that which has been taken away from our lives with the decadence of God. That my friends is exactly what the Lenten season is all about. Ridding ourselves of those things that hold us back from living sweet, complete lives and replacing those ungodly things with a deeper relationship with God.

            Some confuse the Lenten season with self-inflicted suffering (there are no other sacrifices acceptable to God than His son, Jesus Christ) when instead it is actually meant to be a time of personal refinement. Remembering God’s goodness in our lives and how wonderful it is to be a child of God. Remembering how God has provided for us for all eternity on the Cross of Jesus Christ in Calvary.

            What has happened repeatedly with God’s people is that we often forget God and how miraculous it is to be a child of God. How much He loves us and how without Him life would be tasteless and dull. We end up wondering around as if we are in that desert with the Israelites when God wants for us a decadent dessert instead. We learn from the Israelites that if we do not change our approach to God, we can be left wandering in the dessert for 40 years!

            The less yeast “sin” we have in our lives the more room we have for God! That my friends is the purpose of the Lenten season! Pruning away that which does not honor God and replacing it with more of HIM! It is not meant to be a mournful time but rather a time of reflection, refinement, and preparation to move from our own personal deserts into the “promised land”.

            God loves you! He pursues you. The more submissive and obedient you are to Him, His Word and His plan; the more delicious your life can be NOW. We do not have to wait for death to begin living eternally! We begin to live eternally the moment we are repentant of our sins, acknowledge Jesus Christ as the son of God and our personal Savior and as we step out to begin a journey of the submissive adjusting our lives to Kingdom children. That is what the pancakes are all about. That is what being a follower of Jesus Christ is all about, leaving the yeast behind. Being responsible stewards of what God has given us and not letting it spoil.

In His service and yours,

Rev. Shelly A. Zook