Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday.

HarleyDad grew up in a denomination that did not have Ash Wednesdays and Lent. These were the things that Catholics did and we did not mess with them. No liturgical seasons for us. We knew the way, and stayed away from things that smacked of Rome. No confession for us.

Having grown up in New Orleans, we participated in Fat Tuesday (the Tuesday before Lent) when you get ready for 40 days of denial by loading up all the pleasures you can before Ash Wednesday. Fat Tuesday is also known as Mardi Gras. (It is time for a King Cake Party).

Ash Wednesday kicks off Lent. Lent in turn is the 40 days before Easter. So HarleyDad participated in Fat Tuesday and then skipped Lent all together. See it was not so bad growing up as a Baptist boy. No smokin', drinkin' or playing with the Devil's Deck of cards. Actually, it was not really that bad. Much to be said for it.

Life has a way of taking you down some surprising paths. And as I have grown older I have been kindly, if not sweetly, introduced to the things of Lent. It is a time of reflection and denial. Thus Lent is probably good for HarleyDad's soul because he is not very big by nature on denial.

Now that our family attends a Methodist church regularly , we have an Ash Wednesday Service.
HarleyDad also attends some other churches as well having a religious life that is somewhat like Ketchup of Baskin Robbins with 49 different flavors. You might say I have an ecumenical gene.

As we leave the Ash Wednesday service, ashes in the form of a cross are placed on our foreheads. This always generates topics of conversation as we go out to eat afterwards by my brothers and sisters in Christ who congregate at Cracker Barrell and by others who are not of the faith. The ash cross is a visible marking of the cross that is really in our hearts and minds. It is of ash because ash (as in sackcloth and ashes) reminds of us of repentance. This is the Season of reflection and repentance. HarleyDad is just glad that he does not have to wear sackcloth to Cracker Barrell. He just hopes that the service person he got mad at a few months ago does not notice him. Maybe HarleyDad will go eat at Bob Evans this year instead.

Now let me tell you about my friend Wynd Chime. Wynd Chime is a female attorney and yuppie friend who had a serious encounter with Christ as an adult. Now HarleyDad did not know that Christ loved yuppies-being that there are many characteristics in Yuppiedom that do not seem to be Christian. But apparently He does. So I guess if Christ were here today he might talk to the Yuppies and even catch rides in their Beemers. At any rate, some pretty interesting things begin to happen in our lives when Christ meets us on the road of life. In the Bible he met fishermen, tax collectors and even prostitutes. All had there lives changed from the encounter. The people that Christ meets become members of the Family of God. So you might say Wynd Chime and I have a relative in common.

Well Wynd Chime is going through Lent. So she is fasting today. Now I find it very, very disturbing when a Redeemed Yuppie begins to fast . I can assure you that HarleyDad is not going to be able to eat his footlong coney with chili, cheese and onions in good conscience today knowing that Wynd Chime is fasting. Now I guess that is not the reason to fast, i.e. that my sister in Christ fasts. I wonder if God knows that I have a blood sugar problem (Of course, He knows, dummy, I say to myself). Well may be I can fast some other way. Perhaps I will fast from making my normal negative statements or thinking bad thoughts or something like that.

Wynd Chime then totally cracks me up. She tells me that for Lent she is going to give up cussing. (HarleyDad finds this really very funny until he realizes that as usual he is not giving up anything for Lent even bad things, and then feels somewhat ashamed of himself). Wynd Chime is making moral progress and HarleyDad as usual seems to be sliding down the slippery sloap of self indulgence. I keep having a dream that I am a frog in a pot of boiling water and the water is slowly being heated up. Froggy is getting very nervous.

HarleyDad who has now gotten off the floor-because he knows that Wynd Chime, as a female attorney with her share of interesting clients, has to deal with daily frustrations and has many opportunities to cuss (including some even from HarleyDad himself).

HarleyDad asks more questions of Wynd Chime. Evidently Wynd Chime is assessing herself a monetary penalty each time she cusses. Then the amount assessed will go to help her church and the poor. HarleyDad suggests that she give the money to his favorite charity (The HarleyDad Motorcycle Foundation)-but Wynd Chime is suspicious and says that she does not think so.

HarleyDad then asks Wynd Chime how much the penalty will be. (HarleyDad has absolutely no shame-as numerous people can attest.) Wynd Chime says she had been thinking of $1.00 per cussing occasion--but upon reflection she thinks $.25 per occasion may be sufficient. HarleyDad is now laughing so hard that tears are coming from his eyes (until he remembers that if he assessed a monetary penalty for some of his failings, he might have to declare a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.) Well HarleyDad's language is not always the cleanest-so he asks Wynd Chime if he might buy a few cussing indulgences in advance for Lent--at $.25 each they are quite a bargain. HarleyDad wonders if he can buy enough to get him through Lent and does swift mathematical calculations in his head about how many he will need. However, Wynd Chime informs HarleyDad that she is not selling indulgences or offering forgiveness today and that HarleyDad needs to make other arrangements.

Now HarleyDad is left with some issues thanks to Wynd Chime and the liturgical season. What to do? HarleyDad thinks about giving up eating at 5 Star French Restaurants in Ozarklandia. Perhaps I will give up opera and ballet live performances here as well. But.....somehow I am not sure that this is in the Spirit of Lent.

Perhaps I will get an Epiphany at our Ash Wednesday services tonight. I could really use one.

HarleyDad