Fasching

It is interesting to me, that I should learn of this new word, Fasching, only tonight at a Shrove Tuesday Dinner at my church in Beverly Farms. I hardly even knew what "Shrove Tuesday" really was, and actually anticipated some explanation by the clergy. There were no verbal explanations, but one could deduce, that our pancake supper was somewhat of a "last hurrah" as it were. Synonomous with Mardi Gras, or Karnevel, or.....Fasching.

Fasching, (definition thanks to my table mate at dinner) is the German construct for such festivities, over indulgences, and celebrations that take place before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. It is the excess that we must "store" while we spend 40 days in restraint and maybe even fasting. Perhaps that is why tonight, I feel liberated to eat Girl Scout Thin Mint ice cream while I sip on a 3rd glass of lovely red wine. Permission to be excessive.....hmnnn.?

Fasching? Does this mean I must, should, go from Fasching to Fasting? What is Fasting anyway? Is it clear liquids? Is is a juice fast? Can I drink coffee? What if I have a saltine at 3 in the afternoon? And, God forbid, what if I use God and Lent as an excuse to take off a few (can I say many)unwanted pounds. I am not sure that Jesus has a prescription for Fasting that is as judicious as the instructions before, say, a colonoscopy. If I choose the fast after my fasching, I think it must be a personal covenant with God. It must be something that we both understand to be a sacrifice and that sacrifice must be something that makes some room.

I have heard it said many times from the pulpits that I love, that we MUST become empty to become full. That emptiness can sometimes come in the form of meditation, when we clear our minds of all the gunk that makes us crazy. I feel a need to empty my physical being of excessive anything. Red wine, ice cream, chocolate (the favored lenten abstinence), are, at least I think, metaphors for something more that we need to "give up". Perhaps if I just figure a plan to "cleanse" my physical self, my "spiritual" self will also follow, and allow some room in the wilderness of Lent. If I loose a few pounds or bad habits in the meantime.....so much the better. But for today, Shrove Tuesday, I have had my last bits of excess. I am ready, and will need a serious amount of help, to make a shift for this important season. Follow me along if you will and we can do this together.