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There will be many Christians with very full stomachs this evening. A significant number of frying pans with burn marks. And more than a few ceilings sporting the odd stalactite of half-cooked batter, casualties of the inevitable over-enthusiastic pancake-toss. But once the eating and cleaning has been completed, many believers will be turning their minds to a highly tricky question: what on earth should we do about Lent?
Evangelicals have a strange relationship with these 40 or so days of the Christian calendar. It's not that we object to the concepts of sacrifice or fasting or repentance. Nor that we mind giving up a few things. But many of us worry about the half-hearted candy-related resolutions that all too often get made at this time of year just out of tradition. While giving up chocolate might have benefits for some people's waistline, and if the money saved is given to charity then good work in the world can result, is this really what God wants of us? Isn't it true that an outward show of sacrifice, if not accompanied by an inner change of heart, is quite frankly very far from God's will for his people? So how to respond?
Isaiah had this to say to believers who were involved in tokenism in their fasting:
"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice, and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free, and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter - when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?" Is 58:6-7
We live in a world where millions are in physical bondage to tyrants and spiritual bondage to the devil; a world where many have no idea where their next meal is coming from and are ignorant of the awesome gift of the bread of life; a world where countless numbers have no roof over their head and no understanding of the eternal God, the ultimate rock and refuge for those who turn to him. Spending Lent prayerfully and proactively addressing some of those needs might just make the post-pancake period of 2012 rather more gospel-centred than it might otherwise be.
