Rainbows and other signs

The clouds rolled in, the thunder clapped in might, rain drove down first straight down, then at 40 degrees, then almost horizontally, and finally it all stopped. Silence after the crashing of the weather system, and cracking through the determined clouds, racing away as quickly as they approached, a few rays of sunshine. In the distance I saw the colours appear. I knew what was ahead. The right angle and the sun beaming, into the clouds and mist, there suddenly appeared... a rainbow. 

I love rainbows. Here's one in Jerusalem photographed in an entire album of rainbows. Click here 

The other day here in Sydney, and worldwide was a day about which I knew nothing when I was a kid. Little Jewish kids don't care much about Easter or Ash Wednesday or really most other religions. All over Sydney adults popped into cafes and workplaces with dashes of ash on their foreheads. The day was declared. Ash Wednesday-- whatever that meant. I know what it means now, but back then...not so much.

What I did learn was that there was a day that preceded Ash Wednesday that was apparently a day for fun and frolic. They say that the ashes were there to remind the wearer of their humanity, dust to dust and all that stuff. We are human after all, and we are all going to return to dust/ ash eventually. A somber reality, to be sure. But the day before that-- it's titled Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) and is a day or rather an evening of debauchery and frolic. An evening to let your hair down, to join with others in decadence and self-consumption. Why then? The next day you are expected to self-deny, so get all the self-centredness out of the way on Tuesday's fatness and you will be ready to meet ashes and sullenness on Wednesday.

What's the rainbow got to do with it? After all the rainbow was originally a sign of something between God and mankind, a symbol of covenant. A symbol of acceptance and welcome. But now it's something related to Fat Tuesday.

Stores all around the City, and probably all around the country, are showing the red/orange/yellow...violet (Roy G. Biv) lineup. In a way it's a sign of welcome, that anyone who celebrates Mardi Gras is welcome to shop and spend their money at that facility.

But often it's more than that. 

It's about a time to showcase sensuality and debauchery. It's about making room for folks who usually parade down Oxford Street in licentious and usually well orchestrated syncopation. 

What's the rainbow got to do with it? It was a symbol that has been commandeered by others. It's time for the believers to take it back into the realm from which it came. 

Gen. 9:13 I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. ¹⁴ “It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud,

Gen. 9:16 “When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”

Dear friends,

When God sends these Roy G Biv colours into your world; look up and say 'thanks.' He will never again destroy the world by flood. He is the God of covenant. He really does love us all. On Tuesdays or Wednesdays or every day. Call on him while he is near.

Mardi Gras confusion

It came with flurry and noise and a thunderstorm from heaven, but nothing would dissuade the revellers from parading and celebrating the Mardi Gras parade 2017 in Sydney, yet once again. The parade took place last night, Saturday night, first Saturday in March, even though Mardi Gras officially was Tuesday.

From the ABC news report, "About 200 floats and thousands of performers made for a dazzling Mardi Gras spectacle through the inner-city suburbs of Darlinghurst and Surry Hills, and even though it sprinkled in the second half of the parade, it was not enough to dampen spirits."

But wait, was it Tuesday?

Was it different this year? Nope... Mardi means "Tuesday" and thus Mardi Gras ("fat Tuesday") is always to be marked on that day of the week. In fact, the day before "Ash Wednesday."

No wonder it was confusing. And some of the revelers might have had dysphoric confusion, but I don't know them by name or motive. Mardi Gras originally was so named as a way for people to practice eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season which begins on the next day, Ash Wednesday.

Gender matters and there is much discussion about it, even here on the JFJ website. Another read is here on the Dr Michael Brown website.

But gender confusion is not my point today, although it might be something with which you are struggling. God will be kind to you, if you ask Him. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find your answers.

Getting the night's revelry out before the humility of Lent, ok, that's a way some deal with fasting. Although I don't recommend it. But I like the idea that another religion brings into the same day, and it's the Anglicans and the day is called "Shrove Tuesday."

The name Shrove comes from the old middle English word 'Shriven' meaning to go to confession to say sorry for the wrong things you've done. Lent always starts on a Wednesday, so people went to confessions on the day before. This became known as Shriven Tuesday and then Shrove Tuesday.

The other name for this day, Pancake Day, comes from the old English custom of using up all the fattening ingredients in the house before Lent, so that people were ready to fast during Lent. The fattening ingredients that most people had in their houses in those days were eggs and milk. A very simple recipe to use up these ingredients was to combine them with some flour and make pancakes.

So whether you are dressed up in a costume or eating pancakes, let's let this season of repentance and readying be something you use to get right with your Higher Power, the Living God, and enjoy this time of your life.