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Today, the day before Ash Wednesday, is commonly known as  ‘shrove‘ or ‘pancake’ Tuesday.

This day is more widely known in many parts of the world as Mardi Gras (ie fat Tuesday), or ‘Carnival‘ (literally ‘goodbye meat’). These celebrations began years ago when the fasting really was tough: 40 days without meat or dairy products hence the bingeing on pancakes to empty the larder.

I recall at this time last year a friend who lives above the equator Facebooked: “Spring is in the air and it is GOOD!”  That may be true for the northern hemisphere, but here in the south the leaves are beginning to turn and fall: it’s almost Autumn for us.

Lent as ‘spring’? That doesn’t sound right.

But the word Lent is actually derived from the Old English word meaning spring – as in ‘lengthening of the days’.

This made sense for the people who first celebrated the Christian feasts a couple of thousand years ago. Lent coincided with the season of spring so that Easter would come right at the time when the world of nature was springing into new life.

When we see Lent as an opportunity to spring-clean our lives wonderful possibilities of new life open up for us.

We realise that in the busy-ness and demands of daily life, we accumulate many thoughts, routines and practices that may not deliver the happiness that they promise.

To the extent that these accretions become habitual, our freedom is limited. To the extent that our freedom is limited, happiness eludes us.

And this is the kind of spring-cleaning that is the purpose and heart of Lent: a letting go of all that limits us, restricts us, and therefore prevents us finding the happiness we seek.

No longer are we satisfied with the masks and disguises of Mardi Gras, but the reality of our sin being transformed by the risen Jesus who is God-in-love-with-us.