Lent is the end of Chocolate, isn’t it? Or the end of something else you like, if giving up Chocolate is too much of a sacrifice.
But what if we flip our thinking along with our pancakes and say that Lent is not the end, but a beginning.
Lent follows Shrove Tuesday and ‘Shrove’, a word we no longer use anywhere else, is about removing our sins.
The idea is (was?) that you confess your sins on Shrove Tuesday so they can be absolved, ready for the beginning of Lent.
So Lent is not a penitential journey back to God, but a forward looking journey with God.
Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem ended with a fulfilling of God’s plan – He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world; He is the sacrifice that makes it possible for a contrite and confessing sinner to be forgiven and a the broken relationship with God to be restored.
So if you are shriven on the day before Lent, then you are reconciled to God at the beginning of Lent.
So perhaps our journey with God this Lent can also be a looking at how we too can fulfil God’s plan for us.
“We implore you, on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.” 2 Cor 5:20