These are the most obvious signs that Easter is coming.
It's strange that even among Christians, the church calendar is a far less conspicuous time marker than the jellybeans and chocolate rabbits.
Today is "Fat Tuesday" and Lent begins tomorrow with Ash Wednesday. The unfortunate reality is that Lent doesn't get even as much press among Christians as Advent does.
My church is hosting an Ash Wednesday service tomorrow - perhaps the first in its 190 years of history.
I will be curious to see what the turn out will be - we don't do a lot of midweek services at Sardinia and I have noticed that evangelicals (in general) think of Lent, fasting, and Ash Wednesday as belonging to the Catholics.
And therefore, being automatically suspect!
I wonder how many Protestants even know that the word "catholic" means "universal". We simply aren't mindful of the New Testament's portrayal of a singular, united CHURCH having Jesus as its Head.
It's uncomfortable to even contemplate such intended unity in an age when the denominational boundaries are drawn so distinctly and we tend to think of believers from other traditions as being "the opposition" or "competitors", if not outright "enemies", rather than as brothers and sisters in Christ.
The season of Lent is meant to remind us of our mortality and sinfulness, and, thus, the reason Jesus came to die for us.
If it also reminds us that we are all part of a much, much wider historical movement reaching far beyond the four walls of our own little church building, then that is icing on the cake.
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