Why is it
called Shrove Tuesday? The word shrove
is an old English word meaning to shrive, which means to obtain forgiveness
for one's sins by way of confession and doing penance. During the
Middle Ages, this would be the day
when Christians were expected to go to Church
and ask God for forgiveness.
But something else happens on Shrove
Tuesday. Pancakes galore. Why pancakes? This takes us back to the people leaving
Egypt. God tells Moses that the people
must use up all rising agents (yeast, baking soda, baking powder). All rising agents must be used up before the
Exodus. This became known as the Feast
of the Unleavened Bread.
Exodus 12:14 -
20
14 This day shall
be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the
Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual
ordinance. 15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; on the
first day you shall remove leaven from your houses, for whoever eats leavened
bread from the first day until the seventh day shall be cut off from Israel. 16 On
the first day you shall hold a solemn assembly, and on the seventh day a solemn
assembly; no work shall be done on those days; only what everyone must eat,
that alone may be prepared by you. 17 You shall observe the
festival of unleavened bread, for on this very day I brought your companies out
of the land of Egypt: you shall observe this day throughout your generations as
a perpetual ordinance. 18 In the first month, from the evening
of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day, you shall eat
unleavened bread. 19 For seven days no leaven shall be found in
your houses; for whoever eats what is leavened shall be cut off from the
congregation of Israel, whether an alien or a native of the land. 20 You
shall eat nothing leavened; in all your settlements you shall eat unleavened
bread.
(New
Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education
of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of
America.)
How
will eating pancakes become a reminder for you of Moses and the people leaving
Egypt in the Exodus?
Prayer: Thank You God that You walk with us on unexpected journeys. Amen.
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