Lent and Shrove Tuesday: Father Matthew Presents

[MegaOrchdork]

Who knew that Jehosephat and Regina could cut such a rug! I think they should audition for So You Think You Can Dance....I am sure they will make it!

[adavecdave]

i am unable to find ''lent'' in the holy bible, does anyone know what passage i could find this in?

[FatherMatthew]

@adavecdave the same place you find "the holy trinity"

[adavecdave]

@FatherMatthew the trinity in Gen.1

[ONE] In the beginning GOD created the heaven and the earth.

[TWO] And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the SPIRIT OF GOD moved upon the face of the waters.

[THREE] And God said, Let there be LIGHT: and there was light.

John.8 [12] Then spake JESUS again unto them, saying, I am the LIGHT of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life

[FatherMatthew]

@adavecdave More seriously, though. The number 40 is used in the scriptures to indicate completeness and fullness. So a 40 day period was placed before easter for certain disciplines, especially the training of people for baptism (catechumens). Just as Jesus prayed and fasted for 40 days in the wilderness, we imitate him in that fashion for guidance.  Lent all comes down to Jesus, actually.

[adavecdave]

@FatherMatthew so lent would be more of a tradition i suppose.

i had that thought, however i was not sure

thanks,  your videos are well done, most enlightening.

[chalicechiq]

@adavecdave "Lent" or "lenting" is the old Germanic word for "spring." That's all it means. :)

[allancuseo]

Love it. We had a great pancake supper at church for Shrove Tuesday, Good to see you are still making videos, Father.

[steph12328]

brill :D

[connerjd]

Do you know why the bible uses the number 40 constantly?

[chevelle357m]

lol i love that song!!

[pradip1995hero]

are you a real priest? btw thanks for letting me know what lent and shrove tuesday means! but why do people call it pancake day?

[FatherMatthew]

@pradip1995hero They call it pancake day because the tradition developed to clean out your pantry before the severe season of Lent, and many people made pancakes in the process, and so the tradition developed to serve pancakes every Shrove Tuesday after that.

[StuartGalore]

Awesome...keep up the good work.

[connerjd]

I am not catholic, but it is good to hear about religious holidays.

[FatherMatthew]

@connerjd I'm Episcopalian, but also catholic (as in part of the 'universal' Church)

[ZacharyDBrooks]

Haw! Is there a "theological puppeteering" course in Episcopal seminary? The children's sermon puppets at my parish are Wolfy and Esmerelda.

[FatherMatthew]

@ZacharyDBrooks What can I say? I had a great professor for Puppeteering 301. The Marionette exam was a killer!

[ElegantTotality]

This is my first Lent too! =D I'm very excited for it, but I'm very ignorant about it and am not sure entirely how to celebrate the season... =/ pretty much giving something up and taking something on is the only thing I know about it; and I definitely didn't know about Shrove Tuesday =P

[GiveMeLiberty1]

Thanks for posting this, Father! I was beginning to wonder what happened to you! :)

[MapleAnglican]

Fr. Matthew, are you doing anything special for Lent this year?

[FatherMatthew]

@MapleAnglican Yes, but I haven't decided yet!

[Hankatu]

I'm curious, do you accept the big bang or the evolution theories?

[FatherMatthew]

@Hankatu Yes and yes.

[jackam10]

@Hankatu I can't speak for Father, but most Episcopalians I know or have met accept the big bang and some evolution theories (to a degree). Which is what I find so fascinating about the Episcopal Church. Never before had I even considered the thought of Darwin and God being able to go hand-in-hand.

[Hankatu]

@jackam10 Well technically they can't. You have to dismiss certain parts of the bible to make room for evolution, so altough you can believe both in the christian God and evolution simultaneously, your God will be much more different than the one say creationists believe in.

[jackam10]

@Hankatu Why can't they? It is true that I view God in a much different way than most creationists would but for reasons other than evolution.

[Hankatu]

@jackam10 I thought I explained earlier. If by God you mean the christian God of the bible, then in order to fit evolution into your view you have to dismiss parts of the bible, namely parts of genesis. If your God was exclusively the that of the bible then there could be no room for evolution, so in effect they can't go hand in hand. You have to deliberately fashion a different, personal God for yourself to fit in evolution. As such it's no longer the god of the bible.

[jackam10]

@Hankatu I do mean the God of Abraham (I hestitate to say the Christian God because we don't have a copyright on her). But I meant, which Biblical passages must I be dismissing to accept evolution?

[Hankatu]

@jackam10 Genesis 1:21, Genesis 1:25, Genesis 1:27 to name a few. There is no wiggle room in "God created" - to have evolution in your view you must dismiss those verses, and in doing so your God becomes more deistic. This doesen't go to say that it's a bad thing, with science having shown God as a needless part of the equation, with most phenomenas, e.g. stars (Genesis 1:16) and the day-night cycle (Genesis 1:4, Genesis 1:5) explainable without the supernatural.

[differnet]

@Hankatu You should watch Father Matthew's video on biblical innerrency. Belief that the bible is literal or innerrant is a form of idolotry.

[Hankatu]

@differnet I watched the video and enjoyed it, but I don't agree with calling it idolotry. I'm sure no creationist would claim that his faith is in the bible, not God. If you claim biblical literalism to be idolotry, then it follows that by destroying the item you destroy the deity. What creationist would claim that by destroying the bible you destroy God?

[differnet]

@Hankatu Who has destroyed the bible? The way I see it, is that many Christians seem to look to the bible for a list that will bring them into righteousness. It's kind of a 1 from column a and 2 from column b approach. However, as Christ and the Apostles repeatedly tell us our own righteousness cannot save us. It is only the loving relationship with God that will save us. Do you honestly believe that God has stopped sending us prophets? He is here with us every day.

[Hankatu]

@differnet Well I can't name anyone who has destroyed any bibles, but I don't see how it's relevant. As for the rest of your comment - it's absolutely meaningless to me. I find righteousness to be a negative thing as it usually leads to being a pompous brat. I don't need salvation because there's nothing I need to be saved from. There can be no loving relationship with someone as psychopathic as God. No, there are no god-sent prophets, and there never was, and he definitely isn't here every day.