Lent Is More than the Stuff on the Brush

I lived in New Orleans for eight years and I’ll never be the same because of my time there. The food was phenomenal, the sights were fantastic and the history was awe-inspiring. To be honest, New Orleans is unique to the South. Yes there’s Spanish Moss and mosquitoes you can ride, but most similarities stop there. All one would have to do is visit during Mardi Gras season to understand the truth of the last statement. New Orleans parties hard, heavy and fast during February’s lead up to Fat Tuesday. Fat Tuesday is the day before the Lenten season begins with Ash Wednesday. Fat Tuesday features rowdy behavior by many due to days on end of drinking all forms of alcohol. People do amazingly stupid things on Fat Tuesday, often regretting the acts the following day (and if it ends up on Facebook, for many days and weeks to follow).

Ash Wednesday is a somber and sober day in New Orleans as people flock to the cathedrals and churches to have the sign of the cross placed on their foreheads by a priest or minister. The ashes used are from palm branches used on Palm Sunday of the previous year. They are burned, mixed with holy (blessed) water into a paste and applied to the foreheads or hands of those who seek to become more spiritual over a span of six and one half weeks culminating with Easter Sunday. In New Orleans the population is overwhelmingly Catholic and Ash Wednesday is a regular part of the Catholic liturgy and practice. Baptists in the city do not celebrate Ash Wednesday as a rule but a few churches hold special services that coincide with the beginning of Lent.

I didn’t grow up in a high service/high liturgy church so to me lent was something we used a sticky brush to remove from our clothes. It wasn’t until I moved to New Orleans that I grew to appreciate the spiritual possibilities of Ash Wednesday and the Lenten season. Lent is a 43-day season where we can reorder our lives, confess and move away from problem sins and place more dependence upon God than we do on ourselves. Many people will fast during Lent and others will give up something over the six weeks. The key is to place something distinctly spiritual into the void left by the object being avoided. Lent can be a true life-changer.

I disagree with the New Orleans model of drinking one’s self silly on Fat Tuesday so Ash Wednesday will be more effective. Paul had a lot to say on that view of forgiveness of sin and he would not have been a fan of Mardi Gras. I’m guessing he’d have sent the churches a letter or two. But let’s face it…we all sin, no matter where we live or what we do on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. So let’s forget Tuesday and embrace Wednesday. Ash Wednesday. A new start for all of us!

Michael McCullar

Finding Your Inner-Salt

I finally succumbed and purchased the best-selling book The History of Salt by Mark Kurlansky. I’d talked myself out of buying it for a couple of years but I found a discounted paperback copy and quickly began reading it. I’m fascinated by how a writer can take a seemingly mundane subject and turn it into a million-seller book. If George Clooney could play a pile of salt the movie rights would be up for grabs right now. The actual book, setting aside all professional jealousy, is a masterpiece. Salt was gold for more years than gold has been gold, if you get my drift. Salt literally ran the world for thousands and thousands of years.


Did you know that Egyptians used salt to make mummies (I think they used bodies primarily but salted them down really well)? Or, that salt was to the ancient Hebrews, and still is to modern Jews, the symbol of the eternal nature of God’s covenant with Israel? Did you know that for eon’s loyalties and friendships were sealed with salt because its essence does not change? (Even dissolved into liquid salt can be evaporated back into crystals). Roman soldiers were often paid in salt, which was the origin of the word salary and the expression being worth your salt. The Latin word sal (salt) became the French word solde, meaning pay, which is the origin of the word, soldier. This is one literary lesson you should take with more than a grain of salt!

 The New Testament instructs us to be salt and light to our world. One of salts greatest early values was to preserve food. Another value was as a seasoning, something we continue to use today. It is the seasoning aspect we should translate into our daily faith lives to be true to scripture. We are told to live lives that demonstrate and provide an example that is different from the norm around us. We are to season life with holiness and positives that other people will want to have in their own lives. Something as mundane as salt can still transform the world.
 
Michael McCullar

Being a Regular Size Person in a Skinny Fit World

Who invented the skinny fit approach to clothing? You know the kind, sits lower on the waist and is tapered down the legs. Really? Seriously? In America? The land of “Super-Size those fries for me!” I am a relatively normal size person and I accidentally picked up a pair of skinny fit trousers to try on. It was an ugly experience. Who besides a seriously, even certified, skinny person, would want a pair of skinny fit men’s pants? What happened to the “expand-a-trouser’ model of a few years ago that gave a bit around the waist? Now those were excellent trousers. I’m guessing you would have a harder time outgrowing those so the return business was not what it needed to be. Probably a consultant in Paris said, “Ahhh, let’s get those Americans by designing skinny fit clothes” (add in your own French accent). And there you go…we are now the land of skinny fit clothes!
You may be asking at this point, “what exactly does this have to do with faith?” You may also be thinking, “preach on my mid-size brother…I despise skinny fit clothes too!” Keep reading and we will all end up happy, well that is if we aren’t presently stuck in a pair of super tight, uncomfortable trousers. Skinny fit clothes are for skinny people. To squeeze into a pair of this or that just to be stylish is unnecessary discomfort and, let’s face it, it’s pretty obvious if “the skinny clothes don’t fit.” It’s better to relax and be O.K. with what we are. Obviously we should treat our bodies as holy vessels created by God and that might mean a diet or a bit of exercise or less stress. At some point, however, we are what we are. The same goes for matters of faith.


I learned a long time ago I’m not Billy Graham, nor am I Max Lucado. Truth be told, they aren’t me either (although they wouldn’t know me from Adam’s gardener). I’ve accepted my gifts and what God has called me to do. It took time, but I stopped trying to be something other than the unique person God intended me to be. In God’s scheme we are all unique, necessary and vital to making a difference in the world. Sadly, we won’t make that difference until all of us step up to God’s calling for our lives. Each of us. Being O.K. with who we are. Finally. Unlike skinny fit clothes, God’s fit is always perfect!

Michael McCullar

Life Before the Super Bowl

The first Super Bowl took place in Los Angeles on January 15, 1967 between the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs. Led by Bart Starr on the field and Vince Lombardi on the sidelines the Packers won the initial game 35-10. The game was attended by 62,000 people and was shown on two television networks. My, how things have changed. Today 62,000 people mingle around in the parking lot just to be near the game. One television network pays billions of dollars for the rights to televise the game. Non-football fans watch the game just to see the one million dollars per minute commercials. What did we do before January 15, 1967?
The answer is simple: It doesn’t matter. The Super Bowl is what it is: football is huge in America (especially in the South), and it will continue to grow in popularity and in reach. So we roll with it. We enjoy the game and (some of) the commercials and in the process model to friends, family and co-workers that to us, football is not a religion. We can mix football and faith and keep faith at the top of the list. This is a good message, especially this week…because, let’s face it, it’s not 1967 anymore!

Michael McCullar