Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

The Church instituted Ash Wednesday and the people responded with Mardi Gras. The church established All Saints Day and the people offered up Halloween. Easter is the church’s highest holy day but the people love Christmas even more. Who’s in charge here?

Liturgy translates as “the work of the people” so it seems clear that the people are in charge. Should the church go along or buck the trend?

At St. Andrew’s, our Mardi Gras/Ash Wednesday commemoration has evolved to be one of the great turnings of the church year. Over 130 of us gather for jambalaya, a zydeco band, and dancing at an intergenerational fund raising party that pays for our youth group mission trip to New Orleans.

I then make note of how many of those revelers appear at one of our two Ash Wednesday services. In terms of raw numbers, Mardi Gras wins, but only by a hair.

On one level this is a perplexing situation. Ash Wednesday is one of the most solemn days of our church year. It begins the most important season of penitence and self-discipline. Its stark observance is a very important prelude to the vast expansive celebration of Easter. Is something lost or a little out of balance when Mardi Gras is celebrated along with Ash Wednesday?

I think not. For one thing a plurality of our revelers are young people who are gaining another experience that the church is a safe, fun place to celebrate. They learn about Lent and Ash Wednesday in their church school and children’s chapel settings. They will observe a holy Lent.

And before we get too hung up about the changing traditions of the church, we need to remember that every tradition began as an innovation in its earliest expression. The central tradition of our faith – the Eucharist – began as Christ’s riff on the Passover.

Ann Lukens, the founder of the Resurgent Church Program, wrote, “What possible new innovations might someday be traditions of our church observances. Modern thought mistakes ‘tradition’ for an inert and static hedge against change, while actually it serves as an ever-evolving root system for human identity and vitality.”

Terrence Tilley, the Catholic theologian, wrote, “Traditions are neither made nor found in any simple sense but rather are ongoing practices constantly being invented. All traditions are invented and reinvented in various ways in response to contextual internal and external challenges.”

Maybe Mardi Gras can become an important new liturgical tradition at my church. As long as we also observe a holy Lent.