St. Bartholomew's International Shrove Tuesday Celebration

Many of us St. Bartians knew that people getting ready for Lent in Rio de Janeiro (Carnival) and New Orleans (Mardis Gras) could put together spectacular ‘Shrove Tuesday’ events.  We took pages from theirs & others' international city’s ‘Fat Tuesday’ galas and created our own.  Given our reputation for hospitality, we concentrated more on fellowship rather than parades. I daresay the warm and convivial atmosphere produced interesting and sometimes even provocative conversation, but always in good taste.

Ah yes ‘taste’!  The Feijoada(stew) from Rio, Cannoli’s from Sicily, Hurricane Punch from New Orleans, Blini from Kiev, Stockholm Cream Buns, Hong Kong waffles, Mardi Gras King Cake, Athens Hummus, Cowboy Caviar etc., etc.  The fare was outstanding, and I might add…. plentiful!  As our Wu Kwai Fong said, “I am over the limit in calories!”

We always invite our close-by sister parishes to our events and we were very pleased to have friends from Onigum, Cass Lake. Red Lake and Bagley join us.  We were also quite fortunate to have a number of clergy in attendance as well which included Fr. George Ross, Reverend Melody Kirkpatrick, Rev. Marilyn Levine, Fr. Bill Butcher, Rev. Tim Megorden and Rev. Mark Olson.  Conversations in many circles had a spiritual lilt, and, given the denominations of the above, ecumenical was the order of the day.  Dean Swenson was on his way to join us, but Mother Nature had other plans, and we regret to say Rick could not make it.

Per Bishop Loya’s guide to build relationships with neighboring parishes as our intent, oft-times we hear from people during and after these gatherings, “my day was in shambles, I was in a dark place, and I didn’t think I wanted to attend your event but thank God I did. Your warmth, good food, hospitality and the fact that someone actually listened to me, changed everything and lifted me up and out of that gloomy space.  I am again ready to meet any and all challenges”.

Wow!  Hearing something like that makes our amount of time, money spent, and energy put forth, very, very worthwhile! The events on Shrove Tuesday and a testimony like the above put us in the proper frame of mind for the following day.  On Ash Wednesday Rev. Marilyn Levine presided and led us in a spiritual and meaningful service on this important day as we worship and meditate about the life of Christ. We processed ‘in’ from the Narthex singing hallelujah and we processed ‘out’ to the Narthex in silence.