or as Mardi Gras enthusiasts refer to it fat Tuesday.

or as its overprotective mother might refer to it,.. big boned Tuesday

now maybe there's a pancake breakfast or supper.

But what is that?

Shrove Tuesday.

and what do you

pancakes

have to do with anything

well, besides [belly pat]

butter and syrup

it's all about Shrove Tuesday on this episode of

Chuck Knows Church [fun intro music]

Shrove Tuesday it is the day before Ash Wednesday last wednesday

which is the first day of Lent

which is forty days before Easter and twenty nine days before my birthday

well it's forty days before Easter

uh... if you don't count the Sundays because

because lent.. nevermind

we are talking about lent in another episode and we're talking about my birthday?

uh, never...

Thank you for that.

So, Shrove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday or maybe you recognize pancake Tuesday, ahh, it's all

clicking now isn't it..

Now, the word Shrove

is the past tense of the verb

Shrive

and we all know what that means don't we.

Yeah, didn't think so.

Shrive means to receive absolution

by confessing and doing penance

so Shrove Tuesday got its name from the shriving

that Christians were supposed to do immediately before lent. Lent being a

time to prepare for Easter

through prayer or repentance and most commonly perhaps

self-denial by giving up sweets

or fatty foods

or reality television

Now preparing for that self-denial meant limiting the good things that you might

find tempting

so traditionally for many

Shrove Tuesday became Fat Tuesday or even Pancake Tuesday

because making a pancake

is a way to use up all the rich food

like, eggs and milk and

sugar before fasting season of the forty days of lent. Now this is a particularly

effective practice

if you like jelly beans chocolate chip

leftover pie pancakes.

Which i do.

uh... of course at our church Shrove Tuesday always means

a pancake breakfast.

Someone has to eat them all right? Use up all the fat, and sugar, and

jelly beans.

Alright, to learn more you can ask your pastor

[laughing behind camera] [with a mouthful of pancakes] Tell them Chuck Sent ya.

[muffled] Oh, these are good

Can really taste the jelly beans

Umm..

Oh, I left a little bit here..

Mmmm..

[muffled] My compliments to the chef

[muffled] You want any?

[voice behind the camera] I'm not even going to say cut, just keep on going and going.

[muffled] This is what I want for my birthday. [voice behind camera] Just realized you don't have butter [laughing]

[voice behind the camera] uh... cut