Joy in a Time with No Fig Preserves

This is our annual Shrove Tuesday Jazz Mass, a celebration through worship on the eve of Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. As a story in the contrasts of the joy of Shrove Tuesday and the introspection of Ash Wednesday and Lent, in her meditation, Rev. Stacey Harwell-Dye uses a passage from Habakkuk to illustrate the severe trauma and ills the ancients faced contrasted with the sheer joy of the presence of God in their lives. She also uses some joys from her own live to lift our spirits in Shrove Tuesday. We all face “downs,” and we all also celebrate joys, but even if we face terrible tragedies we are assured that the ultimate joy is ever present in God’s love for us.