Mardi Gras Madness

Hello friends, I’m back!  Sorry that it’s been so long.  Time sure does fly!  Can you believe that we’re already almost in February?  This time of year in south Louisiana always ushers in the start of carnival season, commonly known as Mardi Gras.  Over the next few weeks, revelers from all over the map will enjoy numerous parades in a number of cities, all with ornate floats, shiny beads, exciting marching bands, and other elements that make south Louisiana one of the most unique places in the United States, if not the world.  Thibodaux is no exception to this madness.  In fact, the church that I have the privilege of pastoring sits right on the parade route here in Thibodaux.  Growing up in this area, I have seen firsthand both the good and bad of this season.  I have seen the families laugh and smile together over the colorful costumes and eccentric dancers, and at the very same parades, I have also seen some of the most depraved behavior imaginable.  This naturally begs the questions, “What should be the Christian’s response to Mardi Gras?” “As a believer, should I participate in Mardi Gras?”

 

No doubt that these are questions that you have likely heard a multitude of responses on, and they might even be questions that you yourself have wrestled with.  I too have heard the countless arguments on both sides, and I have determined that after years of listening to said arguments very little good comes from these “discussions”.  Therefore, I’m not going to get into the ramifications of whether one should attend or not attend a Mardi Gras parade.  While I certainly have some thoughts on this, such matters are ultimately left to the individual under the leading of the Holy Spirit.

 

Having said that, I do believe that we as the body of Christ have a responsibility and a mission to fulfill.  When I consider that responsibility along with UBC’s strategic location in carrying it out, I feel compelled to respond.  The question that keeps popping in my head is “How can you sit back and do nothing?”  So, the question that I want to try to answer for you is not “What should be the Christian’s response to Mardi Gras?” but rather “What will be UBC’s response to Mardi Gras?”

 

Over the past month, the Lord has been speaking to me regarding the topic of meeting people where they are, and He has been using the story of Jesus’ encounter with a Samaritan woman from the fourth chapter of the Gospel of John in order to make His point.  This story opens with an explanation that Jesus would be leaving Judea and returning to Galilee.  Now the limited amount that I know about the geography of that time tells me that Jesus could have embarked on one of three routes in order to get back to the region of the Galilee.  The first route would have taken Him straight up the coast.  The second route would have Him going through Perea and then up to the Galilee.  The third route would have Him going straight through Samaria.  Now, for any self-respecting Jew, this third option was not really an option at all, for no Jew would be caught dead going through Samaria.  To say that these two groups didn’t get along would be a gross understatement.  Jews considered Samaritans to be half-breeds who could not prove their geneaology.  The animosity between the two factions was so bad that when the Jews wanted to insult Jesus in John 8, they called Him a Samaritan.  Yet verse four of the fourth chapter says this:

 

           

“Now He had to go through Samaria” (NIV)

 

Other translations say that Jesus was compelled.  Whatever your particular translation says, the thought here is that Jesus had a divine appointment and nothing was going to keep Him from missing that appointment!  Wow!  What a thought.  Jesus had to go into “enemy territory” because there was someone there that was important enough to risk persecution for.  It’s a radically simple concept, really.  Jesus didn’t invite her to go to the temple with Him.  He went to where she was.  And I don’t see anywhere in Scripture where it says that He compromised His principles by going to where the Samaritan woman was.  He simply went there because He knew that she wasn’t coming to Him, and He loved her enough to bring the truth of redemption directly to her.

 

As I have pondered over this passage, the Lord has solidified His conviction, His passion, and His direction regarding the issue of Mardi Gras within my heart as clear as crystal.  As I said before, our campus sits directly on the parade route.  By the time our Sunday morning services draw to a close next week, hundreds of parade watchers will be huddled in front of our building.  Now we have a choice.  We can tie up our parking lot, lock the building, and turn our lights off, turning our back on the “evil” that is Mardi Gras.  Or we can go to our Samaria.  I told you that the Lord kept on prodding me, “How can you do nothing?”  So, I choose to go to Samaria.  We are going to grill hamburgers for folks and offer portable restrooms and hand-washing stations.  Our band will be providing a little pre-parade entertainment.  Most importantly, we are going to engage folks in intentional, Christ-centered conversations.  We are going into our Samaria to meet people where they are because, the fact of the matter is that they will be out there whether we choose to be or not.  At the least, people will leave that parade having heard the Gospel of Christ and having felt His love through the people of UBC.

 

Now, I don’t say this to say that we are right and everyone who doesn’t do this is wrong.  I am simply sharing with you the conviction the Lord has placed on my heart, but I will leave all of you with this.  The apostle Paul speaks directly to this in the tenth chapter of Romans when he says:

 

For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on Him, for “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?  And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:12-15, NIV).

 

The bottom line is that we all need a savior, and that savior is Jesus.  We are going to go and bring Jesus to others.  Here’s praying that we all bring Jesus to our Samaria, wherever that is.  I love you.

 

Until Next Time,

 

JP