Eating pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. What’s that all about? Shrove Tuesday marks the day before the official beginning of Lent, which is Ash Wednesday. It is derived from the word shrive, which refers to the confession of sins as a preparation for Lent. On Shrove Tuesday, people would be summoned to the church to be shriven the day before Ash Wednesday.  



It is also called Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras in French) whereby rich delicacies containing perishable items of milk, eggs and fats would be enjoyed before the serious fast of the 40 days of Lent. Pancakes are an obvious choice for this day, which is also called Pancake Day or Pancake Tuesday.

Another iconic part of Mardi Gras includes the king cake, an iced ring-shaped pastry that is sprinkled with gold, green and purple sugar and typically contains a plastic figurine representing the Baby Jesus. The person who receives the figurine is named “king” or “queen” of the Mardi Gras.

The Northmont Deacons will be whipping up these sweet, mouthwatering confections for us all to enjoy on Tuesday, March 4th, 5:30-7:30 PM in Polley Fellowship Hall. No tickets are needed since this will be a free will offering. There will be pancakes, of course, but also king cake to savor, Mardi Gras beads and masks to wear, and the swinging sounds of Dixieland Band music to listen to. No, it will not be just like New Orleans, but it just may come close! Bring all your family and friends to this fun event!

To aid in planning, the Deacons ask you to please email your RSVP to churchoffice@northmontchurch.org by Feb. 23rd, or fill out the form included in your bulletin on Sunday, and place it in the offering plate.

THANK YOU for cards, telephone calls, visits at the funeral home, and especially your prayers during Mim’s illness and death. I am so grateful for your caring. — Betty Polley

LAZARUS FUND SPECIAL OFFERING



The Lazarus Fund Offering, one of the six Presbytery special offerings we collect at Northmont each year, is received during the month of February. The fund, a Pittsburgh Presbytery initiative, started during the economic struggles of 1984, but the need continues today. It makes grants of direct aid available to families in crisis, who are struggling to pay for basic survival needs. 70% of the undesignated funds provide emergency assistance to session sponsored families and the remaining 30% provide economic and employment development assistance. Designated funding supports the Caring Program for Children. The fund has no overhead and is administered through a special committee of the Presbytery. Please consider helping families in need by contributing to the Lazarus Fund. Checks can be made out to Northmont UP church, marked for the Lazarus Fund. Thank you.

ASH WEDNESDAY SERVICE - March 5 at 7pm

WEXFORD COMMUNITY PRESBYTERIAN

The 3-19 churches (Hiland/Northmont/Wexford)

are joining forces for Lent again this year. 

The first offering is Ash Wednesday,

and Northmont is in charge of bringing soup. 

We need 4 volunteers, so if you are willing to bring one to share,

please let Ben know ASAP - thanks!

ATTENTION ALL YOUTH!

Spring Retreat Sign Up!

(See the link below for details)

Click Here for 2025 Spring Youth Retreat Details

Clef Notes

Music Director, Stephen Schall

stephen@northmontchurch.org

This week Ben’s sermon is on the mystery of the resurrection. Given the mysterious topic I thought it would be interesting to sing hymns that are all rather mystical in nature.

The first, “You, Lord, Are Both Lamb and Shepherd” is a wonderful poem entitled, “Christus Paradox.” Paradoxes couldn’t be more mystical. The second, by John Henry Newman, “Praise to the Holiest in the Height,” talks about Christ as the “second Adam.” There’s a mystery for you. And finally, the closing hymn, “At the Font We Start Our Journey,” outlines our journey of faith and cites such mysteries as “faith proclaimed, yet still untold,” “life embraced, but freely shed,” and doing Easter’s work of restoring the divided world to the unity of Christ’s peace. 

There’s no doubt that our life of faith is full of paradoxes. Mysticism makes us scratch our heads and wonder what the eternal truth is and how it Isn’t about orthodoxy. The late Episcopal bishop, John Spong is one of my favorite Christian writers. Spong wrote, “We walk into the mystery of God; we do not define that mystery;” “the ultimate, the mystical, the ineffable can never be captured in human words. Perhaps we need to learn from the Jews that if one speaks the name of God, one is pretending that one is able to know and to define God, which is the beginning of human idolatry. That is when we begin to create God in our own image, while pretending it is the other way around. Perhaps.”

I hope these hymns give you something to think about. Isn’t it great that we can live in the gray instead of the black and white? See you in church.

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