A few thoughts for Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent.  One of the traditional readings for Ash Wednesday is 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2.  It reads, in part

Brothers and sisters:
We are ambassadors for Christ,
as if God were appealing through us.
We implore you on behalf of Christ,
be reconciled to God.

This snippet seems to team well with the second sentence in the "Our Father":

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  -Matthew 6:10

Based on the intonation of most people reciting this prayer, I deduced that most people are reciting it as a declaration of fact, much like a physics student passively stating, "A potato released on a windless day near the surface of the earth will start to accelerate at approximately 9.8m/s/s in the direction of the earth's center."

An alternate interpretation would have Matthew 6:10 be our oath of investiture as ambassadors of Christ.  One can read the news and see that His will is not being "done on earth".  Interpreting that verse as an oath of investiture makes us ambassadors and soldiers.  There is nothing passive about that oath.  And it makes far more sense to me than to declare what is a patent untruth...that man's behavior is infallibly in absolute alignment with God's will.  Sin would be impossible if that statement were true.

Incidentally, the word "investiture" derives from the ceremony when the new officer  first dons of robes...vests, vestments...of office.  Putting on the robes of office was a way of formalizing the handing over of authority and accountability of a position.  The robes changed the man into a judge or a king or a priest...made him something more than a man. 

"Vest" also shows up in the word "investment".  One of my failings as a Christian is that I drop back into cruise-control mode way too easily.  I need to become more emotionally invested in my faith.  I am working on it.  Repeating my oath of investiture every time I say the Lord's Prayer will help.

Bodies

I continue to learn and marvel about how interconnected our body's functions are.

Over the last few weeks I found myself generating more and more saliva.  Today I was swallowing every minute or so.  Concerned that this flood of saliva was an advance symptom of some dire disease, I took a few minutes to research the condition.

I was amazed to learn that hypersalivation is often a response to acid reflux or heart burn.  The body engages in washing and buffering of the esophagus by flooding it with saliva.  That tied together because I have been suffering from some acid reflux and I celebrated Fat Tuesday by watching Belladonna play basket ball and by eating hot dogs.  I paid for the hot dogs with much heart burn on the drive home.

Food

I made Shrimp Scampi for dinner today.  It was my first effort.  It was a very easy dish to prepare.  My initial perception was that it was WAY high in fat calories, just the thing for -20 Fahrenheit windchills.  Actually cranking it out in an Excel spreadsheet it noodled out (pun intended) at 33% fat calories.  That was with 32 ounces of noodles and 7 oz of butter/oil and 24 ounces of shrimp.  The reason it seems so rich is that none of the fat is buried or hidden.  It is right out there, front and center, dripping off every noodle.