I have been asked, is Mardi Gras a Christian holiday? Would God approve of Mardi Gras? Why do you, a retired pastor, celebrate Mardi Gras?

Mardi Gras is the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, which is an official holiday on the Catholic/Christian calendar. That doesn’t necessarily make it a holiday of the Christian religion.

Ash Wednesday is the first day of the celebration and practice of Lent. As a part of the practice of Lent, many will give up something of which they are particularly fond, such as candy, pastries, meats and other favorites, to focus their time on God.

So the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday was a day when folks would celebrate one last indulgence before refraining from these items to focus their time on God. So it may not be acknowledged by all Christians as a part of the Christian calendar. Nonetheless, it exists within the calendar based on Christian religious observance regardless of the opinion of the various Christian denominations.

Would God approve of Mardi Gras?

I have been asked that by disapproving members of the Christian community. They point out the extravagance and actions of many people celebrating Mardi Gras. I think they expect me to condemn the celebration on the part of God or at least be embarrassed that I like the holiday and be apologetic.

For me to definitively proclaim God’s opinion or anyone’s opinion, for that matter, is an impossible task. I am not them and I am not God. Ask God for His opinion if you want it. I can only provide my opinion of His opinion. For me to do that I first need to answer the question, “Who is God to me?”

God is like air.

As Paul said, in God, “we live and move and have our breath.” Air, when it is pure, clear and still, can’t be seen, can’t be heard and can’t be touched. If you have never been without air, you might not even believe it exists.

Some might hear about air, humbly have doubts and be an air agnostic. Through their own vast intelligence and reasoning they may conclude there is no air and arrogantly proclaim it with disdain to those who believe in “such nonsense.”

Some might argue to those air believers that there is no air and ask the air believer to show them air to prove its existence.

I can’t show anyone air. I can only show its existence via experience and reasoning.

The calm, cool, pure air doesn’t show itself to the air unbeliever yet without it we would be incapable of experience, knowledge and life itself.

I do not see air itself, but perceive it as it moves through the trees, grass and my hat as vainly I chase it across the Wal-mart parking lot. In the rustling of the leaves I hear the effects of the wind. Indeed, without the wind I wouldn’t hear at all as I experience sound via the passing of waves through the air. If I try to touch and feel air, I cannot. Yet if I put my doubts aside and quietly open myself to feeling air, it touches me. I feel air with the wind in my hair, the cool breeze on my face or as my lover’s breath on my neck sends chills up my spine and goose bumps rippling across my skin.

The most dramatic demonstration of air is, perhaps, showing the effect of its absence. The result immediately is suffering and soon thereafter, death. It is used to torture and murder. It is illegal in modern society. So I won’t pinch your nose and cover your mouth. But try to hold your breath for ten or fifteen minutes.

Much like air, God is easily dismissed as unseen, unheard, unfelt, unknowable… If you trust in only what you can see, hear and feel, I cannot “show” God to you. He is a Gentleman and will not force Himself on you. He is as close as the air you breathe.

It doesn’t take a PhD or years of study to know God. Knowing God is like knowing anyone else. They have to be willing to meet you and you have to be willing to meet them. If you have already decided that they don’t exist, you will not truly be willing to meet them. That is, you will not waste the time nor effort to try to meet them.

I remember decades back when I was in college I went as a student to Philadelphia. One night a friend called, depressed and feeling suicidal. She wanted a Bible to read and give her comfort and hope. I was working at a group home on the other side of the city and had no car. So as soon as I settled things at the home, I caught a bus to the subway to another bus, etc. Along the way, around 3 a.m. I met an atheist. We chatted and at the end of the conversation I challenged him to reach out to God and ask Him to reveal Himself to him.

A few weeks later, on a busy noontime street in downtown Philadelphia, I ran into him again. He said he had just been thinking about me and wanted to tell me the experiment didn’t work. He had reached out to God and God had not given him any sign that He exists. To me, our meeting a few weeks later in crowded, downtown Philadelphia when he had just been thinking about me was the evidence he was seeking. He, however, was willing to believe it was a mere coincidence.

As with any introduction, I cannot guarantee the results. If I tell you that someone is a loving, kind and generous person and introduce you, your approach may determine the outcome. If you say, “John says you are a loving, kind and generous person but I don’t believe it. Prove me wrong by giving me $1,000,000.00.” you can’t expect that relationship to go anywhere. Similarly, if you try to dictate to God under what circumstances you will believe in Him, you will likely get the results you are expecting rather than the result that would be spiritually rewarding.

You may as well make demands of the air to show itself to you, to speak to you, to touch you. Really you just need to be still and see the swaying of the trees, hear the rustling of the leaves and feel the gentle touch of the breeze.

So, would God approve of Mardi Gras with all its indulgences and excesses? You may as well ask me if God approves of me with all my indulgences, excesses, shortcomings, total and utter failures and just plain old fashioned sins. I can’t pretend to believe that He approves of everything about me. Only that He forgives, accepts and loves me. As for Mardi Gras? I don’t believe Jesus would have condemned the holiday. I believe He would have been there loving and accepting the celebrants.

• “John 3:16 – For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.¹⁷ For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”

It is God in Whom we live and move and have our breath. It is in God that we spend our days in celebrating, mourning and in just plain living. Whether or not you celebrate Mardi Gras or practice Lent, take time to celebrate Him and take time to be still and experience that He is God.