By Dave Howell, member of St Mark's Church, Utley - DID you cook pancakes last Tuesday? We did - delicious!

Pancake Tuesday enables us to use up eggs, flour, milk and sugar prior to Lent.

The idea is that we give up these goodies as we prepare for Easter in six weeks time.

My wife and I work as volunteers at a Christian site in Israel. We are there every year at Easter, and consequently we experience the Jewish Passover celebrations, remembering the Exodus from Egypt.

During Passover, leavened bread is not allowed and special thin Matzah cake is eaten instead - a custom remembering that in their haste to leave Egypt they had no time to prepare risen loaves.

Their strict dietary laws regulate the eating and cooking of leavened flour.

To be certain there is no trace of bread in their homes, they completely clean it out from top to bottom.

They scrub it out to ensure not the tiniest crumb of bread or scrap of yeast remains hidden.

In the orthodox area of Jerusalem, fires are lit in the streets to make a public show of burning all the traces of leaven.

In many ways I admire the Jews for their strict observance.

However, Jesus warned His disciples about people who made outward shows of reverence when their hearts were hard and uncharitable.

Perhaps you may have chosen to give something up for Lent as an outward sign that you are preparing for Easter.

But please don't let that replace the real preparation which needs to be taking place in your heart and mind.

As we approach the time of year when we recall Jesus' love for us by His ultimate sacrifice, let your thoughts be fixed on Him, not on outward signs and rituals.

May you experience the presence of Jesus in your lives during this Lent.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.