God at Mardigras

I attended my first Mardigras last night. It defies a definitive description. It is the most complete party you have ever attended…with 300,000 to 400,000 people.
I have always seen little snapshots of the parades….but the number of days, the number of parades, the number of people involve to make it happen and the number attending…all escaped me.
I doubt seriously I could write anything about Mardigras that has not been written many times over. So I am not going to go there. Instead I want you to visit a few scenes that stuck with me.

Scene One
I was struck by a group of people that thought a good way to tell the world about the love of Jesus would be to show up on Bourbon Street and scream unintelligibly into a microphone. I can say that the tone was angry…not loving. The comments just did not seem like anything Jesus would say…as a matter of fact there is no record of him ever yelling into a crowd of people in the city. The only time, the one time ,that is recorded where he appeared to be genuinely angry was not at the people in the city…but at people in the church who had turned the temple into a market place instead of a house of prayer. That day was a defining moment for those that knew the truth and attended the temple but had severely missed the point of being there.

Scene Two
I saw another group that was gathered in huddles. They sang a song….then stretched out their hands toward everyone as they walked by and simply prayed. They prayed that the people passing by would get to know who Jesus could really be in their lives. Better… much better… but it was soon backing to speaking very ineffectively into a very loud and boisterous crowd.

Scene Three
A very pleasant and smiling young lady walking with her friends…she says a cheerful “Hi” to everyone. She congratulates the very cold and very tired faced people that had stayed along the parade line, in lawn chairs, for the entire freezing cold day and night. They had done this just so they could save a place for their families to get a great view of the next parade. When she greeted them, each cold face would break into a smile and they felt, if just for a moment, a sense of pride…someone had noticed their effort… then I watched as she stopped to speak to a man who was scrubbing the sidewalk in front of a business…she told him that he was doing a very good job…her smile breaks through the drudgery of his work day... although very brief…it was a moment of peace…you could feel it…my guess is that her words landed right in his heart and they stayed with him through his entire day.

I thought of a verse of scripture that perfectly fit what I was witnessing with this young lady “Where sin abounds…grace much more abounds”. No screaming, no judgment, no sarcasm, no criticisms…just a genuinely sweet spirit… smiles…encouraging words…love in action…grace in action…that’s the Jesus I know.

Final Scene
Next year…a Call to Action for those that want to change the world by sharing the love of God.

Show up in full force at Mardigras. ..And instead of using a microphone as a weapon…come bearing the fruits of the spirit…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness goodness, faithfulness gentleness, and self control…
And instead of misunderstood prayer huddles…come having already spent time in prayer for the safety and peace of all those attending…and try this:

If it’s cold…hand out hot chocolate and encouraging words…
The cups should say something like;

A Warm Welcome to Mardigras…You are loved more than chocolate!
John3:16

If it’s hot...hand out bottles of water and encouraging words…
The bottles could say something like;

Welcome to Mardigras…A free drink on us!
John7:37

“I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink…”
“Whenever you did one of these things to someone…
You did it to me”
Jesus