As many of you will know, today is Mardi Gras. Or as we Anglicans like to call it, Shrove Tuesday. What some will not know is that the word "shrove" is an old English word that means "bracket." Yes, friends, today is the day you should be finishing up your Lent Madness brackets. Gather some friends and place bets (for charity). Remember there is no charge for voting here on Lent Madness, and that voting starts on Ash Thursday morning, February 23.

To get you in the mood, here is an inspirational video.

Also, check out today's Episcopal News Service story on Lent Madness. Make sure you tell all your friends, and some random strangers, about our Facebook page and video channel.

Have fun eating pancakes today. Then do not have fun getting ashes tomorrow, but do go to church and begin the more important (and less zany) part of Lent. And then you can have a bit of fun again on Thursday when the voting begins!

Another week, another Monday. Tim and Scott explain the workings of Lent Madness. They also cover the growing global phenomenon of Lent Madness Fever.

Monday Madness -- February 20, 2012 from Forward Movement on Vimeo.

Lent Madness kicks off this Thursday with a battle between Joan of Arc and Lancelot Andrewes. This match-up and the rest of the Lent Madness 2012 schedule has just been released. It will all culminate with the championship round on "Spy Wednesday," April 4th, and the awarding of the Golden Halo. Click 2012 Lent Madness Calendar to view a printable calendar.

So, if you're looking to campaign for a particular saintly contender, you'll know exactly when to put on the full court press. Or initiate the smear campaign.

The Rev. Anne Emry, Curate at St. John's in Hingham, MA

With just five days until the start of Lent Madness 2012, it's time to highlight some recent bloggers and parishes who have jumped on the Lent Madness band wagon. We did this a few days ago which you can read here but since this is all snowballing or hitting a crescendo (depending on which analogy you prefer), we thought it was time to acknowledge some others with Lent Madness fever.

This is by no means a complete list. Some of us have day jobs after all. But if you don't see your own group, by all means send me a link at tim@lentmadness.org and I'll see what I can do to place your lamp on the proverbial lampstand. As we move forward, pictures and anecdotes are encouraged. You send 'em, we'll post 'em. Unless we get really busy because, you know, it's Lent.

Here we go:

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No, we haven't added your favorite saint that didn't make it into Lent Madness 2012. But thanks to "celebrity blogger" Adam Thomas we now have a much more attractive printable bracket. The youngest (hippest?) member of the Lent Madness team saw a need (my ugly, plain-looking  bracket) and upped the ante with some color and fancy graphics (you can obviously still print it in black and white).

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This week, Tim and Scott look at the lineup of celebrity bloggers. And more. Much, much more.

Monday Madness -- February 13, 2012 from Forward Movement on Vimeo.

Yes, friends, the Lent Madness Buzz is building all over the world. People everywhere are filling out their brackets and ironing their hair shirts as they breathlessly await the coming of "Ash Thursday" on February 23rd.

Today, we wanted to highlight a few blogs that have posted about Lent Madness. We commend them for their highly poignant commentary and brilliant selection of topic (or, as sometimes happens among bloggers, they couldn't think of anything else to write about). If you know of other blogs that have mentioned Lent Madness, let us know. And if you yourself are a blogger (and like to say really awesome things about Lent Madness) we encourage you to post and let us know about it in order to greatly increase your blog traffic, get picked up by a syndicate, make piles of cash, and retire early.

Here are some sample from the blogosphere:

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If you're not familiar with the The Episcopal Church Foundation's  Vital Practices site, you should be. Today they posted an article about Lent Madness written by our own Scott Gunn. Scott's feeling very proud of himself for writing about Lent Madness and not giving me (Tim) a single mention. Besides the fact that he's now dead to me, it was an excellent piece about Forward Movement's motivation for getting involved with Lent Madness.

Has Forward Movement Gone Mad for Lent Madness?

By the Rev. Scott Gunn

For decades, Forward Movement has been most widely known for its flagship publication, Forward Day by Day. Hundreds of thousands of readers around the world find inspiration in the quarterly printed booklet. In the US, many Episcopalians learned about Forward Movement in their narthex. Lots of pamphlets sit in racks, waiting to be read.

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Pyramids are an important part of the salvation story of Scripture. After all, if it wasn't for the cruel treatment at the hand of the Egyptian slave drivers forcing them to build pyramids for the pharaoh, the Israelites might never have risen up to cross the Red Sea. You could argue that Pharaoh's enslavement of Moses' people was the original "pyramid scheme."

As we await the start of Lent Madness with building anticipation, we're aware of at least one parish that is structuring their participation as a Bernie Madoff-like pyramid scheme. The Rev. Chris Arnold, Priest-in-Charge at St. Mary's in Middlesboro, Kentucky, is hoping the entire congregation plays along this Lent.

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In this week's installment of Monday Madness, Tim and Scott discuss some of the key matchups in this year's bracket. Also, Scott drinks his coffee out of an awesome mug.

Monday Madness -- February 6, 2012 from Forward Movement on Vimeo.