First Full Week of Lent: Deepening Faith
March 10 (Monday – Fasting)
- Scripture: Isaiah 58:9 – Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, “Here I am.”
- Reflection: We think of fasting as going without food and water, depriving ourselves of nourishment, or even starving. In some senses, that’s the extreme version of such a practice. Fasting, truthfully, is done with care for the wellbeing of its practitioners, and must be monitored for people with certain health conditions such as the ill, elderly, children, and/or pregnant and nursing women and new mothers.
In other senses, fasting can simply mean giving something up. This can be sacrificing something we care about and will miss, such as caffeine or stimulants or sugars. It might also mean changing a habit that is harmful or destructive to us, by giving it up or altering our behavior to make another choice.
This text reminds us that fasting that pleases God isn’t just about abstaining, but about seeking justice and caring for others as well as ourselves. In this way, fasting can mean that you choose a habit that improves your own wellbeing and also contributes to the wellbeing of the world, such as limiting how much energy you consume, or opting to walk versus drive whenever possible. - Spiritual Practice Prompt: Choose a justice-based, wellbeing-informed option for ‘fasting’ today. Eat and drink mindfully and without giving into cravings or habits, reduce energy consumption, recycle and reduce waste, find an alternate form of transportation, or donate the funds you would have spent on an indulgent habit such as a snack or beverage. How does your preferred ‘fast’ connect with issues of justice? How does it help you choose and act with greater awareness of equitable and sustainable practices?
Songs:
- Fasting for a Feast by Jason Maverick Phoenix: https://youtu.be/wGkSzeqcpyY?si=RHkWRp7FEuFfls-G
A fast solely to seek justice is the kind of fast that pleases God.– John Stott, Issues Facing Christians Today
If physical fasting is not accompanied by mental fasting it is bound to end in hypocrisy and disaster. — Gandhi
A complete fast is a complete and literal denial of self. It is the truest prayer. ‘Take my life and let it be, always, only, all for Thee’ is not, should not be, a mere lip or figurative expression. It has to be reckless and joyous giving without the least reservation. Abstention from food and even water is but the mere beginning, the least part of the surrender. — Gandhi
I believe that there is no prayer without fasting, and there is no real fast without prayer. — Gandhi
Interviewer: Let’s talk about fasting from food. … What’s your take on fasting from food? What’s the spiritual side of that?
Nadia Bolz-Weber: … A lot of people do have particular types of fasting that they take on during the 40 days of Lent. So that is part of my tradition, it’s just not prescribed. My own experience, profound experience of fasting actually wasn’t part of the Christian tradition. For the last two years, I’ve sort of done a thing up on my friend’s land, where I have … It’s just 48 hours of prayer and fasting, and I’m outside on the ridge of this mountain, not a mountain, but the hills. With just a bedroll. For two days. … I really sought that out because I wanted everything stripped away and to have that experience. And so there’s no food or water. … But the interesting thing is my experience, I genuinely was not hungry or thirsty. And it wasn’t because I’m some evolved person, you’re also not sort of … You’re sitting in one spot, really, in one little space. And so you’re not using a lot of energy. It felt like having things stripped away and gaining a sort of ability to hear from my own source more clearly. So, both times … I have had experiences where I felt like, some words came to me that didn’t feel like they originated from inside of me. And I know that because they didn’t sound like me… Like the first year I did it, it started raining and there was this storm. And in my mind, I was like, f@#% this. Like, I’m out. I’m not going to finish this. I’m not going to have a wet bed roll. And I’m under my tarp. And it’s beating in the wind in the rain. I was so like miserable. And then I had this thought, because the … Then it stopped and I kind of peeked out and there’s these like antelope, like a whole herd of antelope like right there. And I turn and I looked the other direction, double rainbow. I’m like, okay, that’s a bad ham-fisted, God, but whatever. I love it when God likes subtlety. … But the words that came to me were, those are only thoughts. Like, those are just thoughts. Like as a human animal in a situation, you’re fine. And all of the misery that you just experienced was not the situation. It was your thoughts about the situation. So there have been these moments of incredible clarity that I’ve had that didn’t feel like came from me. It was accessing my divine source. So I allowed for it.