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Why We Should Fast for the Holidays

December 18, 2017

JOEL 2:12-15 (NLT)
12 “Even now,” declares the Lord,
     “return to me with all your heart,
      with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
13 Rend your heart
     and not your garments.
Return to the Lord your God,
     for he is gracious and compassionate,
     slow to anger and abounding in love,
     and he relents from sending calamity.
14 Who knows? He may turn and relent
     and leave behind a blessing—
grain offerings and drink offerings
     for the Lord your God.
15 Blow the trumpet in Zion,
     declare a holy fast,
     call a sacred assembly.

CONSIDER THIS

We tend to think of fasting as something we do (if we do it) during Lent. But did you ever notice that in the liturgical seasons, both Lent and Advent are purple? That’s because Advent traditionally was also a season for repentance (which we’ve talked about), and fasting.

But it’s hard to find a rhythm  of fasting when all we do is feast. Let’s look at the story of my calendar, starting in a strange place: September.

School has just started back, football season is kicking off, and the Halloween costumes and candy are on the store shelves. The increased candy eating begins, weeks before the little ones come knocking on the door.

Then, on the first day of November, the Christmas candy and decorations invade everything. For the next couple of weeks I’ll keep eating Halloween candy, and then I’ll take the 3rd Thursday in November to eat my weight in turkey, sides and pies. A few days later, just as the leftovers are finally drying up, the Christmas parties, baked goods, chocolate covered cherries and candy gift bags will begin to flow.

The eating continues long after the big present day, culminating with a New Year’s Eve party and all it’s excess. By now, much of my diet has consisted of candy, cookies and rich banquet foods for three solid months. So on that first January morning I’m going to change everything: Time to be a better person. Lose some weight. Live better.

Then the first sabotage: My birthday is in January. Cake. Fancy dinner. I’ll re-start after… the Super Bowl party the next week.

By now the Valentines candy is on the shelves, and the girls are bringing home “gift bags” full of chocolate and candy, with all those heart shaped boxes of chocolate beating for my affection from the checkout line.

And just when I think there’s a break… even though the day after Valentine’s the Cadbury Cream Eggs show up next to the register… it’s all a setup: Like Sirens, they call from outside the door to Walmart. They call and I cannot resist. Soon I am crashing into the rocks of Girl Scout Cookies. Throw in an obligatory St. Patricks Day green beer and all the Easter candy, and whatever goals I set in January are dead in the spring, even as the flowers are coming to life.

Memorial Day kicks off the “cook-out” season, with the Fourth of July being the biggest blast of them all. And so, by late summer, just as the tomatoes and cucumbers we planted in the back yard in the hopes of “eating healthy and homegrown” are fully ripening, the cycle is ready to start again: Back to school, and back to the Halloween candy on the shelves.

It makes sense that we are trapped in rabid consumption. After all, our mission failure began when someone ate something. A moment of instant gratification that broke humanity and all of creation.

Jesus didn’t say, “if you fast” but “when you fast.” We’re called to it. But we don’t fast to earn our salvation, prove our faithfulness, or manipulate God into answering our prayers. We fast to make a spiritual declaration that instant gratification will not control us, and to awaken us to our dependance on God.

Fasting during Advent is hard, because everything around us this time of year is about eating more than ever. But Advent reorients us to God’s rescue mission, which is grounded in self-giving instead of self-gratifying.

ISAIAH 58:6-7

“No, this is the kind of fasting I want:
Free those who are wrongly imprisoned;   
   lighten the burden of those who work for you.
Let the oppressed go free,
   and remove the chains that bind people.
7
Share your food with the hungry,
   and give shelter to the homeless.
Give clothes to those who need them,
   and do not hide from relatives who need your help.

It’s not easy to do in an “all-you-can” eat culture. Fasting for a lot of us is like New Year’s resolutions: We fail once and call it quits. So try fasting for one day a week… maybe just one meal during that one day.. and take the time you’d eat to pray and read Scripture. After all, people don’t live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

One day Jesus will return, and we will all feast at his heavenly banquet table. Until then, let’s prepare by calling a fast.

To be continued…

THE PRAYER

Jesus, you abstained for a season from what was rightfully yours to give yourself for us.

Helps us to abstain from a few things to be more like you, and to prepare for your return. In your name we pray. Amen.

THE QUESTIONS

  1. Do you fast? What has that experience been like?
  2. How do you see an Advent fast as a spiritual practice in the midst of our culture of over-consumption? What would that look like for you?

There’s a lot to say about fasting. If you want to learn more and try it,  join the Daily Text Fasting Challenge here. Whenever you sign up, it will begin the following Tuesday.

Subscribe to receive the Daily Text email.

Join the Daily Text Facebook group here.

 

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WHAT IS THIS? Wake-Up Call is a daily encouragement to shake off the slumber of our busy lives and turn our eyes toward Jesus. Each morning our community gathers around a Scripture, a reflection, a prayer, and a few short questions, inviting us to reorient our lives around the love of Jesus that transforms our hearts, homes, churches, and cities.

Comments and Discussion

2 Responses

  1. You take me back to my days of doing Weight Watchers with an excellent yet practical leader. She repeatedly pointed out that we were trying to minimize our eating while living in a super-sized world. After every “candy holiday”, she would ask if we had disposed of the remains of the candy. Weight Watchers is an excellent program, especially in the hands of a competent leader who can not only provide tools that help but also create an atmosphere that produces individual success in a group setting–even though nobody’s journey was exactly the same as any other person’s we were all headed to the same goal. Participating in Weight Watchers opened my eyes to how inept the church was in actually equipping people to live a life truly centered in God 24/7.

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