From the early days of of the Church, fasting has accompanied the season of Lent. Jesus was in the wilderness, Moses on Mt. Sinai, and Noah on the ark each for forty days. In each story there is imagery of physical scarcity. So it's easy to see Lent as a time of scarcity, an upleasent time when all we talk about is the negative. Give this or that up. Get rid of your sins through repentance. Get rid of your comfort in church by kneeling more. Fast.
But scarcity is only half of what Lent is about. Lent is about emptying ourselves, surely. But Lent is also about being filled back up, too. What we are to be filled up with holiness or with love or with God's presence or with the Holy Spirit or with anything that is good, pure, righteous, and Godly. Thus fasting is not simply about doing without - it's about replacing what we've become dependent on (our idols) with whatever God has in store for us.
The simple way we do that is to turn to God in some form of discipline whenever we crave what we are fasting.
One of the things I'm fasting is refined sugars since sweets are a comfort food for me. The other day I was craving ice cream as we drove past an ice cream shop. I tried to cleverly entice my wife to pull over and get some. She said to me rather glibly, "Shouldn't you be praying? Didn't you just preach a sermon about how you're supposed to turn to God whenever you crave something?" I was miffed. She was right. I didn't like it. I grabbed the Book of Common Prayer and begun chanting the Great Litany, which goes on forever. "I'll show her!" I thought. I was hoping she would be annoyed. She wasn't. She wanted to join in.
So there we were, driving down the highway chanting the Great Litany as the highway droned under us and cars wizzed by carrying stressed and weary drivers. About halfway through the Litany it really became a prayer for me. I began praying with my wife, to God, for the world. The drone of the chant sank into my soul and the hubbub around me faded. God was here/now. My wife was here/now. I was here/now. I was spending time - really being present - with the two I love most in this world: God and my wife. How beautiful it was! And just think, I could have missed this richness for something as trivial, fleeting, and cheap as ice cream.
Lent isn't about making ourselves miserable. It's about emptying ourselves, getting rid of the lesser, so that God can fill us up with what is GREATER. Don't miss out by letting Lent pass you by. Take time to fast. In the end, you'll find God has given you more than you started with.
- Fr. James+
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