Category Archives: fasting

February 14, 2013 · 12:55 pm

We Do Love Our Tools

The Tool HouseHumans are tool-making and tool-using creatures.  Our opposable thumb and finger grasp strength provide the springboard to create and use machines as extensions of our bodies and brains.

We are also tool-purchasing creatures.  Tools to cook, tools to communicate, tools to study, tools to build, tools to create, tools to clean, tools to repair, tools to heal, tools to build muscles and increase stamina, even tools to help us relax and have fun. We really do like ‘em.

Last spring I saw what a tool-wonder New York City is for my two-year old grandson. A north-south avenue near his house is undergoing reconstruction for a subway extension. Giant, noisy, smoke-bellowing tools provide constant entertainment for an enthralled little boy.

Take a talented cook into a high-end cookware store and the same sense of enthrallment will take over. Or an enthusiastic do-it-yourselfer in a yet unexplored hardware store.  Or someone with a new craft project into a hobby supply store . . . and watch the bank account empty.

Whenever I go to the State Fair, I am a sucker for the areas where slick salespeople offer skilled demonstrations of their mops, knives, and cleaning solutions. This year, it was the steamer that emptied my pocketbook—oh my, was I awed by the way it did clean.  And probably would still, if I would get it out and use it!

Yes, we do love our tools.  Each one promises, “This is the one that will make your life easier and will magically make your dreams come true.”

That is, of course, the siren song. “Buy me, and you will get what you want with so little effort!  Twenty minutes a week for the ideal body!  In days, the perfect home-make-over!  Clean up is a snap with our super-duper pots and pans!  Speak your thoughts into your phone and that great piece of literature shall easily appear!”

So, I’m wondering what kind of tools are available to magically transform and fast-track a spiritual infant into a well-functioning, spiritually grounded adult.

None.

Yes, we can now access hundreds of electronic biblical texts and condense formerly months-long research tasks into seconds. Commentaries by erudite scholars and messages and Bible studies by the most famous of pastors reach us with the click of the mouse.

And while I asked my church members to actually show up at an Ash Wednesday service and make an intentional and solemn entry into the Lenten season, a number of clergy were offering a drive-by imposition of ashes, instant repentance, so to speak.

But lasting spiritual growth can’t be implanted or manufactured or show up within seconds.

It doesn’t happen in ten easy steps or in deciding your purpose or in declaring boldly that you are living your best life now.  There are no spiritual steroid supplements to create the muscles needed to live richly grounded in the love of God and willingness to expend oneself generously for the love of neighbor.

There are no short-cuts here.  No spiritual equivalents exist to combines that can harvest in minutes what used to take days of back-breaking labor to achieve or to ice-makers that regularly pop out perfectly formed ice cubes with the flip of a button.  The steps to spiritual maturity are rather more like laboriously cutting large blocks of ice from a frozen lake and then carefully storing and watchfully distributing those precious blocks during hot and dry weather.

Our tools?  The spiritual disciplines: communal worship, fasting, prayer, study, giving, serving, confession, repentance, forgiveness.  Once learned and practiced, they shape profoundly good and well-functioning human beings who carry the light of God with them everywhere they go. Everyone is called to this kind of spiritual depth.

Only a few reach it.  Simply too much hard work. Only a few . . . but those that do change the world.

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Filed under Ash Wednesday, character, fasting, generosity, habit, sacrament, worship

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February 5, 2013 · 10:12 am

A Time to Feast and a Time to Fast

If every day were Christmas, we’d be miserable.  We’d be stuffed, bored, broke and fractious.  Irritations would win the day and gloom and unfulfilled expectations would slather everyone with despondency. Adults would desperately turn to TV, youth and teens to video games, as a way to disconnect from person-to-person contact.  Children, surrounded by piles of overly-stimulating toys, would resort to whining, “Is that all there is?” as a way to remove themselves from their mental and emotional chaos.

Christmas is special because it comes just once a year. But no one can stay in a fever pitch of excitement for long. Instead, we are made with certain rhythms of living that need to be respected.

Periodically, we must slow down, take stock of who we are, celebrate our progress and examine our failures in order to learn from them. Just as we need to repair and maintain our houses, tools and automobiles to prolong their usefulness, we also need to repair and maintain our souls, our relationships with each other, with the created world and with the Creator.

We need plans and places to free ourselves from habits that threaten to shut us down.  Some habits operate like sand in the gears or viruses in computer programs—they bring everything to a halt if we won’t stop and clean things out. That’s what Lent is all about: time intentionally set aside for self-examination. The best of Lenten disciplines takes place both in private, in our chosen fasts, and in community, in accountability with others with like goals.  It is much like Boot Camp: each must do the exercises but as teammates we can do more, cheering each other on.

Lent starts with a day called “Ash Wednesday.” Often, this follows a night of partying, such as Mardi Gras celebrations.  Mardi Gras, which actually  means “Fat Tuesday,” began as a way to rid the household of all food forbidden during the 40 days of Lent. Mardi Gras, also known as “Carnivale” in Brazil, now has almost completely removed itself from its religious roots. It has unfortunately turned more into a time of wanton excess and competitions to see who can engage in the most degraded actions. Ideally, it is a time of communal celebration before the communal fast, with the expectation that everyone seen partying on Tuesday night will also be seen in church on Ash Wednesday morning, preparing for the extended fast.

Ash Wednesday is the day to mark, and I mean literally mark, the formal entrance into Lent.  As part of Ash Wednesday worship, participants will have the cross marked with ashes (from burned palm fronds) on their foreheads or hands.  Then, ideally, they will begin with a fast of some sort, and an additional activity to help build their spiritual muscles.

Our society has nearly forgotten the art and practice of fasting.  We’re so self indulgent that if we don’t get what we want immediately, we resort to temper tantrums in response.

Fasting teaches us much. It exposes our unhealthy addictions. It teaches the vital art of self-denial and the even more vital art of delayed gratification.  Fasting calls us to freeing maturity as we struggle to stay faithful to our fast.  Ideally, an extended fast reminds us of our human state, our need for God’s loving grace, and teaches us deep compassion for the endless suffering of others as we experience our own momentary suffering and discomfort.

Do a fast this year.  Start Wednesday, February 13.  Not before, not later.  Go to a service somewhere–they’ll be all over the place.  The church I serve, Krum First UMC, will have them at 7 am, noon and 7 pm and everyone is welcome.

I do not know of any other act that will give you more self-awareness, and more God-awareness, than to engage in this time of sacrifice, fasting, and discipline.  It will set you more free than you have ever been.

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December 11, 2012 · 6:55 pm

Christmas Advice Column, Issue Two

sheep-starDear Friendly,

Was Jesus really born on December 25th?  All these songs about snow and cold and shepherds sleeping outside in the fields in icy winter don’t make sense to me.

Signed,
Not So Sure About This.

Dear Not So Sure,

I was just a child when I heard some radio preacher say that Jesus was probably not born on December 25.  I thought the floor had just been yanked from me.  How dare that person question what surely is clear!

Except it is not clear.

First, the Bible does not indicate the date on our calendar that we call December 25 is the actual birth date.  Did you know that our calendars have changed over time?  We in the West use the Gregorian calendar, established in 1582.  It replaced the Julian Calendar which had by then proved to be inaccurate by about 11 minutes per year—which does add up over the centuries!

Around the time of Jesus, a very different way of measuring times and dates was in place, and the world was also considerably less exact in its time measurements.  Things you and I might accomplish in split seconds or just a few hours could easily then have spanned days, weeks and months or even longer.  Those who lived in biblical times would be astonished at our contemporary time and date precision measurements.

Second, the day of Jesus’ birth was not celebrated at all in early Christianity. The major Christian feast from its earliest days was Easter, and then followed by Pentecost.  While you and I live in a world that makes Christmas the most important time to pay attention to faith issues, that’s a fairly recent development.

So, when the church did decide to incorporate this season into its calendar of feasts and fasts, it probably co-opted certain winter celebrations that were already part of popular culture.  In the northern hemisphere, the Winter Solstice, when the sun is at its lowest point and the daylight the shortest, is December 21.  Starting December 22, the days start to grow longer again until they reach their fullest length on June 21 and then begin to shorten once more.  Thank about it:  what better time for us to celebrate the Light coming into the world, that is, Jesus, than the very time when the light itself is coming back, offering its renewed hope of sun, crops, and the rebirth of land and animals?

I recently heard from a reader of my blog who lives in Australia.  Many of our holiday songs, with huge percentage centering on snow and snowmen, sleighs and frosty noses, cold winter’s nights and inky black midnight visitations sound crazy to them.  Why?  Because they are approaching their summer solstice, it is miserably hot “down under” and nights are short.  They don’t need candles and festive lights to push back the darkness.  They’ve got all the light they need right now, thank you.

But we do.  We need to bravely light our candles and hold them high, to recognize that frozen ground will eventually yield to plants and plowing yet once more, to embrace the mystery of the Incarnation, the divine taking on humanity, and the act of holiness joyfully embracing and transforming brokeness, sin and sorrow.

Many of the songs you notedn are written in the context of cold, northern European deep winter weather.  While not necessarily biblical in historical, climate matters, they are biblical in the sense of being in awe of what happened at the birth of the Savior.

Celebrating Christmas this time of the year reminds you and me of our physicalness, our connection with all of nature, and the rhythms of our bodies.  Just when we are at our lowest ebb, the light enters again and gives us hope.  So, December 25 for the celebration day just makes a lot of sense.

Have a great Christmas!

Signed,

Friendly

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Filed under Bible, certainty, Christmas, Easter; Resurrection, fasting

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October 24, 2012 · 11:03 am

On Earth As It Is In Heaven, Initial Reflections on “Everything Must Change” Clergy Retreat

I read this New York Times Magazine article with fascination, drawn into the beauty of the life of people on a Greek island.  The writer has been seeking to find the key to their extraordinarily long lives.

Their food is simple, homegrown, primarily vegetarian, and herbal teas and homemade wines are consumed daily.  Exercise is just a normal part of life, and everyone gets plenty of sleep.  However, the researcher affirmed the impossibility of just importing their food, sleep and exercise habits as a solution to the diseases of civilization that plague us in more developed countries.  He writes,

As soon as you take culture, belonging, purpose or religion out of the picture, the foundation for long healthy lives collapses. The power of such an environment lies in the mutually reinforcing relationships among lots of small nudges and default choices. There’s no silver bullet to keep death and the diseases of old age at bay. If there’s anything close to a secret, it’s silver buckshot.

It’s a whole life that comes as close to God’s will on earth as it is in heaven that I’ve ever read about or seen.  There is no privacy there—everyone knows everyone else’s business and that helps keep deeds of darkness in check.  Isolation can’t happen—someone will always knock on the door and come in or bring people out.  They worship together, fast together and feast together.

They have little, but they’ve got everything.

When I read this, I looked at my morning.  I woke with the usual list of things that I saw necessary to accomplish this day.  I hauled myself out of bed onto the treadmill, got in my required “steps” for the morning before fixing a cup of tea and looking at the newspaper. There I read with increasing sadness about our uncivil society and lack of respect for others in our discourse and actions.

Two articles troubled me the most.  The first told about a husband and wife, both with gigantic drinking problems, who had a horrific ending to one of their many arguments and shouting matches.  Apparently, the wife grabbed his lariat, put it around her neck and attached it to the bumper of his car as the husband leaped into the car and drove down the road.  She was killed. He claims innocence.

The second tells of an Indiana Republican candidate for the Senate who has declared that when a woman is raped and becomes pregnant, this is what God intended. What a horrific “god” that describes, who authorizes the violation of a woman in the name of life.

But the NY Times article about these people on that Greek island reminded me:  We don’t have to be like this.  We can live decently, in connection with one another, with nature and with God.  However, just about every single thing in our so-called civilized culture fights against it.

Yes, everything must change.  That phrase came from a clergy retreat last week where our speaker, Brian McLaren, presented his understanding of the Good News of Jesus Christ.  He declares, “Everything must change.”

Yes, everything must.  We’ve missed the boat.  Time to rethink everything.

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June 7, 2012 · 2:40 am

528 Steps of Prayer

Today I hope to climb to the top of the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.  It is 528 steps up (and as many down, equally if not harder on the body).  No elevator, two stopping places if I can’t make it all the way to the top.

I’m taking with me the ten year old cousin of my grandchildren.  I want to expose Katie to the power of the faith here–plus she is giving me elocution lessons as I seek to learn to speak “propah” British English.  We shall have a great day together.

I figure the first 20 steps will be relatively easy.  Each one is going to hurt after that.  I’m up in years, not particularly strong and still recovering from my post Easter surgery.

Below is a call to prayer given by Gary Mueller.  I have decided that each painful stop up will be a reminder for me to pray for the Holy Spirit to bring the conviction of sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16:8) as we in the North Texas Conference seek God’s grace and holy wisdom in the midst of our tumultuous times.

The message from Gary:

Brothers and Sisters, Like all of you, my heart is heavy today for so many reasons. All of us are wondering, “So what happens next?” For me, the answer is simple. We pray, as all are doing. We fast, as some are doing. We listen to God, as we all need to be doing. But we need to do that together and not merely alone. I want to ask you to suggest that we might stop whatever we are doing at 11:00 am each morning – starting tomorrow – and pray every day for the next week. I don’t know what it will do, but I know it’s what I need to do. Spread the word to clergy and laity alike. Blessings, my friends!

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March 6, 2012 · 4:20 pm

Anything But That!

The time leading to Easter has long been seen in many Christian traditions as the yearly opportunity to take a good, hard look at the state of our souls and ask the question, “Do I need a Savior?”

A great way to engage in that interior journey is to undergo a fast.  A fast, the intentional tossing aside of certain practices or gratifications, opens our eyes quickly to our habits of self-indulgence and mindless activities.

There is no one proscribed fast.  Some need to give up meals, or sweets or caffeine or alcohol. Others need to give up social networking or video games or TV or the reading of certain types of printed materials.  Attitudes and actions like habitual grumbling, criticism, prejudices, mean-spiritedness, laziness, destructive procrastination, over-spending, gossiping, greed, obsessive exercising and superficial religious activities are all fodder for the fast.

I’ve found over the years that the most important thing to give up is the very thing that, when suggested to us, brings the immediate response, “Oh no–anything but that.”

A few years ago, I was in conversation with a young woman who had chosen to live a highly ascetic lifestyle.  She had already given up meat, shampoo, cosmetics, buying new clothes, and dozens of other pleasures.  For Lent, she was planning greater rigor in her life, depleting herself of even more normal pleasures. I suggested to her that such a fast seemed a bit self-serving. She’d already proven to herself and those around her that she could live very simply. Her fast would simply reinforce what appeared to be an attitude of superiority toward those who were not as disciplined as she. Perhaps in her case, she actually needed to fast from fasting. Her response, “No, anything but that.”

When we’d prefer to give up “anything but that,” it means we’ve crossed over and started to worship the “that” in our lives. The old fashioned word is idolatry. Today, we might call it “addictive behavior” or “skewed priorities” but the meaning is the same. The behavior or habit has taken the place of God in our lives. We circle ourselves around that habit, and we do so to our detriment and to the detriment of those around us. We have hindered the presence of Holy Grace.

So, by picking the thing that is most painful to give up as the chosen fast, our eyes become beautifully aware of how deeply that habit is ingrained, how thoroughly we indulge ourselves (even when the indulgence is tight self-discipline!), and how blind we are to most of this.  Suddenly, instead of spending energy seeing the faults of others, our own faults bring us to a standstill.

Fasting is a part of almost every religious tradition. There is possibly no other discipline that will tell you so much about yourself.

For this short period of time, give it a try. One day at a time, one hour at a time, one minute at a time, see if you can set down the habit or practice or attitude that has you in its clutches. If possible, write down what you learn from this so it will stay with you longer.

I know that when I give up a meal, it teaches me deep sympathy for those who are hungry because they have no food.  If I am hungry, yet am surrounded by delicious temptations, I pray with greater passion for those whose stomachs are growling from hunger and whose options for relief are essentially non-existent.

Give it a try. Open your eyes. Get ready for Easter, for the hope of all humanity. Death will indeed be forever conquered.

One more thing: remember to set your clocks forward one hour on Saturday—preferably early that day.  Sunday is what I call “National Sleep Deprivation Day” as the government’s tampering with Mother Nature happens yet another year.  Yes, Day Light Savings time is upon us again!

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