Monday, February 26, 2018
Sermon Audio
Full Service Audio
 
So, fasting as a spiritual discipline is not the same thing as fasting for health reasons, such as when we restrict food intake for the sake of weight loss, or the latest trend of juice fasting for the purpose of eliminating toxins from the body. Fasting from food for spiritual reasons has been practiced in many religions for centuries; and the Christian tradition of fasting has its roots firmly planted in Judaism: devout Jews practiced regular fasts on specific occasions for several centuries before the birth of Jesus. 
 
While I have personally experienced the benefits of spiritual fasting, the best book I have ever read on the theology behind this practice in Christian spirituality was written in 2009 by Scot McKnight, and I will refer to this book throughout my reflections. 
 
In the forward to McKnight’s book, Phyllis Tickle writes that fasting is one of the most “misunderstood, maligned, and misused” of all the ancient spiritual practices that come into Christianity from Judaism. At the very least, fasting is physically uncomfortable; and in the worst cases, fasting can become a neurotic or obsessive practice, or lead to eating disorders. If carried too far, or practiced by those with underlying health problems such a diabetes, it can lead to an actual health crisis. For both of these reasons, some have abandoned spiritual fasting, which I think is a big mistake.
 
Theologically, fasting asserts the strong connection between the body and the spirit, and that can be an uncomfortable notion for us to explore. If you’ve ever had the experience of feeling “hangry,” you know what I’m talking about! We know from personal experience that the body and the spirit are not two mutually independent entities, but are tightly intertwined, so that when we have spiritual problems we’re dealing with (like stress or anxiety) we often experience physical ailments as a result (such as high blood pressure); because of this connection, when we don’t eat, our moods, our thinking, our attitudes and behaviours tend to come out in full force. 
 
Snickers commercial of Joe Pesci: “You’re not you when you’re hungry.” 
 
Actually, we are still ourselves when we’re hungry, just not the very best version of ourselves. When we fast as a spiritual discipline, we intentionally bring all our moods, attitudes and behaviours – we bring our worst selves - before God and reflect on where those things are coming from. The root of these attitudes and behaviour may be sin that needs to be confessed to God (such as a tendency to judgmentalism that causes us to criticize people we think are below us). When we’re hungry, we’re probably going to be more prone to doing that. 
 
Or the root may be in a part of our heart that has been hurt in the past, and needs to be healed by God (such as how we may be prone to lashing out at people who try to get close to us, because someone we love hurt us in the past). Again, when we get hungry, we’re likely to be even more sensitive. But when we fast and bring all of these tendencies before God, asking for His help, we can receive forgiveness and healing.
 
This spirit-body connection can be a bit tricky for Christians, because Christianity has had an ongoing problem around what to do with the human body, often seeing the desires of the body as the enemy, and that has, in some instances, included the desire for food. But the birth of Jesus – God coming to earth in human flesh – and the suffering of the man Jesus on the cross, and the promise of bodily resurrection that is so central to Christian faith all speak to the point that the human body is not irrelevant to God. Christian spirituality is not just spiritual; it is an embodied, incarnational faith, and Christian fasting is not done for physical reasons, but for spiritual growth.  
 
The scripture passage from Isaiah, however, shows us that throughout history, spiritual fasting has easily gone off the rails; and when it is done for the wrong reasons – for selfish reasons or for pious appearances, rather than as a way to grow closer to God - it is more spiritually harmful to us than helpful. 
 
As I mentioned, in Judaism fasting was practiced several times a year on specific occasions. The day of fasting in the Jewish religion that most of us will be familiar with is Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement, an annual day to fast to atone for the sins of the year. So, fasting, here, was linked to repentance; but we can see in the passage from Isaiah that for too many people, fasting had become nothing more than a ritualized event, that did nothing for their spiritual growth, which was evident by their behaviour. In vv. 3-4 we read: “Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers. Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist. Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high.”
 
Oppressing workers, quarreling and fighting, and even striking with the fist – this does not sound like the behaviour of one who has a repentant heart and is close to God! Their fasting is only ritual – and even worse, a ritual that they boast about! – and because their fasting is marked by ritualism and self-righteousness, it has dire spiritual consequences: “Such fasting…will not make your voice heard on high.” God will not even hear those prayers! This passage affirms that ritual fasting – just like any religious practice that has just become a ritual, or a habit with no spiritual depth - is worthless unless it is accompanied by a heart that is inclined toward God. 
 
Likewise, for Christians who practice fasting during the season of Lent – whether a food fast, a technology fast, or some other sacrificial act – if it is not connected with an inner spiritual inventory, so to speak, done in the presence of God, it will become a ritual or self-righteous act that will not bear spiritual fruit in our lives. Performing rituals is not enough; we need to connect our hearts and our lives to God in everything we do. That’s why prayer and fasting almost always go hand in hand. You can certainly pray without fasting, but fasting without times of prayer included will not be a true spiritual fast.
 
McKnight points out that fasting in the Christian tradition is typically a response to what he calls a “grievous sacred moment.” This “sacred moment might be a life event such as an illness or loss of a loved one; it may be a response to coming under threat or having a specific need; or – as is the case with Lent – fasting is a response to the acknowledgement of sin, either a specific sin or our sinfulness in general. He says that when we neglect that sacred moment – so if we fast without the prayerful repentance – then fasting becomes a manipulative device instead of a genuine, Christian spiritual discipline.
 
Benefits of fasting. That’s because fasting has real benefits for our Christian faith, some of which I have already mentioned, such as forgiveness and healing. But if we go into it focused on the results we want - or the benefits – instead of on the sacred moment that we are responding to (in this case, sin), then we are likely to feel disappointed by the experience. Because, as McKnight points out, “fasting is not magical, and there are no guarantees. Fasting is not a technique we ply that makes things happen just because we ply to it.”
 
But “a person who is totally open to God and responds to life’s sacred moments with fasting can discover the life-giving presence of God and sometimes a palpable experience of God’s presence.” This is one of the reasons why so many have practiced spiritual fasting for so many centuries – because it is a way to experience the presence of God that cannot be simulated in some other way. As the Apostle Paul noted, it is in the moments when we are weakest that we are most aware of God’s power and strength.
 
Another benefit that McKnight identifies is that in such a vulnerable state, we become acutely aware of the bad habits that have a hold on our lives, and then are then able to address them. Dallas Willard wrote, on the topic of fasting, “if pride controls us, it will be revealed almost immediately. Anger, bitterness, jealousy, strife, fear – if they are within us, they will surface during fasting.” This surfacing allows us to deal with these things that are not good for us; so dealing with them will always make our lives better. As Dr. Phil says, “you can’t change what you don’t acknowledge.”
 
Some other biblical examples of the benefits of fasting are answer to prayer, a deeper sensitivity to God’s voice and guidance, and as Isaiah shows us, genuine spiritual fasting will lead to better relationships with others, especially those who are oppressed or poor or otherwise vulnerable.
 
Fasting, at its core, is a yielding of the whole self – body, mind, spirit, heart and soul – to God, and when we practice fasting as a spiritual discipline, it brings us closer to God. Like prayer, it is a way of communicating with God, but it uses the body as a means of communicating rather than words. It communicates submission to God and it communicates complete trust in God, and an openness to having our hearts honestly searched by God so that we can make any changes to our lives that He calls us to make. Sometimes, when we are in despair and can’t find the words to pray, fasting is a way to communicate to God our need for Him to draw near to us, our need for Him to help us.
 
At its heart, fasting is about learning what we’re willing to let go of if God asks us to. The purpose of all this is not to feel guilty or like a failure, but true humility that comes from a deeper understanding of who God is and who we are, and what our relationship with God is like.
 
The Bible study groups on Tuesday and Wednesday are studying the book of Isaiah using a devotional booklet, and the reflection in this booklet on Isaiah 58 shares a wonderful story about a woman who struggled with anxiety and nightmares. **Spoiler alert, for those who are in the Bible Study groups! ** 
 
It got to the point where she would experience this fear on a nightly basis. It was so bad, that she would actually start getting anxiety a few hours leading up to bedtime. One morning she woke up and cried out to God that she couldn’t take it anymore, and then she felt Him urging her to do a sugar fast. So that day, she made the decision to avoid all forms of refined sugar. 
 
Truthfully, the day was pretty easy, and there was no treat that really seemed to tempt her. But right around 4:00 she sat down with someone who was eating chocolate chips, and without thinking she grabbed one and was about to pop it into her mouth before she realized—“Wait, I’m fasting.” 
 
So she put down that one chocolate chip, and went on with the rest of her day. As she lay in bed that night, the Lord told her that He was going to deliver her right then from her night terrors, and He did just that! That night she didn’t have a single nightmare, and woke up thinking, “But all I did was say no to one chocolate chip!” 
 
At the end of the story, the devotional makes the point that fasting is all about the inclination of the heart, and not so much about the size of the sacrifice. When God calls us to a fast, it’s going to look different for each person, but what He wants from each one of us is obedience. 
 
Jesus said, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” …but how likely are we to offer up our life to Jesus if we’re not even willing to give up a chocolate chip or a cup of coffee or skip one meal, if that’s what God is calling us to do?
 
How to fast. The thing is, fasting does not have to be a daunting undertaking. God leads us in every part of our relationship with Him the way a parent leads a child, with tenderness and love, and only challenging us in ways that are suited to our level of spiritual maturity. 
 
So, while God would never call you to do a 3-day full fast from all solid food if you’ve never even done a 24-hour fast, most people can handle skipping one meal, and dedicating that meal time to prayer or an act of service.
Those who shouldn’t skip meals, such as expectant mothers or people with medical conditions, can probably handle a 24-hour fast from media or technology. 
 
Many people have practiced what’s called a “Daniel Fast,” which is a 21-day fast where you eat only foods like vegetables, nuts, fruit, etc. 
 
The key is to listen for what God may be asking you to do, and start small. And since repentance is a significant key to fasting, we all need to begin by asking Jesus to reveal to us any possible unconfessed sin that could hinder us in our prayer time during fasting.
 
As we start small with short fasts or partial fasts, we learn to trust God; and once having felt what it’s like to lean into God and experience His presence as the only thing we really need, I have no doubt that you’ll all come to see fasting as an integral part of your Lenten journey! Amen.