Fast and pray

Our congregation is fasting today in preparation for two hours of prayer tonight for the upcoming election. It occurred to me at 5 o'clock this evening that technically I probably did not fast because I had several cups of hot green tea with splenda. Oops. Going without food for a single day isn't terribly difficult or uncomfortable but it is inconvenient. Just the mention of the word conjures up thoughts of headaches and dizziness. That might be from the times I have attempted a 3 day fast. Now there's real sacrifice. On one such occasion I was experiencing leg pains on day three while my husband insisted I eat. But one day? That's nothing, right? Unlike the lion in Madagascar I am not so famished as to see everything that moves as a t-bone steak but I am mindful of a little hunger and aware that I am skipping meals. Why is that? I mean some people skip meals all the time because of busy schedules. I know a few people who never eat lunch. But at least three times a day I am reminded that I will not be eating. I will go without. I will even prepare food for others but not partake. And I'm somewhat preoccupied by it, if even momentarily. That's a bit annoying to me. I want to be able to determine to fast and float through the day with a superior sense of spirituality, forgetting that I am mortal and susceptible to such temporal urges. I don't want to have a slight headache and have to remind myself that tomorrow I can eat.

Lots of books have been written about fasting. Why to fast, how to fast, who should fast, step by step plans and methods to encourage you to fast, medical reasons to fast (did you know it's the worst possible way to try and lose weight?) and medical reasons not to fast. Fasting is so undesirable we've created new ways to avoid the technicalities of biblical definitions. In fact we've borrowed from the bible to do so! Partial fasts, “Daniel” fasts, juice fasts. Daniel fasts? Seriously, could we just admit that we hate fasting so much and hate feeling guilty about it even more? No we need to make stuff up. If Daniels diet from Daniel chapter 1 can be considered a fast then what was his fasting called? The ultra-Daniel fast? The new and improved, medically approved, post-exile guilt free way to fast? And here I am feeling like, “technically”, I blew my fast with that first cup of tea this morning. All this and people speak of fasting in non food terms as well. Fasting T.V. (I've aced that one), fasting talking (I would have to be in a coma) and other such valiant efforts as these. I also wonder if fasting today, in America is so much harder because we are so unaccustomed to doing without a single thing, necessity or luxury. When I'm hungry I eat. When I'm tired I sleep. When I am bored I...whatever. I wonder if fasting was easier when food wasn't so convenient. You didn't just pop open a can or tear open a bag or box of food minutes after deciding you'd like to eat. There was no fast food. I often wondered how long the Lord and his two angels had to wait while Abraham ran around in a flurry slaughtering the fattened calf, while Sarah made bread from scratch.

To top off the whole day, I learned at 6 pm that the prayer meeting was cancelled due to weather concerns! So,do I continue to fast when I am clearly only doing it for the meeting that is now no more? Let the justifications begin! Well, the meeting is cancelled, technically I was only fasting for the prayer meeting. It's after sunset, doesn't that count? I really don't have to be legalistic about this. What is it about fasting that I find so distasteful (no pun intended)? Sigh. Maybe now I can understand why people have gone to such lengths to make fasting more appealing.

Jesus said, “...someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. “ (Mark 2:20, Luke 5:35)

In Matt 6:16-18 Jesus mentions fasting 3 times “when you fast”, “when you fast”, “you are fasting” It doesn't sound like the Jews were unaquainted with regular fasting. It was normal to fast for them. For us we say we're “starving” when we've had two meals and snacks already that day.

I know that fasting was something that was a given for the church. I believe our attempts at fasting, however lame, can only further us along on the path of living sacrifically in this way. That we will get better at whatever it is fasting produces in a person if we just continue to fast in some way. One thing I noticed tonight is that I appreciate my food more than usual. I might even stop complaining about not knowing what to make for dinner...right after I finish this turkey sandwich and chips.