It’s that time of year again. Suddenly and without explanation, fast food restaurants are carrying fish on their menus. Depending on where you live, you may see Friday night fish fries popping up all around you. What’s going on?
People are fasting, the most visible sign that Lent has begun. So what is fasting? The basics are not eating something. A narrow fast might be just not eating one food. Leigh explained this last week. A broad fast might include not only food, but even liquids as well.
Catholics will frequently give up something that is either a luxury or bad for you during Lent. When I was growing up, I often gave up chocolate and ate only fish or vegetarian foods, not meat on Fridays. Some people will give up even foods that are good for you for a time. Fasting may be for hours or days at a time.
Fasting is a spiritual practice that you will see in religions as broad as Hinduism to Islam. Of course it has been important to Christianity and Judaism as well.
This year a large part of Ramadan and Lent coincide–a significant overlap of time. Ramadan is a month-long celebration by Muslims focused on the gift of the Quran from God to humanity. According to Brandeis University, “It is the month in which it is believed that the Holy Qur’an was sent down from heaven ‘as a guidance for men and women, a declaration of direction, and a means of salvation.’”
One of the key characteristics of Ramadan is a fast from daybreak to sunset. The fast by all Muslims creates a sense of unity. Brandeis University says, “Fasting is a private act of worship bringing about nearness to God, as well as a form of spiritual discipline and a means to empathize with those less fortunate.” The end of the fast is celebrated at the daily meal after sundown and at the end of Ramadan at Eid al-Fitr. Ramadan also involves greater times devoted to prayer and acts of charity. As soon as Ramadan hit, my Facebook feed filled with advertisements of ways to contribute to charity.
Fasting during Lent is part of spiritual preparation for the celebration of Easter when we commemorate Christ’s death and celebrate his resurrection. Lent also frequently involves increased time set aside for prayer. Lent like other occasions for fasting is associated with repentance and an effort to grow closer to God.
Most examples in the Bible of fasting involve fasting as a part of repentance, where people turn away from their sins and begin a new path. Sackcloth, tearing of clothes, and ashes are often seen as a part of this process. Exactly which of the three varies.
When Elijah told King Ahab of God’s judgment against him and punishment, Ahab “tore his clothes and put sackcloth over his bare flesh; he fasted, lay in the sackcloth” (1 Kings 18). The book of Ezra tells us of a time when God’s people sought God’s support through prayer and fasting. In the book of Daniel, Daniel tells of how in repentance, “I turned to the Lord God to seek an answer by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes” (9:3-4). In the book of Jonah, the people of Nineveh held a fast and put on sackcloth. The King of Nineveh himself put on ashes. From the prophet Joel we are reminded that we should fast a part of turning to God. Joel challenges us to go further by tearing our hearts and not our clothing (2).
When you fast let it be an opportunity to repent. Let the places in your life that need change reveal themselves. Search your hearts. Let your fast draw you closer to God. Look for how you can do better. Ask for God to help you to change. Accept God’s grace and forgiveness for past mistakes. Claim Spirit’s guidance for the future.
Let us repent as a country like the nations of old. See the structural sin that sweeps us up. Seek justice in food production. Choose foods that are less likely to cause suffering to the growers and processors. When farmworkers call for boycotts, join them. You may wish for the old days of pensions, but take advantage of investing being widespread. If you invest, choose companies that don’t cause harm. Be an activist investor where you do own stock. Speak truth to power. Join groups like FCNL to amplify your voice.
Beyond repentance, fasting is thought to be a sign of the fervency of our prayers both making our prayers more intense and a way of demonstrating the intensity of the prayer.
Fasting is sometimes done as a way of developing mastery of the spirit over the body. People fast to build up their wills or to turn themselves over to the spiritual dimension.
Jesus warns us in Matthew 6 that if we are fasting as individuals not to make a show of it to get attention. Fasting is about changing our hearts and minds, not getting affirmation from other people. Jesus says that God will reward us just for fasting, working on our own spiritual discipline.
Muslims and the medical profession have things to teach us about fasting. The Cleveland Clinic offers this recommendation Fasting will be less of a shock to your body if you gradually cut back rather than suddenly stopping all calories. This is significantly less important if you are fasting for hours rather than days.
Keep your sugar intake low as you’re heading into a fast to avoid that sugar crash. Similar advice comes from The Healthy Muslims website. For food choices for the morning meal called Suhoor before the daily fast of Ramadan, recommendations include eating high protein foods, whole grain carbohydrates, healthy fats, fruits and vegetables, and drinking lots of water.
The Cleveland Clinic also says to plan for any medications that need to be taken with food and adapt your fast. Stay hydrated ahead of time or during your fast if the type of fast allows it
Finally, The Cleveland Clinic recommends that you ease out of it. In a similar way, Muslims end their fast with a small meal called an iftar, traditionally dates and water, and then wait some time before beginning the larger evening meal.
Fasting is not for everyone. Special exemptions are made during traditional times of fasting like Lent or Ramadan for reasons of health concerns. If you have struggled with your relationship to food as I have, fasting may not be for you. If you have diabetes, your health comes first. Additionally, a partial fast may be an option to consider. A fast does not have to include all foods to be meaningful.
When you fast, let every time you feel hungry remind you. Remind yourself to pray to God. Remind yourself of the poor to whom hunger is a constant companion. As Leigh taught us about chocolate, we can remember the growers, pickers, and processors that helped make our food. Remember their hard work. Remember that not all are treated fairly.
To Quakers spiritual practices and holidays can seem suspect, but the key is not to avoid them, but to only practice them if they are meaningful to you. They’re only empty rituals if you don’t take them to heart.
The prophet Isaiah warns us against fasting without repentance. If the fruits of our spiritual disciplines are empty then we might as well skip to producing the fruits we are supposed to produce. God doesn’t care about the specifics of our practices, but justice and righteousness matter.
Queries:
- What do you need to repent from?
- When has fasting been meaningful to you?
- How can Lent be an opportunity to change ourselves and our society?
Sources:
https://www.brandeis.edu/spiritual-life/resources/guide-to-observ
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/tips-for-fasting-the-healthy-way
https://thehealthymuslims.com/nutrition/5-healthy-suhoor-must-haves
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