Glen Avon Presbyterian Church

“Not So Fast to Fast!"

Rev. Lon Weaver

As Lent approaches with the arrival of Ash Wednesday ( February 22nd), we again turn to spiritual life-assessment. It has been a part of the church's history to see Lent as a time of special reflection stimulated by changing a significant element of our everyday lives. One of the things commonly chosen is our diet. Thus, people frequently choose a food item which they will "give up for Lent", chocolate perhaps the most popular of them (to the dismay of the Hershey Corporation). As tempting as this may be to do, we are a bit too hasty in doing so if we seek to follow the counsels of scriptures.

Isaiah 58 is particularly helpful on this topic. First, the people of God express confusion about the failure of their fasting:

"Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you

do not notice?" (58:3a)

But then, God admonishes the people not to fast as a mere spiritual practice:

"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. Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?" (58:3b-5)

To this series of questions, the surprising but correct answer is "No!" God is repulsed by spiritual escapism and spiritual hypocrisy. "Pious" spiritual show is a counterfeit substitute for deep faithfulness. Thus, we are "schooled" in the verses to follow regarding the truly faithful paths of fasting:

"Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and hide yourself from your own kin? Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the LORD shall be your read guard."

(58:6-8)

Thus, Lent is house-ordering time. Lent is a period to reflect on our miserly response to the crying needs of the world, our regular tendency to turn away from human need, and our perpetual desire to let others carry the load of bearing compassion to the world. It's a serious time: a time when we can choose a faithfulness spelling the down of divine light in the lives of the suffering, or a time when our neglect means the decent of hopelessness to those around us.

This Lent, let's choose the right fast in which healing ministry sparks the sunrise of joy on the horizon of each morning. Amen.