The Sixth Sunday in Lent (AKA Palm Sunday): We Fast by Living Selflessly

The last Sunday of Lent is also Palm Sunday. We will continue our theme of studying fasting according to Isaiah 58. As a recap, we have learned several key aspects of fasting:

1) Fasting is not all about us. 

2) We fast to help the oppressed and resist injustice. 

3) We fast to feed others.

4) We fast from negative words

5) We fast by observing the Sabbath.

Our final key aspect of fasting is to live selflessly. 

Isaiah 58: 13 commands us to keep the Sabbath by living selflessly. More specifically, we should "honor it by not going my own way", "honor it by not doing as I please", and "honor it by not speaking idle words". 

In a way, this last point ties the others together. In the midst of fasting, we have the Sabbath day, as a day of celebration, where we do not fast. Yet even in our celebration, we still are not to live selfishly, because just like fasting is not all about us, keeping the Sabbath is not all about us either. 

When we choose not to do as we please or go our own way, we are able to do good to others on both fast days and feast days. For instance, if we fast from chocolate during the week, we can enjoy a bit of fair trade chocolate on the Sabbath as we stand against oppression and injustice in our purchases. Or if we celebrate the Sabbath with a restaurant-cooked meal, we can be sure to tip well so our server can also feed themselves. (Even if we order carry-out in the pandemic, living selflessly involves tipping those who are working in a pandemic for our convenience).

Furthermore, we choose our words with care on Sabbaths and workdays alike. We fast from negative and idle words during the week, so we are better able to choose encouraging words to speak on the Sabbath (and non-Sabbaths alike). 

Our culture doesn't like being denied anything, whether it's internal (self-denial) or external (shortages or expensive). Our culture does not like discipline or suffering. It boggles the mind in our culture to deny ourselves food, luxuries, or well pretty much anything. 

Yet, we, as Christians, follow Christ, the suffering servant. We follow a Savior who entered Jerusalem on this Palm Sunday, knowing that the cries of "hosanna" would become calls to crucify him. He knew He would suffer and die, before being raised from the dead, and Jesus did not shy away from the pain set before Him. As Hebrews 12:12 reminds us, Jesus endured the cross because of the joy set before Him. This ultimate example of selflessness is our example and our model. 

And so we fast, in order to live more selflessly, so when we observe the Sabbath and feast, we still live differently from the world as the way we shop, give, and care for others lies in sharp contrast to the world's ways. 

Celebrating Life on the Feast of the Annunciation

Today's holiday may be unfamiliar to many of us in the Protestant tradition, but it has a long history. 

The short version: we celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25th, so we celebrate Jesus' conception 9 months before that on March 25th. 

Ways to Celebrate

Read Luke 1:26-56 today. Consider what you can do to also be the Lord's servant. (Finding ways to care for those pushed to the margins of society such as the orphans, widows, strangers, etc. is always in line with Scripture)

Perform an act of love for a pregnant lady in your life. Give a gift or make/buy a meal or offer to do some of her housework (only if she's comfortable with a guest in her house during a pandemic). (The blogger with this idea had many other ideas as well)

Feast. Even though this day is pretty solidly in the Lenten season of fasting, a feast day supersedes a fast day. (The blogger with this idea had many other ideas as well). Apparently, waffles are a traditional food on this day, thanks to a similarity between "our lady's day" and "waffle day" in the Swedish language. Other ideas include seed cakes or angel food cakes and other treats.

Both bloggers (links above) mentioned that blue is the color traditionally associated with Mary, so wear some blue. 

This is a day to reflect on the value of the human life and ways we can be FULLY pro-life. Many people who claim the description of being "pro-life" are in essence, really just "anti-abortion". To be pro-life involves more than voting for politicians who say they will outlaw abortions. If we are pro-life, than let us be pro-life from "womb to tomb":

• Let us support and lend a helping hand to single moms (who chose life). 
• Let us encourage and reassure moms who give their babies up for adoption (they still chose life)
• Let us support and find ways to bless foster moms and adoptive moms (who are caring for these lives)
• Let us treat people with dignity and respect (even when we think that they are wrong) and teach our kids to do the same. 
• Let us work towards raising men, women, and children above the poverty line, so preventable deaths from malnutrition or starvation will not occur. 
• Let us advocate for an end to the death penalty as we promote ways to rehabilitate prisoners and criminals so they can still contribute to society, even if their crime will prevent them from earning parole or release from prison. 
• Let us take care of and treat the people who are without homes compassionately and humanely. Look them in the eye. Talk to them. Help them.
• Let us promote peacemaking and negotiations to end conflicts instead of depending on bullets and bombs to "keep the peace". 
• Let us advocate for spending less on the military and the global arms race, so we can instead spend on nutrition & educational programs for rich and poor alike. 
• Let us promote ways for the elderly in retirement communities and nursing homes to still find meaningful ways to contribute.
• Let us listen to why people are wanting to be euthanized and look for ways to address those root causes so other options are available to them.
• Let us support suicide prevention and normalize mental health care as much as physical health care, so lives will not be cut short.
• Let us support refugee resettlement programs. Volunteer with them or donate supplies needed to start a new life. 
• Let us look at ways to improve our diets and exercise habits, to reduce our chronic, yet preventable diseases which lower our quality of life. 

To be pro-life, we must be FOR something positive more than we are AGAINST something negative. 

Examine which of these ideas you are resistant to and consider why you are resistant to them. 

Our human tendency is to discount human life. We treat people as resources or obstacles instead of people made in the image of God. 

Prayerfully consider how you can act more holistically, more fully pro-life this week, month, year, and beyond. 

The Fifth Sunday in Lent: We Fast by Observing the Sabbath

We have been looking at fasting according to Isaiah 58 this Lent. So far, we have learned several truths:

1) Fasting is not all about us. 

2) We fast to help the oppressed and resist injustice. 

3) We fast to feed others.

4) We fast from negative words

Yet, fasting also involves observing the Sabbath.

There are entire books devoted to the subject of keeping the Sabbath, so as one might expect, this post will not be as detailed as those. 

 Isaiah 58:13 tell us that we should:

-keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath

-keep yourself from doing as you please on my holy day

-call the Sabbath a delight

-call the Lord's day honorable

First and foremost, the Sabbath is a day of rest. If we choose to catch up on chores, we are breaking the Sabbath. (There are people with jobs that require them to work on Sunday & this is not to criticize or shame them. If required to work on a Sunday, choose another day as your Sabbath. If you must work 7 days a week, set aside time each day for mini-sabbaths). 

Secondly, the Sabbath is not a day for focusing on ourselves and our desires. We worship God on the Sabbath. It is not about us on this day, it's about Him. If we just focus on ourselves and do as we please on the Sabbath, then we are going against God's commands here. 

Thirdly, the Sabbath should be a delight. Reserve special books, foods, or activities for Sundays. Make it a special, relaxed, and enjoyable day. Get out in nature & marvel at God's creation. Curl up with a fairy tale that points you toward God as you sip a cup of tea. Post-pandemic, invite someone over & catch up as you cook a meal together & then eat it. (Where did we get the idea that all the food should be ready when the guest arrives?) As we hold both the previous instruction (not making the Sabbath all about us & our pleasures) together with this instruction, let us consider ways make the Sabbath a delight, not just for us & our families, but also those we interact with. Tip the standard 15% throughout the week, but consider tipping 20% on Sundays. Bake some cookies and then share them with a neighbor. 

Fourthly, we are to "call the Lord's day honorable". As I typed this, I realized that I wasn't quite sure what that phrasing meant exactly, so I skimmed through to see how the various English translations phrased it. Alternatively, we are told to "honor the Sabbath in everything we do on that day" or "honor it by not traveling, working, or talking idly" or "call the holy of God honorable (or glorious and glorify Him) or "consecrate it as glorious to the Lord". We are to "treat it with respect". This just isn't a day off. Christians and non-Christians alike have days off. This is a holy day where we worship and glorify God. We remember that WE are not keeping the world going, because we stop & rest once a week as life goes on. 

Disclaimers:

1) Friday night to Saturday night or all day Sunday? Yes. Again, there are plenty of debates about this online and in books. If you feel one day is more biblically accurate to observe the Sabbath, make that day your Sabbath. If you feel all days are the same & there isn't a special or specific day for Sabbaths, then choose a day & rest every 7th day from that. See Romans 14 (verse 5 specifically) for Paul's teaching on this matter.

2) It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath (See Matthew 12:12, Mark 3:4, and Luke 6:9) We should not use the Sabbath as an excuse not to help people. We can set boundaries & normally abstain from work on the Sabbath, but we can also recognize that there as exceptions to this rule as emergencies do arise even on the Sabbath.

3) The Sabbath was made for us, not the other way around (See Mark 2:27). The Sabbath was not meant to be a burden and a stressor as we attempt to keep it perfectly. It was created so we would have a day of rest and rejuvenation each week as we worship God. This will look different for each person. Resting for me might involve reading a book; whereas that might be work for a professional editor. Resting might be cooking an elaborate meal for someone too busy to cook during the week, but the chef might rest by going on a walk. 

How can you keep the Sabbath, during Lent and beyond?

The Fourth Sunday in Lent: We Fast from Negative Words

To sum up the previous weeks: Fasting is not all about us. We fast to help the oppressed and resist injustice. We fast to feed others. Yet, this is only a partial glimpse of the fasting in Isaiah 58. We are also called to watch what we say.

We see in verses 9 and 10 that we are called to "do away with the pointing finger" and to "do away with malicious talk". 

What does it look like to fast from blaming others and speaking maliciously? In a nutshell, if we are about to say something negative or rude; we choose to say nothing at all instead of spewing soul-crushing words.

When we fast from "the pointing finger", we stop blaming others for our own issues. We take responsibility for how we have contributed to the problem. We do not speak disparagingly of others. We should not accuse people falsely or falsely ascribe motives to people. We see their actions, but we should be wary of assigning a motivation to them without asking them about it. We should not scorn the oppressed or the godly. 

When we fast from "malicious talk", we stop speaking unjustly, sinfully, or evilly. We avoid speaking cruelly or vainly. We choose words that are beneficial for others to hear. We speak in a way that people are profited when they listen. We refrain from saying bad things about people. We do not accuse people of poor action or assign nefarious motives to their actions we disagree with. We choose not to slander people.  We choose to speak helpful things instead of harmful words. We speak of righteous and good things instead of unrighteous and negative things. 

When we make assumptions about people and tell those assumptions to others, we are pointing our finger and speaking maliciously. When we use our words to complain, tear down, or criticize, we are not following God's instructions in Isaiah 58. 

We are living in the age of blame and malicious talk. This is coming from all generations and throughout the political spectrum. Sadly, when this is mentioned in the Church, we are quick to cry "Yes, but they!!!!" instead of looking for the plank in our own eye. Let us seek the Spirit's guidance in applying this to ourselves before we start to worry about our neighbor's obedience. 

A Discipline related to this theme is Silence. If we cannot speak in such a way that points people to God, let us be silent. If our speaking would muddy the air with complaints and criticisms, let us be silent. If we cannot improve the silence and edify those we are talking with, let us be silent. Or as our mothers taught us, if we cannot say anything nice, don't say anything at all. 

Far too often, we claim "freedom of speech" as a reason to say hurtful things. We wrap gossip in the guise of a prayer request. We speak cruelly and then accuse others of being too sensitive. This is not the way that things should be in the Church. 

Once we have space in our dialogues and conversations by refraining from saying the negative and cruel words, we can work on filling those silences with good, wholesome, and uplifting words. 

Let us speak words of encouragement instead of discouragement. 

Let us speak of what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy.

Let us speak from a place of grief and sadness at the injustices and brokenness of our world, instead of speaking from a place of anger and judgment.

Let us put aside contempt as we take up compassion for our opponents. 

As we choose our words with care this Lenten season, may we find that when we abstain from negative words, we instead speak more positive words into our community and world. 

The Third Sunday in Lent: We Fast to Share with People in Need

Fasting is not all about us. When we fast, God wants us to actively help the oppressed and resist injustice. Yet, this is only a partial glimpse of the fasting in Isaiah 58. Fasting is also about feeding others.

We see in verses 6 and 7 that we should "share our food with the hungry", "provide the poor wanderer with shelter", "clothe the naked", and "not turn away from people". Verses 9 and 10 go on to tell us that we should "spend ourselves in behalf of the hungry". 

People who are hungry.

People who are naked.

People who are homeless. 

(I don't think that we realize how using an adjective as a noun can be a hurtful descriptor to the person it describes. When we call someone "the disabled" instead of "the disabled person" or even better "the person who is disabled", we are maximizing their difference and minimizing their humanity. It takes intentionality to choose a lengthier way of describing people, but when the longer phrases acknowledges a person's humanity and personhood, it is worth the extra time to say). 

As we are fasting from food, we have extra food in our cupboards and extra money in our bank accounts. Fasting isn't a way to build our fortunes and save money. It's a way to transfer money that we normally spend on ourselves and shift it to spending money on others.

The great tragedy of our civilization is that we simultaneously have people dying from the consequences of eating too much food, even while we have people dying as a result of having too little food. We have people in ragged clothes that are falling apart, even as our closets are stuffed to the point of overflowing. We have people without homes freezing to death on the streets, even while our guest bedrooms go unoccupied. And the worst part of all? We look at this disparity and are not moved with compassion. We spout a line about the undeserving poor and move on with our lives. 

But what if...we made meal kits to give out to the people holding signs at the intersections? 

What if we collected clothes and blankets in our church buildings to give away for free to those who need clothes? 

What if we knew the names and locations of shelters that we could refer people to? 

What if we arranged vouchers with a simple motel that a person down on their luck could present to stay for a few days? 

What if we learned the names of the people who are asking for help? 

What if we dared to give, not only from our excess, castoffs, and unwanted surplus, but also from our treasures, essential supplies, and beyond what society things that a person could reasonably give? 

What if we gave more than that about-to-expire can of cranberry sauce that we forgot to use, but also some of our favorite foods? 

What if we chose to eat less because there are hungry people in our world? 

What if we chose to eat more vegetarian meals because meat takes more resources than vegetables to grow and get to the grocery store? 

What if we opened our spare rooms to foster children, foreign exchange students, and international students (post-pandemic of course)? 

What if we prayed for our hearts to be moved with compassion toward our fellow people and for hearts to break over the brokenness hurting people? 

What if we realized that in God's economy, we are the undeserving poor, but He poured out His compassion, mercy, and grace abundantly.

What if we realized that any blessings and comforts (above and beyond the minimum we need to survive) were given to us, not so that we could be more comfortable, but so that we could bless others around us and around the world? 

What if we used our fasting to feed the hungry and provide for those unable to provide for themselves? 

We have isolated ourselves from the poor and needy, as we retreat into our comfortable neighborhoods. Yet, we aren't commanded in Scripture to give to the food bank that feeds the poor; we are commanded to share our food with people who are hungry. (It is good to give to the food bank who can reach people you can't, but if we stop there, we aren't fully obeying what is commanded.) It is messy. It is hard. It will leave us undone and hurting over the state of things. Yet, we will learn that more than being the "body of Christ", we are actually also serving Christ. We will see that as we help people in need, we are able to learn from them as well, provided that we are willing to humble ourselves and approach as a student. 

What do you have to share with a person in need? How can you share it personally?