Episcopal Church of Our Savior

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The Rev. Ajung Sojwal Lent 3: Fast and Prayer, Year C, Sunday March 11, 2007 I Corinthians 10:1-13 Last week we meditated on lamentation and grace as part of our Christian spiritual discipline. Today I want us to look at fasting and prayer. I say fasting and prayer because these two must always be looked at in tandem. In traditional Jewish understanding, fasting had two main purposes. The first was to express personal as well as national repentance for sin, it was a form of appeal before God in the face of looming destruction or calamity. For instance, in the book of Esther where she calls for a three day fast of all Jewish people in the land in order to go before the king to avert the oncoming slaughter of her people. Secondly, a fast was to prepare oneself inwardly for receiving strength and grace to undertake a mission in God’s name. For instance the forty-day wilderness fasts of Jesus, Moses, and also Elijah. Whatever the purpose, the ultimate intention was to seek God. The early church took the example of Jesus and practiced fasting and prayer at times when it felt the need for discernment on how God was leading them in their ministry. It is true that at times people have put an unhealthy emphasis on fasting, however when seen and practiced within the proper understanding and motives it can serve as one of our most rewarding spiritual disciplines in leading a holy life. The most obvious understanding of fasting has to do with abstinence from food, and this abstinence does serve as the most recognizable form of fasting. But for fasting and prayer to become a lifelong spiritual discipline for us it has to mean more than just the denial of food for a particular time. When I first came to this country, one of the first things that struck me was the abundance and waste of food. Over time, I began to see that this abundance and waste permeated to every part of our lives. Most things that we take for granted in this country are luxuries for the greater part of the world. And I am not talking only about material things. There is a deeply ingrained sense of entitlement for almost all Americans today, including myself. In fact, to capture the American dream is to realize and own the “I deserve it” attitude. Our culture is definitely propelled by the advertisements that nothing is beyond ones’ reach. The market has an in-depth understanding of this sense of entitlement in us and has successfully manipulated it for great profits and we have allowed ourselves to be seduced by the apparent sense of confidence and fulfillment. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians in today’s passage is basically trying to shake the self-confidence of the Corinthians that they are beyond the temptations of idol worship. He is pointing out to them that they cannot assume that all is well and right between God and them simply because things are going well. The readers of Paul’s letter in all probability saw themselves as spiritual people who had great wisdom and engaged in activities which manifested the signs of spiritual gifts, and quite likely that they took pride in the “blessings” they enjoyed. They could not see the need to withdraw from the festivities of pagan worship because they thought that in Christ God had already saved them and therefore they need not be afraid of falling into the sin of idolatry. However, Paul sees salvation as something focused on an ongoing relationship with God constantly in need of our attention to the fact that we are always in danger of replacing God with idolatry. Just because we have an abundance of things and privileges it does not mean that we have to be feasting all the time. There is always a danger of complacency when we begin to focus on the blessings rather than on God. Because of the abundance, it is even more relevant for people of faith to fast and pray today. Fasting exposes our excessive attachments to worldly things and ideas and all the assumptions that lie behind them. Marjorie J. Thompson a priest in the Presbyterian Church writes that, “We will comprehend little of how we are nourished by Christ until we have emptied ourselves of the kinds of sustenance that keep us content to live at life’s surface.” Paul writes that the Israelites in the desert were miraculously provided with food and water by God, which are equated with spiritual food and drink because they couldn’t help but be aware that only God could provide in such a manner. The idea here is to keep our focus on God as the source of all our sustenance and to be satisfied in Him. However, the Israelites began to take God’s providence for granted and Paul identifies lust as their problem which expressed itself in idolatry, feasting and sexual immorality. To lust is to desire and crave for something beyond what we have and need, as in the case of the Israelites asking for meat even when their bellies were full. On the other hand, to observe a fast is to intentionally withdraw ourselves from our desires and cravings, in order to make room for God to fill our lives. So fasting should mean for us a withdrawal from anything that replaces God in our lives. We cannot presume that we are beyond the seductions of the world just because we consider ourselves saved by Christ. We also cannot presume that we will remain faithful without an intentional withdrawal or fasting from all that captures our attention and longings. To fast is to put a limit or boundary to our insatiable appetites for material things, good food, human appreciation, fame, status and worldly knowledge. God gives all these things to us, but we attribute far more importance and power to them than God intended us to. And they are certainly not meant to replace God ever. The original and most basic expression of a fast was to abstain from food. However, in our culture of constant consumption of not only food but also everything else, fasting needs to be looked at in terms of its inner essence, which is abstinence. Abstinence here should not be understood only in terms of alcohol and sex, but rather to consider it in relation to our very abundant and addictive lifestyle. The point of abstinence here is not so much the suppression of enjoyment in life, rather it is to learn what it means to have the right attitude toward God’s gifts in life. The discipline of fasting and prayer expressed in abstaining from food, as well as other things in life periodically or even better, to get into a discipline of putting limits to our desires daily will hopefully lead us closer to God. We need that spiritual discipline of fasting from our consumerism because we have allowed things like food, money, sex, human recognition, technology and many other things to fill emotional and spiritual voids. Fasting is therefore seen as an inconvenience undertaken in an otherwise abundant life to somehow please God. Fasting and prayer should and must always symbolize the real hunger and desire we have for God, it should become the discipline through which God gains entry into our lives to redirect our attention and desire toward his redeeming presence. At the heart of fasting and prayer is the intention to give up anything that comes between God and us. It could be the very harmless, almost virtuous habit of immersing ourselves in literature, it could be our involuntary indulgence in the various forms of media, maybe we have began to believe that work is the sustaining power behind our lives, anything that draws us away from being in relationship with God needs to be looked at as something we should be fasting from. And like I mentioned earlier genuine fasting cannot happen without soul searching prayers, prayers that express our repentance from a life of self dependence and indulgence, prayers that express our deepest longing for God to fill us completely. A prayerful fast prepares us for the wonderful spiritual experience of feasting on God’s everlasting love and faithfulness. Such nourishment of our souls should automatically result in producing the fruits of the spirit, which are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, kindness and self-control. May this Lent kindle in us the desire to fast from things that have managed to take control of our lives, and may God teach us to be satisfied with the spiritual food and drink offered to us in Christ alone.

The Rev. Ajung Sojwal

Lent 3: Fast and Prayer, Year C, Sunday March 11, 2007
I Corinthians 10:1-13

Last week we meditated on lamentation and grace as part of our Christian spiritual discipline. Today I want us to look at fasting and prayer. I say fasting and prayer because these two must always be looked at in tandem. In traditional Jewish understanding, fasting had two main purposes. The first was to express personal as well as national repentance for sin, it was a form of appeal before God in the face of looming destruction or calamity. For instance, in the book of Esther where she calls for a three day fast of all Jewish people in the land in order to go before the king to avert the oncoming slaughter of her people. Secondly, a fast was to prepare oneself inwardly for receiving strength and grace to undertake a mission in God’s name. For instance the forty-day wilderness fasts of Jesus, Moses, and also Elijah. Whatever the purpose, the ultimate intention was to seek God. The early church took the example of Jesus and practiced fasting and prayer at times when it felt the need for discernment on how God was leading them in their ministry. It is true that at times people have put an unhealthy emphasis on fasting, however when seen and practiced within the proper understanding and motives it can serve as one of our most rewarding spiritual disciplines in leading a holy life.

The most obvious understanding of fasting has to do with abstinence from food, and this abstinence does serve as the most recognizable form of fasting. But for fasting and prayer to become a lifelong spiritual discipline for us it has to mean more than just the denial of food for a particular time.

When I first came to this country, one of the first things that struck me was the abundance and waste of food. Over time, I began to see that this abundance and waste permeated to every part of our lives. Most things that we take for granted in this country are luxuries for the greater part of the world. And I am not talking only about material things. There is a deeply ingrained sense of entitlement for almost all Americans today, including myself. In fact, to capture the American dream is to realize and own the “I deserve it” attitude. Our culture is definitely propelled by the advertisements that nothing is beyond ones’ reach. The market has an in-depth understanding of this sense of entitlement in us and has successfully manipulated it for great profits and we have allowed ourselves to be seduced by the apparent sense of confidence and fulfillment.

Paul in his letter to the Corinthians in today’s passage is basically trying to shake the self-confidence of the Corinthians that they are beyond the temptations of idol worship. He is pointing out to them that they cannot assume that all is well and right between God and them simply because things are going well. The readers of Paul’s letter in all probability saw themselves as spiritual people who had great wisdom and engaged in activities which manifested the signs of spiritual gifts, and quite likely that they took pride in the “blessings” they enjoyed. They could not see the need to withdraw from the festivities of pagan worship because they thought that in Christ God had already saved them and therefore they need not be afraid of falling into the sin of idolatry. However, Paul sees salvation as something focused on an ongoing relationship with God constantly in need of our attention to the fact that we are always in danger of replacing God with idolatry.

Just because we have an abundance of things and privileges it does not mean that we have to be feasting all the time. There is always a danger of complacency when we begin to focus on the blessings rather than on God. Because of the abundance, it is even more relevant for people of faith to fast and pray today. Fasting exposes our excessive attachments to worldly things and ideas and all the assumptions that lie behind them. Marjorie J. Thompson a priest in the Presbyterian Church writes that, “We will comprehend little of how we are nourished by Christ until we have emptied ourselves of the kinds of sustenance that keep us content to live at life’s surface.”

Paul writes that the Israelites in the desert were miraculously provided with food and water by God, which are equated with spiritual food and drink because they couldn’t help but be aware that only God could provide in such a manner. The idea here is to keep our focus on God as the source of all our sustenance and to be satisfied in Him. However, the Israelites began to take God’s providence for granted and Paul identifies lust as their problem which expressed itself in idolatry, feasting and sexual immorality.

To lust is to desire and crave for something beyond what we have and need, as in the case of the Israelites asking for meat even when their bellies were full. On the other hand, to observe a fast is to intentionally withdraw ourselves from our desires and cravings, in order to make room for God to fill our lives. So fasting should mean for us a withdrawal from anything that replaces God in our lives. We cannot presume that we are beyond the seductions of the world just because we consider ourselves saved by Christ. We also cannot presume that we will remain faithful without an intentional withdrawal or fasting from all that captures our attention and longings.

To fast is to put a limit or boundary to our insatiable appetites for material things, good food, human appreciation, fame, status and worldly knowledge. God gives all these things to us, but we attribute far more importance and power to them than God intended us to. And they are certainly not meant to replace God ever. The original and most basic expression of a fast was to abstain from food. However, in our culture of constant consumption of not only food but also everything else, fasting needs to be looked at in terms of its inner essence, which is abstinence. Abstinence here should not be understood only in terms of alcohol and sex, but rather to consider it in relation to our very abundant and addictive lifestyle. The point of abstinence here is not so much the suppression of enjoyment in life, rather it is to learn what it means to have the right attitude toward God’s gifts in life. The discipline of fasting and prayer expressed in abstaining from food, as well as other things in life periodically or even better, to get into a discipline of putting limits to our desires daily will hopefully lead us closer to God.

We need that spiritual discipline of fasting from our consumerism because we have allowed things like food, money, sex, human recognition, technology and many other things to fill emotional and spiritual voids. Fasting is therefore seen as an inconvenience undertaken in an otherwise abundant life to somehow please God. Fasting and prayer should and must always symbolize the real hunger and desire we have for God, it should become the discipline through which God gains entry into our lives to redirect our attention and desire toward his redeeming presence. At the heart of fasting and prayer is the intention to give up anything that comes between God and us. It could be the very harmless, almost virtuous habit of immersing ourselves in literature, it could be our involuntary indulgence in the various forms of media, maybe we have began to believe that work is the sustaining power behind our lives, anything that draws us away from being in relationship with God needs to be looked at as something we should be fasting from.

And like I mentioned earlier genuine fasting cannot happen without soul searching prayers, prayers that express our repentance from a life of self dependence and indulgence, prayers that express our deepest longing for God to fill us completely. A prayerful fast prepares us for the wonderful spiritual experience of feasting on God’s everlasting love and faithfulness. Such nourishment of our souls should automatically result in producing the fruits of the spirit, which are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, kindness and self-control.

May this Lent kindle in us the desire to fast from things that have managed to take control of our lives, and may God teach us to be satisfied with the spiritual food and drink offered to us in Christ alone.