We're almost halfway through! Praise God for all that God has done. Even if you haven't felt anything but crabby from lack of caffeine or annoyed by missing your favorite treats, God is working in you and God will honor your gift of love.
I looked out my bedroom window today and was so excited to see small green leaves and tiny white flowers on the tree outside. It seems like overnight the trees went from barren to buds to beginning flowers. All day, when I drove by flowering trees or bushes I was struck by the sudden beauty that is breaking out all around.
The flowering trees reminded me of how often I live in the future, my mind always running one or two steps ahead (or one or two thousand steps ahead!) of where I am and what I'm doing. At a meeting yesterday, several of the people who shared parts of their journey mentioned their desire to live in the present and concentrate of what God has for them right here, right now.
And isn't this the gift of fasting - the gift of being fully present and in the moment? When our stomach growl, when we intentionally choose or decline a specific food, when we shop with care at the grocery store, we are being fully present. Fasting takes us out of autopilot, when it's so easy to run ahead of ourselves, and back into what is happening in the moment.
1 Samuel 14:24-30 contains a little known story about fasting that highlights the challenge and the gift of living in the moment. When the army of Israel, who is tired and hungry, enters the forest and finds the honey all over the ground, they must have been famished. They wanted to eat. But they were preparing for a large battle, and the admonition to fast was to prepare them for what lay ahead. But I also think that the admonition to fast was a way to ensure that the army lived in the moment. When they were fasting, they were thinking about how to avoid the lure of food. Their minds were occupied by what they faced right there and right then. If they weren't fasting, the soldiers minds would have raced to what they might face - anxiety, fear, unearned bravado or doubt may have taken hold of their mind.
When the army fasted, they didn't worry about what was to come. They focused on what was already here. Jesus said, "Do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself" (Matthew 6:34). Live here, live now. Focus on what I am calling you to at this present time. May we claim these words of instruction and blessing right here and right now, in the moment.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Daniel Fast - Day 9
Dear friends,
How is the fast going after the first week? I’ve heard from some of you who had to modify or break the fast for health concerns – that’s okay! This type of fasting is not for everyone or every body type. God honors the effort and attention that we all give to focusing on God during this season of fasting, whether it’s one or three weeks.
Yesterday it was so good to catch up with many of you and hear how the week was going. You are becoming creative cooks! The first week is usually the worst. The second week, we have found that we fall into a rhythm of eating and praying. We are more attentive to what God is doing in our lives and how we are drawn closer to the Divine. This is often the best week. I pray that it is for each of you.
May God continue to bless us as we travel together on this journey of fasting, prayer, focus and connection to Christ.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Daniel Fast - Day 6
Tonight, I have my first chance to play the “hospitality card” on the fast. I’m going to a friend’s 40th birthday party, and I know that there will be many fast un-friendly foods there. I’ll plan ahead of course: I’ll eat a good dinner, I’ll take a snack for the long ride, I’ll drink lots of water. But once I’m there and the birthday cake comes out, my resolve is likely to melt.
The temptation to go off of the fast and use the justified “hospitality” card is very strong. That temptation led me to another example of fasting in the Bible – Jesus’ temptation in the desert in Luke 4. Immediately after his baptism, Jesus is driven into the desert where he fasts and prays for 40 days. This fast was a total abstinence from food. When the Temptor came to him at the end of those seven weeks without food, Jesus had to be beyond hungry. He must have been famished, weakened, gaunt. Turning a stone into a loaf of bread would have been an easy miracle and one that was totally justifiable.
In the face of such temptation, Jesus remains firm. “One does not live by bread alone,” he responds. His response to the temptation to meet his physical hunger is to point to the nourishment and sustenance that we receive when we fill ourselves with God’s Spirit – a Spirit that sometimes can only be accessed when we clear the clutter from our lives and make room for the Holy to dwell.
This Daniel Fast, what are you tempted by? How are you tempted to meet your deep spiritual hunger with food, TV, internet, or something else? This weekend, what temptation will you ask Jesus to strengthen you toward as you make a place for the Holy not only to live but to move in your heart and into our world?
Thursday, April 07, 2011
Daniel Fast - Day 5
The difference between our needs and our wants as related to fasting seemed to hit a nerve! That constant struggle to identify and balance the two - not just with food but with our material goods, our time, our relationships and so much more - is a universal to the human condition.
Reflecting further on that theme led me to Jonah 3. Jonah is spit out of the big fish, goes to Ninevah and does what God told him to do the first time around: he proclaims that God will destroy the city because of their wickedness. Instead of falling prey to the human instinct for self-preservation and destroying Jonah, the messenger, they listened to the message. They immediately repented of their evil and wicked ways, from the king to the lowest peasant, and started a fast of penance, of purification, and of repentance.
This short chapter is filled with very powerful and swift imagery and words. When the Ninevites were confronted with their sin, they gave up all food as a first sign of sorrow and seeking forgiveness. They abstained from eating as a visible sign of their regret and their desire to leave behind their old ways and take up new ways. Because once you've been sitting in an ash heap, wearing scratchy, rough sackcloth and fasting from all food, you don't slip back into your old ways easily. The physical acts of contrition and repentance can enact a spiritual change. The cleansing that takes place goes beyond the physical and moves into the heart. We join with the Psalmist who says, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me" (Psalm 51).
This Daniel Fast, how are you letting the physical changes you're undertaking also create a spiritual change? What of your "old" way of life will you leave behind when the fast is over? What areas of your life is God calling you to repent of and receive the blessing of forgiveness?
Reflecting further on that theme led me to Jonah 3. Jonah is spit out of the big fish, goes to Ninevah and does what God told him to do the first time around: he proclaims that God will destroy the city because of their wickedness. Instead of falling prey to the human instinct for self-preservation and destroying Jonah, the messenger, they listened to the message. They immediately repented of their evil and wicked ways, from the king to the lowest peasant, and started a fast of penance, of purification, and of repentance.
This short chapter is filled with very powerful and swift imagery and words. When the Ninevites were confronted with their sin, they gave up all food as a first sign of sorrow and seeking forgiveness. They abstained from eating as a visible sign of their regret and their desire to leave behind their old ways and take up new ways. Because once you've been sitting in an ash heap, wearing scratchy, rough sackcloth and fasting from all food, you don't slip back into your old ways easily. The physical acts of contrition and repentance can enact a spiritual change. The cleansing that takes place goes beyond the physical and moves into the heart. We join with the Psalmist who says, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me" (Psalm 51).
This Daniel Fast, how are you letting the physical changes you're undertaking also create a spiritual change? What of your "old" way of life will you leave behind when the fast is over? What areas of your life is God calling you to repent of and receive the blessing of forgiveness?
Wednesday, April 06, 2011
Daniel Fast - Day 4
I want coffee.
Really, really bad.
Today I attended two breakfast meetings - both served coffee. I had lunch in my favorite restaurant - they serve great coffee. I drove past Starbucks not once, or twice but four times today - no lattes. I could pass up the pastries at breakfast, the homemade sandwich rolls at lunch, and the mini-donuts at Starbucks with no problem. But oh, how I've struggled with coffee today!
Today's struggle led me to thinking about needs and wants. I certainly didn't need coffee today, just as most days none of us need caffeinated drinks, sugary desserts, fried foods and processed, prepackaged meals. But we do want them for a variety of reasons, most of them related to convenience, weak resolve, stress, or bad habits we keep.
This reflection led me to Daniel 1. This first chapter of the book of Daniel describes how Daniel and his friends arrived in Babylonia and how they secured their place of honor in the king's court. They did it by fasting. Daniel and his friends were ordered to be served the royal rations - heavy food, particularly meat and wine - during their three-year apprenticeship. Daniel and his friends did not want to defile themselves with this food - most likely it contained food forbidden by God's law, such as pork. So they asked if they could only eat vegetables and drink water.
This passage very clearly points to the difference between our wants and our desires, particularly when they are rooted in God's desire for us and our wants for ourselves. Daniel and his friends were leaders in Israel; they were used to being offered the highest quality and quantity of food and wine. It would have been easy, convenient and in many cases enjoyable to eat the royal rations that were offered in abundance.
However, they chose to avoid what they wanted, what was easy for them, and instead to take on what God needed them to do - remain pure and undefiled, following God's commands. That meant eating a diet that was simple and pure. They initially did it for 10 days to prove to the king's overseers that God would protect and nourish them. After 10 days, they were the healthiest of the bunch and allowed to continue this diet not fro 21 days - but for three years! God blessed them and gave them favor and they were allowed into the king's inner sanctum and given positions of power and authority from which they could protect their people and serve and honor God.
During this Daniel Fast, how is God asking you to choose between the wants and needs in your own life, not with food, but with other aspects that lead to obeying and honoring God? May this time of fasting be a time for you to discern your wants and God's needs in a way that brings you blessing and favor.
Really, really bad.
Today I attended two breakfast meetings - both served coffee. I had lunch in my favorite restaurant - they serve great coffee. I drove past Starbucks not once, or twice but four times today - no lattes. I could pass up the pastries at breakfast, the homemade sandwich rolls at lunch, and the mini-donuts at Starbucks with no problem. But oh, how I've struggled with coffee today!
Today's struggle led me to thinking about needs and wants. I certainly didn't need coffee today, just as most days none of us need caffeinated drinks, sugary desserts, fried foods and processed, prepackaged meals. But we do want them for a variety of reasons, most of them related to convenience, weak resolve, stress, or bad habits we keep.
This reflection led me to Daniel 1. This first chapter of the book of Daniel describes how Daniel and his friends arrived in Babylonia and how they secured their place of honor in the king's court. They did it by fasting. Daniel and his friends were ordered to be served the royal rations - heavy food, particularly meat and wine - during their three-year apprenticeship. Daniel and his friends did not want to defile themselves with this food - most likely it contained food forbidden by God's law, such as pork. So they asked if they could only eat vegetables and drink water.
This passage very clearly points to the difference between our wants and our desires, particularly when they are rooted in God's desire for us and our wants for ourselves. Daniel and his friends were leaders in Israel; they were used to being offered the highest quality and quantity of food and wine. It would have been easy, convenient and in many cases enjoyable to eat the royal rations that were offered in abundance.
However, they chose to avoid what they wanted, what was easy for them, and instead to take on what God needed them to do - remain pure and undefiled, following God's commands. That meant eating a diet that was simple and pure. They initially did it for 10 days to prove to the king's overseers that God would protect and nourish them. After 10 days, they were the healthiest of the bunch and allowed to continue this diet not fro 21 days - but for three years! God blessed them and gave them favor and they were allowed into the king's inner sanctum and given positions of power and authority from which they could protect their people and serve and honor God.
During this Daniel Fast, how is God asking you to choose between the wants and needs in your own life, not with food, but with other aspects that lead to obeying and honoring God? May this time of fasting be a time for you to discern your wants and God's needs in a way that brings you blessing and favor.
Tuesday, April 05, 2011
Daniel Fast - Day 3
For this Daniel Fast, I felt God calling me to explore scriptural teachings and examples of fasting. I hope to offer a different passage each day. I'd love your reflections on or experiences with the passage as we journey together.
Today, I started with the passage about fasting I'm most familiar with and has come up most often when explaining the Daniel Fast. It's Matthew 6:16-18, Jesus' teaching on fasting during the Sermon on the Mount. We read this scripture each year during Ash Wednesday, along with the passages before it relating to almsgiving ("whenever you give alms, do not sound the trumpet before you ... so that your alms may be done in secret") and prayer (whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret"). The teaching on fasting is in the same vein - when you fast, don't look down and dismal but dress normally and act with joy so others do not know you are doing without.
Some folks have asked, "Does this mean that I shouldn't tell anyone I'm fasting?" I don't think Jesus' admonition is to keep your fasting completely in secret. I do think, however, that this teaching is an invitation to explore our motivations for fasting, and giving and prayer. Are we doing these things to bring attention to ourselves? Do we want others to think highly of us? Are we fasting and giving and praying to draw praise for our acts? If that's our motivation, Jesus says, then don't bother. But if our motivation is to seek God, to draw closer to the heart of God and to honor and praise him, then blessed are you.
This Daniel Fast, what's your motivation? Most of us will have more than one: obligation, interest, curiosity, a shedding of our material focus, a desire for improved health, a longing to be closer to God. Today, offer your motivation before God and ask God to cleanse and purify it so your "Father who sees in secret will reward you."
Today, I started with the passage about fasting I'm most familiar with and has come up most often when explaining the Daniel Fast. It's Matthew 6:16-18, Jesus' teaching on fasting during the Sermon on the Mount. We read this scripture each year during Ash Wednesday, along with the passages before it relating to almsgiving ("whenever you give alms, do not sound the trumpet before you ... so that your alms may be done in secret") and prayer (whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret"). The teaching on fasting is in the same vein - when you fast, don't look down and dismal but dress normally and act with joy so others do not know you are doing without.
Some folks have asked, "Does this mean that I shouldn't tell anyone I'm fasting?" I don't think Jesus' admonition is to keep your fasting completely in secret. I do think, however, that this teaching is an invitation to explore our motivations for fasting, and giving and prayer. Are we doing these things to bring attention to ourselves? Do we want others to think highly of us? Are we fasting and giving and praying to draw praise for our acts? If that's our motivation, Jesus says, then don't bother. But if our motivation is to seek God, to draw closer to the heart of God and to honor and praise him, then blessed are you.
This Daniel Fast, what's your motivation? Most of us will have more than one: obligation, interest, curiosity, a shedding of our material focus, a desire for improved health, a longing to be closer to God. Today, offer your motivation before God and ask God to cleanse and purify it so your "Father who sees in secret will reward you."
Monday, April 04, 2011
Daniel Fast - Day 2
Whew - I've hardly been able to keep my eyes open all day.
Welcome to the second full day of the Daniel Fast, perhaps the first full day for some of the folks doing it this time around. Two days of no caffeine is catching up with me. But having completed the fast four previous times, I know that this, too, shall pass and soon, my energy level will be sky high.
As I shopped today for the week's foods and purchased items for both my family who is not fasting and myself, I was struck by the luxury and the bounty we are surrounded by. We are fasting, limiting our food intake so we can become unlimited for God. Yet the Daniel Fast allows so much variety, so much quantity, so many choices that it doesn't feel limiting; quite the opposite, it feels indulgent.
The Daniel Fast times are the ones where I am most keenly aware of the abundance of food in my life and the utter lack of it in so many others. During this fasting time, especially for those of you who are doing it for the first time, I invite you to dwell a bit with that dichotomy. For those of us who are privileged, it's a sobering and painful spot to realize our material largess and others material lack. Stay with that pain and that uncomfortable feeling. How is God using it to speak to you? To reveal something new to you? To teach you?
Peter sent over this link - the Gospel of John in 20 segments. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3wWSMB8xIE&feature=related. I've watched segment one - it's beautiful.
Blessings on your journey!
Wendy
Welcome to the second full day of the Daniel Fast, perhaps the first full day for some of the folks doing it this time around. Two days of no caffeine is catching up with me. But having completed the fast four previous times, I know that this, too, shall pass and soon, my energy level will be sky high.
As I shopped today for the week's foods and purchased items for both my family who is not fasting and myself, I was struck by the luxury and the bounty we are surrounded by. We are fasting, limiting our food intake so we can become unlimited for God. Yet the Daniel Fast allows so much variety, so much quantity, so many choices that it doesn't feel limiting; quite the opposite, it feels indulgent.
The Daniel Fast times are the ones where I am most keenly aware of the abundance of food in my life and the utter lack of it in so many others. During this fasting time, especially for those of you who are doing it for the first time, I invite you to dwell a bit with that dichotomy. For those of us who are privileged, it's a sobering and painful spot to realize our material largess and others material lack. Stay with that pain and that uncomfortable feeling. How is God using it to speak to you? To reveal something new to you? To teach you?
Peter sent over this link - the Gospel of John in 20 segments. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3wWSMB8xIE&feature=related. I've watched segment one - it's beautiful.
Blessings on your journey!
Wendy
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Advent Daniel Fast - Day 16
Hello friends,
As we lead up to the end of our fast, I invite you to consider sharing a brief reflection of your fasting journey with the congregation on Sunday. If you'd like to offer a written reflection or share out loud, please let me know. We're talking about Love, and I'd love to let others hear your experience of it these past three weeks!
"Why is it that Christmas is the time of year when it's hardest to notice what Jesus is doing now? We may see reminders of his birth amid the ornaments and giftwrap, but almost no indication of his ongoing presence. Isn't it odd that the season celebrating his coming almost completely masks what he's actually doing in us and through us right now?" - Marshall Shelley
Leadership Magazine editor in chief
As we lead up to the end of our fast, I invite you to consider sharing a brief reflection of your fasting journey with the congregation on Sunday. If you'd like to offer a written reflection or share out loud, please let me know. We're talking about Love, and I'd love to let others hear your experience of it these past three weeks!
"Why is it that Christmas is the time of year when it's hardest to notice what Jesus is doing now? We may see reminders of his birth amid the ornaments and giftwrap, but almost no indication of his ongoing presence. Isn't it odd that the season celebrating his coming almost completely masks what he's actually doing in us and through us right now?" - Marshall Shelley
Leadership Magazine editor in chief
I loved this quote today when I read it. And it fits so perfectly with what we are doing during the Advent season. Especially as the last weekend before Christmas comes and more parties and festivities are starting, keeping to the fast is very challenging. Yet, fasting is also one of the practices that keeps us very attentive to the presence of God in Jesus Christ. When we make conscious choices about what and how we eat, when we intentionally add in an extra time of prayer, when we read a new book of Scripture, we are paying attention to the work of God in our midst.
The mystery of Jesus is that he is has come, he is here, and he will come again. During this Christmas season, as we spend our time focused on his coming, let's also spend time together as we pray and fast focused on his presence - with us every moment, whether we acknowledge it or not. Praise be to God!
Advent Daniel Fast - Day 15
Thank you, fellow fasters, for your amazing, thoughtful and spirit-filled reflections to the question I posted Friday. Your responses were wonderful meditations for us as we moved through an undoubtedly busy weekend, where your resolve toward the fast may have been tested!
We have such a variety in our fast group this year - several first timers all the way to several who are making their fourth fast journey. No matter how many times you have done the fast, each one will be different. Each time we fast, we are different people with different stressors and needs. God works differently during each experience.
This is my fourth time and it's completely different from the ones before. My first fast was such a spiritual high - I felt connected to God each and every day in deep ways. The second time, I was more relaxed through the process and was able to see God moving beyond me and through the group. The third time, honestly, I was going through the motions. Nothing seemed to connect or click, until the fast ended. I faced a challenge at the end of the fast that I believe the previous three weeks had prepared me for emotionally and spiritually. This time, I have a great sense of joy as we fast together. I'm excited to see how and where the Spirit has been at work and have not seen the deprivations as a burden but as a shared challenge. I don't feel alone in this fast.
As we enter this final week, I invite you to increase your time spent in prayer and reading scripture, even if it's just by five minutes a day. God is blessing us in our journey, and for that we can be thankful!
Thursday, December 09, 2010
Advent Daniel Fast - Day 11
Congratulations, friends! We've made it past the halfway point!
Today, I'd like to offer you the chance to do some of the talking and reflecting - our sharing and reflecting is a two-way street. So I invite you to pray through these questions and answer any of them that you are led to. If you'd like, send me your responses and I will share them (anonymously, unless you give permission to include your name).
1. What has been the most challenging part of the fast?
2. What has been the easiest?
3. What has God shown you or is teaching you so far in the shared experience?
Many blessings!
Wendy
Today, I'd like to offer you the chance to do some of the talking and reflecting - our sharing and reflecting is a two-way street. So I invite you to pray through these questions and answer any of them that you are led to. If you'd like, send me your responses and I will share them (anonymously, unless you give permission to include your name).
1. What has been the most challenging part of the fast?
2. What has been the easiest?
3. What has God shown you or is teaching you so far in the shared experience?
Many blessings!
Wendy
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