Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. A lot
of people have a long history with Lent, but at my Baptist church, it’s kind of
a new idea. Only in the last ten years or so have our pastors led us to observe
Lent in some way. There are three major spiritual components of Lent: Fasting, prayer,
and giving.
Traditionally, people fast during Lent. When I was
growing up, my Roman Catholic friends always gave up something they liked, such
as chocolate, for the forty days of Lent. I believe many of their families had Lenten
meals, that is, meals without meat. My family never did anything like that.
I gave up something for Lent a few times in the past
couple of years. One year I gave up alcohol and coffee. That was a sacrifice,
especially since it took me three days to quit having morning headaches due to
the absence of caffeine. I gave up swearing one year. Sadly, that did not become
a continuing habit for me.
The times I eschewed alcohol made me really ponder the
purpose of Lenten fasting. Is the purpose spiritual? A matter of mindfulness? A
daily/hourly reminder to seek the Lord in prayer? Or, as it felt, just
mortification of the flesh?
Clearly, I’ve never been good at fasting. The idea of
going hungry—the classic concept of fasting—is simply too abhorrent to me. (I
never said I was all that spiritual, right?) There are other ways to fast besides giving up food or beverages. People can fast from other pleasures such as social media, or entertainment. Apparently, there is a movement for people to give up plastic for Lent. I read a book once where a character gave up pride for Lent.
This year in Texas has been a lengthy exercise in
fasting. Coming off a year of COVID quarantining (which continues ad
infinitum), everyone has fasted from fellowship and restaurant dining. Let me
not be flippant here; the COVID and the quarantining have been a terrible
hardship for far too many people.
This week in Dallas, we’ve had severe winter weather, with the coldest temperatures in decades, snow, and worst of all, massive power outages. I have been spared (to date) from losing electricity, but friends and family and people I don’t even know are really suffering. I have been praying intensively for all of these.
Maybe this is God’s way of making all of us who
believe in Him garner the effects of fasting. When we fast, we are to pray more
frequently and fervently. We are to realize our humility, our utter dependence
on God’s provision. We are to take more notice of the people around us who are
in need and respond as best we can with giving. We are to amp up our gratitude for the blessings we have that often
get overlooked. This has been the case for me, and I hope for you, too.
I’m eager for this imposed, frozen“fasting” period to end,
but I’m hopeful, prayerful, that the after-effects of gratitude, humility, and
concern for others will carry on in me long after the power goes back on.
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