A Lenten Reflection – What are you giving up for lent?
“What are you giving up for Lent?” is a frequently asked question during these forty days of preparation leading up to Easter. Some people give up chocolate. Some give up ice cream. Others give up caffeine. The language of “giving up” something is another way of saying that we are fasting from something. Fasting as a spiritual discipline has been around for thousands of years in Judaism and Christianity and is found across many of the world’s religions. It is voluntarily going without food — or any other regularly enjoyed, good gift from God — for the sake of some spiritual purpose. It is markedly counter-cultural in our materialistic, pleasure seeking society that tells us we should have as much as we want, whenever we want. Instead of indulging ourselves we deny ourselves so that we can direct our hearts and minds toward God.
Fasting can take many forms. We can abstain from eating food or refrain from eating certain types of food for a certain period of time. We can put down our smartphones for a certain amount of time each day and mute it. We could log off from social media for a certain time each day or for the entire season of Lent and not check Facebook, Twitter or TikTok. This Lent I am fasting from purchasing Starbucks (or Dunkin etc) while I am out and about and intend to take what I would normally spend on those coffee indulgences and gift them to the mission efforts of St. Matthews.
David Mathis says, “Fasting isn’t merely an act of self-deprivation, but a spiritual discipline for seeking more of God’s fullness.” Therefore we should have a plan to undertake a more spiritual pursuit in the time it normally takes to eat, check our phones or scroll TikTok. One of the primary benefits of fasting is the time and space in our lives that it creates for prayer and meditation on the scriptures or for undertaking some act of love for others. A fast should have a specific spiritual purpose. Identify what that is and design a focus to replace the time you would have spent eating or scrolling Instagram on your phone. Without a purpose and plan, it’s not fasting; it’s just giving up something.
The year before we moved up to Pennsylvania, I traveled to a monastery in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado to spend two weeks in silence and contemplative prayer. I knew I would be giving up talking for two weeks which I suspected would be hard for me since I have been talking in church since the age of 3 and haven't really stopped doing so. However, I was unprepared for the loss of cell signal in the high mountain valley that encompassed the monastery. Consequently, in addition to fasting from speech for two weeks I ended up fasting from the internet, social media, streaming music, i Message, and email. For two weeks I could only use my phone for taking pictures as I hiked the valley in between prayer sessions. Instead of being distracted by the stream of constant alerts from my iPhone and using free time to reply to emails and scroll Twitter, I read a book a day from the vast spiritual library of the monastery and journaled about what I was learning from the hours I was spending in contemplative prayer. I filled the time I would have spent looking at my phone with more spiritual pursuits.
As I traveled back to Denver airport for my flight home, my phone started flooding me with alerts when it found a cell signal again. I muted it until I got to the airport and while I waited at the gate I went into the notifications control panel and turned off almost all notifications. I had learned from my fast from the internet and my smartphone that I voluntarily let far too many things distract me from God. I didn’t need those alerts and I could better use the time to be more attentive to God and the people around me. I also started putting my phone on a table or shelf when I get home from work each day.
My fasting from speech taught me that I talk far too much and don’t listen enough - to God and the people around me. During the retreat, I found myself listening for God more and more and I discovered that God was speaking to me and leading me in ways that I had drowned out with words. It’s amazing how much easier it is to hear God when I’m not talking over the Lord who is with me every minute of every day and who longs to guide me. I still have a lot of work to do here and feel the longing to return to the monastery for a fasting from speech.
Fasting can take many forms. Maybe you can’t fast from food because of health reasons. Giving up food is not the only way to fast. Find something that you could give up for a certain period of time each day or maybe for the entirety of Lent and then use that newly freed up time to read the Bible or go for a prayer walk or doing acts of kindness for others.
“There’s something about it that makes sense, Lent. You give something up, and everything’s more joyful.” —Elaine Stritch
Grace and Peace,
Pastor John