Read this, and fast!
Why fasting should not be an overlooked part of Christian spirituality
In honor of Lent, Friday posts for the next three weeks will attempt a fresh look at three central aspects of spiritual practice: fasting, prayer, and the way of the cross.
I find fasting to be a widely neglected practice in American Christianity. Granted, people aren’t supposed to tell the world when they are fasting. But I almost never hear people talk about this discipline when they aren’t fasting either.
Fasting has been an important discipline for me, and not only because of my obsessive fear of becoming fat. Frequently, my response to sadness, frustration, or even an unwanted e-mail message is to eat. One moment, I’m staring at my computer screen, trying to figure out how to compose a sensitive answer to a difficult e-mail request; a moment later, without even realizing how I got there, I have traveled the 10 feet from my work table to the refrigerator.
My fasts are not heroic. I might finish lunch at 1:00 p.m. and resolve that I will not take anything other than water until 8:00 the next morning. During the nine hours from lunch to bedtime, I might feel two dozen impulses to eat. Each time, I tell myself, “Not now.” Each impulse is a reminder that I should eat to live rather than living to eat. More broadly, my intense awareness of my idolatry of food also sensitizes me to other ways in which comfort, convenience, and personal preference interfere with radical, fully committed discipleship. Richard Foster wrote, “More than any other single discipline, fasting reveals the things that control us.”
Skipping one meal isn’t enough to induce serious hunger, but by evening I usually feel too fatigued for serious intellectual labor. Instead, I take time to pray and reflect on my life direction. Usually, I feel more encouraged when I end the fast than when I began.
John Wesley, founder of the Methodists, practiced fasting weekly (or twice a week in his younger years) and expected the same of anyone he ordained, but he also cautioned not to place fasting above health. I chuckle when people say they will give up chocolate or even texting for Lent, but such practices are not inconsistent with Wesley’s option of giving up “pleasant foods” for a day rather than all food.
My fasting experience also helps me at those rare times when food is not available. On summer camping trips, we often have limited food choices, or occasionally my work schedule has left no time to eat during the day. On those occasions, I remember that I can miss a meal, or go without ice cream for a week, and nothing bad will happen.
If you haven’t fasted recently, ask yourself why not.
Fasting helps politicians too. Just ask Cory Booker
Coincidentally, as I was writing this post, an historic event in US politics took place this week and fasting played a big role in it. Cory Booker delivered the longest speech in US Senate history on March 31 and April 1, speaking for 25 hours without interruption—not even a bathroom break—to protest President Trump’s policies.
Under Senate rules, Booker could speak as long as he wanted, provided that he did not leave the Senate chamber. To avoid needing a bathroom stop, Booker said that he stopped eating three days in advance and stopped drinking the day before he took the floor.
Booker, age 56, credited faith and prayer for helping him complete his feat of longevity. A former college athlete, he took inspiration from a Bible verse favored by track stars: “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength … they will run and not grow weary” (Isaiah 40:31).