“Joy Together: Fasting” Joel 2: 12-13

One of my absolute favorite classes I ever took as a religion major in college was for three weeks in the month of May and focused on spiritual disciplines. Each day we would be encouraged to try a different spiritual practice - some of which were familiar to us, many of which were not, and then come back together to discuss the practice itself. Many times in that particular class, I felt like I was flying blind, trying practices that were outside of my comfort zone of prayer and scripture reading, but often also feeling deeply connected to God. 

We are now in the second week of our sermon series about different spiritual disciplines - some of which may connect with us, and some of which may not. What makes this particular sermon series a bit different however, is that we are being encouraged to both try out these practices as individuals and as the body of Christ, the Church, together. 

A disciple that we find referred to in scripture quite frequently is fasting. Fasting can be described as giving up, or abstaining from something, for a set period of time for the purpose of prayer. In the Bible we find people fasting for things such as forgiveness. In the Jewish calendar there is a special day set apart for fasting, called the Day of Atonement, where people express the deep sadness in their hearts for the sin in their lives and seek God’s forgiveness together. Fasting was also accompanied with intercessory prayer, or praying on behalf of another person. . We find King David doing this as he plead with God to let his child live. But fasting was also simply part of being the Church. In the book of Acts, fasting as an act of prayer was a normal part of their life together, as the sought to make God’s Kingdom known. Further, in the Gospel of Matthew (Matt 6:17), we find Jesus telling his disciples how to act when they fast, not if they fast. Jesus, too, is assuming that fasting would be a normal part of people’s spiritual lives. 

Fasting, no matter what specific purpose it is undertaken for also ultimately, draws us closer to God. In the passage today for the prophet Joel, there is perhaps a mixture of all of these things, as he directs the people to return their heats to God, and to be met by God’s compassion and faithful love. 

So if fasting has such a rich history, why is not a more practiced discipline? Because we try to avoid it. The great classic author, Richard Foster, noted a few things in his book Celebration of Disciplines. First, fasting has got a bad reputation. That happened a few different ways. In the middle ages, people would practice fasting (incorrectly) as a form of self-punishment. As we noted last week, punishment and discipline are not the same thing. In fact, fasting got linked in a lot of ways with self-flagellation. 

This self-punishment was seen as a way to win over God’s approval. Which is another way we have abused the spiritual discipline of fasting. We have used it to say, ‘well if I fast in this way then God has to give me what I’m asking for.’ We cannot use any spiritual discipline, including fasting, to force God’s will or way. We don’t fast in order to win God’s approval. We cannot force God’s hand. 

We also have bought into the very American lie that if we don’t eat at least three very large meals a day, and snacks in between, then we are going to starve. Or that if we are giving up food then it must be for weight loss, which it most certainly is not for. And perhaps this is linked to a larger desire to have what we want when we want it. For we don’t have to fast just from food. We could fast from TV. Or other electronics. But we fear putting aside the things that we use throughout the day, claiming need over want.

It was in the class on spiritual disciplines that I took in college that I engaged in my first fast. I choose to fast from music. Many of you know that I love music. As I’m sitting in Starbucks working on this sermon there is both music coming from the overhead speaker and classical music echoing through my earbuds. When I travel in the car I listen to music or a book on tape or podcasts. When I work out there is music involved. Work, play, and everything in between involves music for me. So when I decided to fast from music for 24 hours it was not a decision I entered into lightly. For when we fast, we set aside something that we give time and attention to in order to focus on prayer. So for 24 hours, every time that I thought about putting on some music, I would intentionally be drawn into a time of prayer. 

There are lots of ways to fast. Some people fast weekly. Or monthly. Or yearly. Sometimes people fast alone, and other times people are called together for a communal fast, like what youth may do for the 30 Hour Famine or congregations may do at certain times of the year as they seek God’s wisdom or healing. But, however we may fast and whatever we may fast from, it is always linked with a spiritual focus on prayer. As we fast, we create space to listen for God’s voice, to seek what God is up to and ask how we can parter in God’s Kingdom in a powerful way. 

While there are many forms of the particular practice of fasting, I want to draw our attention back to food for just a moment. Once again, scripture doesn’t show us that this is for cleaning or weight loss. Instead, it is the voluntary denial of something (in this case food) for the purpose of prayer and has a spiritual purpose. Sometimes people fasted from all food. Other times they fasted from certain foods. Sometimes they still could have all liquids. Other times they simply had water. We see Jesus fasting for 40 days while he was in the wilderness, preparing for ministry. And Daniel altering his diet in order to fast. Esther had the Jews fast on her behalf before she went before the King asking for her people to be saved. Paul fasted after he met Jesus along the Damascus Road. 

Fast days are a call to a radically different way of living, where we set aside our will and freedom in order to seek God’s Kingdom first and foremost. There is a powerful scripture in Isaiah 58, where the prophet, essentially said that the people were missing the whole point of fasting. It wasn’t about fasting for fasting’s sake, rather about living differently. Being obedient to God and handing our will over to God. 

Brothers and sisters, what would it look like if we, again picked up the spiritual practice of fasting. Now if you have medical reasons not to fast, such as medications that need to be taken with food or dietary restrictions, then what if you fasted from television or music or something else that you find joy in? What if for 12 hours, half of one day sometime in the next week, we each fasted and were in prayer throughout that time seeking God’s vision for us as a faith community? That doesn’t mean that we pray continually for 12 hours, but whenever we find ourselves reaching for that thing that we are fasting from, that we are drawn in an attitude of prayer before our Savior.  Let us, come together, and fast for God’s direction. Amen.