The Power Struggle of Fasting

Our church is doing a twenty-one day fast, and we are now in the home stretch. My wife and I gave up dessert, and watching Stephen Colbert’s showcase of his Ben & Jerry’s ice cream a couple of days ago was tempting us to break the fast a few days early. But we have stayed the course.

For us, this fast has been about discerning the new direction God is pushing us in. We have felt the Spirit’s movement the past three years to seek out a new direction for our family in service for his kingdom, and we have struggled to discern how this is supposed to happen.

This year though, we have felt the Spirit tugging at our hearts. This is the year of our change. This fast has been about discerning how that will happen.

Nothing has been answered during the fast.

Zero.

Zilch.

Nothing. It’s still a relentless ambiguity. Praying for discernment has the common feeling now of running into a cinder block wall. I have become used to not discerning any response except to be hopeful.

But hope only last so long. We are human, remember God?

This is the power struggle of fasting we are facing. As we continue in hopefulness and patience, the desire to circumvent discernment and just do something—anything—has become a serious temptation. We just want to make a change in our lives. Stir up the waters. Make something happen.

It’s in that selfish desire that fasting helps. Fasting has offered us no solutions. To the outsider, it appears to have no benefit except weight loss. But for me, the simple, selfless act of giving something up reminds me that I need to give up my power and will as well.

Not my will but yours.

I hate that prayer so much. But I need it.

Not my will but yours.

Praying Toward Anticipation

It’s been a delight so far this Advent to pray using Phyllis Tickle’s Christmastide: Prayers for Advent Through Epiphany. Our little family gathers at night before bedtime and prays through the vespers or compline.

Over the years, as I have been situating myself with fixed hour prayer, I have come to appreciate the way the word of prayer penetrates your soul, so subtly that you do not realize it. Yet day after day, you begin to feel the chorus of the hours, that the cry of anticipation, Even so, come, Lord Jesus!, begins to beat in your soul.

In fasting and prayer, this Advent has been a reminder of anticipation. I never thought I would anticipate the use of oil as I do now for the more relaxed fast days. What a treat to have popcorn with olive oil and Old Bay sprinkled on it over the weekend! It’s been a joyous anticipation, and I am surrounded by signs of God’s providence, mercy and provision.

The Prevalence of Dairy

One of the reasons why I chose to write about recovering the practice of fasting during Advent for Christian Reflection was that I wanted to actually fast during Advent this year. I decided to follow the rules of the Eastern Orthodox Nativity Fast, but I started the fast on the first day of Advent in the Western Christian Calendar, November 28th.

Something I have really noticed already is the prevalence of dairy in my diet. We don’t eat a lot of meat, so we have compensated in our diet with dairy: cheese, butter, milk, eggs. Those things I can go without, but their necessity in many recipes and in so many other foods is something I grossly underestimated, rather naively, I might add.

It started on the first day when my wife asked if I wanted some ice cream and I replied, “Sure! Wait…ummm…dairy…no!” Then I went to the fridge to get something else and noticed the two quarts of yogurt I had bought a few days before the fast started. Not real smart. And it keeps coming…

Apple pie equals butter in the crust. My wife is eating it.
Reese’s Bells have milk in the chocolate.
The brownie I scored lying around on catering trays at the office must have dairy in it. I gave it to my wife.*

I’m learning a lot already during this fast about how expensive our diet is when it includes dairy. I’m a bit humbled by how much God has blessed us with the ability to enjoy omelets, brie, cream cheese on bagels and milk in tea. And I am really hankering for some eggnog on Christmas day!

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*If you’re wondering why my wife is eating all this stuff is because she is excluded since she’s nursing.

Great Advent Resources

Happy second day of Advent!

Before the day begins and my deluge of a post-per-day in Advent comes, I wanted to point toward a few resources for Advent.

First, if you are interested in celebrating Advent as a family dear friend Evan Curry has created an awesome Advent Booklet for use with your family, small group, or church. Read an intro to the booklet on his website and then download the booklet here.

Second, if you need some brushing up on all things Advent, CRI/The Voice has a great intro to the season.

Third, it’s not too late to commit to fasting during Advent. Advent was a time in the Christian year of reflection and fasting much like Lent, but we have lost that sentiment in Western Christianity. My article “The Advent Fast” (with accompanying study guide) recently published in Christian Reflection that would be a great introduction to the practice of fasting during Advent. Also, another excellent Advent fast resource is Advent Conspiracy.

UPDATE: I just found this amazingly free resource from Ann Voskamp of A Holy Experience, A Jesus Advent Celebration Devotional. This would be great to use if you are thinking about making a Jesse Tree with your family this year.

The Advent Fast

Today marks the beginning of the Nativity Fast, a fast held by Eastern Orthodox believers from Nov. 15th until Christmas. Recently, I had the privilege of writing an article entitled “The Advent Fast” for Christian Reflection, a journal published by Baylor University’s Center for Christian Ethics. The editorial team at Christian Reflection also prepared a study guide for my article so that you can use it for small group discussions at your church, school or faith community.

I would appreciate feedback on the article or the study guide.

On Everyday Liturgy I will be keeping an Advent journal starting the first day of Advent to record my thoughts and reflections during this preparatory season before our joyous celebration of Christ’s coming.

Read My Article on The Advent Fast

I am pleased to announce that my article on “The Advent Fast” will be published in Christian Reflection: A Series in Faith and Ethics. To read it you can check their website for when it is published online or subscribe to the print edition. I subscribe to the print edition, and it is a great and rewarding read. Best of all, subscribing to the print edition is free!

More about Christian Reflection:

The Center of Christian Ethics at Baylor University publishes Christian Reflection: A Series in Faith and Ethics quarterly, containing thoughtful Christian reflection and reliable guidance in engaging the ethical dimensions of today’s world. Each issue includes articles, inspirational pieces, reviews, interviews, art and worship and liturgical aids for congregational and personal worship.