For Such A Time as This – March 3, 2021 – Dennis Lohr

To the Good Folk of the Palmyra Church of the Brethren,
 
Joys and Concerns
If you have a joy or concern you would like us to share and pray about, please call, text, or email it to me.  If you would like it included in our Sunday Worship sharing and prayer time, please share it with Pastor Bill that week by Thursday evening. 
 
See this Saturday’s “Weekly Up” email for any new prayer concerns.
 
Thank You:
To all who call others to check in on them and to share our emails and devotions.
 
Today’s Devotion:
Continuing our Lenten theme on the prayers of Jesus, I offer these reflections and ideas for deepening our relationship with God.
Shalom,
Dennis
 
Scriptures
Luke 4:1-2
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished.
 
Matthew 6:16-18
And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
 
Thoughts
The text from Luke 4 contains the opening verses of last Sunday’s scripture reading and prompted the sermon title “Jesus Fasts (and prays) for Discernment.  In that sermon I talked about both fasting from food and other ways of fasting.  Please feel free to listen, or listen again, to that sermon.
 
The text from Matthew comes from Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount,” a collection of sayings and teachings of Jesus.  It is in a group of three spiritual practices (including almsgiving and prayer) that Jesus counsels to be done with humility and in secret (so as not to draw attention and praise to yourself).
 
I do not have a regular practice of fasting from food.  On three occasions I have participated in 30 Hour Famines, a mostly youth activity which uses fasting as a way to better understand the experience of hunger and to raise money for hunger relief.  A personal fasting experience, not related to food, might include countless Sr. High homeless lockouts, entire winter nights spent in cardboard boxes in the church parking lot, again to better understand and to raise money for relief.  Another might be numerous disaster relief trips, where disaster zone accommodations were clearly limited due to a scarcity of basic resources. 
 
Have you had similar experiences, chosen or not, where normal luxuries or even necessities of life are limited or nonexistent for a time?  What positive impact did those experiences have on you?  Perhaps, even now, we are all experiencing the reality of social contact fasting.   Chosen or unchosen, what are the COVID safety restrictions teaching us about what is really important and what is less important, or not important at all?
 
If you have not tried food fasting before, here are some simple guidelines.  1) Check with your doctor to make sure it is safe for you to try, and for any health-related advice if you decide to abstain from food.  2) Start small.  Try skipping one meal the first time.  Later try skipping two, and so on.  3) Stay hydrated!  Fasting does not include going without water.  Going without water for even a short period of time becomes quickly dangerous.  4) Plan activities to keep you busy as you fast.  This helps keep your mind off being so hungry.  Service activities add an extra spiritual value to the experience.  5) Although, as Jesus counseled, you don’t need to make a big show of things, fasting with someone else or with a group can provide some needed support and encouragement.  6)  Even though you are hungry, when the fast is over, don’t eat a large and heavy meal.  Start slowly with juices and broths, then with soups and so on.  Give your stomach time to readjust from being empty, or you will have an angry stomach.
 
Whether you try fasting from food or from something else, I encourage you to try.  May God bless the best intentions of your heart, your choices and your actions, drawing you ever closer to God and to the world that God loves so deeply.
 
Prayer
Gracious God, as we ponder spiritual practices like fasting, may we, like Jesus, be led by your Spirit.  Amen.