Day 4: Fasting and Spiritual Discernment
The Rev. Noelle Damico, Associate for Fair Food, Presbyterian Hunger Program
Scripture
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:1-2)
Reflection
What does it mean to live faithfully within a sinful world; a world groaning for redemption, a world which God loves passionately? In fasting (prayer) step onto a threshold between worlds, a liminal place where we become a doorway through which the brokenness of the world and the love of God meet. We make ourselves available to be part of God’s transforming work. And we listen for the way that God is calling us personally to bear witness to this love.
Fasting has historically been a part of spiritual discernment. In the book of Jonah, we remember that the king and people of Nineveh fasted as a sign of repentance – as a way to say to God, please, give us a second chance to live rightly. Their fast was one borne from the recognition that their ways were not pleasing to God and they trembled for what might happen. They became aware that how they lived was not merely an individual issue, but that their lives intersected with the lives of others in their city and in their society. The prophet Jonah woke them up with God’s word. They saw that for good or ill, they were in this life together and needed to live in ways that respected one another and God intention for our world. Such fasting for repentance opened the people of Nineveh to God in a new way. While they began their fast out of fear of God, they discovered instead, God’s abounding, astounding mercy. They discovered that God did not desire their demise, but their flourishing, their wholeness. And they committed themselves to living differently, to loving God and their neighbor.
Following his baptism, the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness. There he fasted for forty days, turning aside from temptations to use his power for kingdoms or splendor, and pledging himself to God and God’s desire alone. What is that desire? The prophet Isaiah announces God’s desire in the biblical reading for Ash Wednesday, “is this not the fast that I choose, to loose the bonds of injustice…” (Isaiah 58:1-12).
The Rev. Michael Livingston, an ordained minister in the PC(USA) and the Director of the National Council of Church’s Poverty Initiative explains why he is fasting.
We are all in this life together. We are all fed from the bounty of the earth. I am going to join farm workers in Lakeland, FL in a fast as part of the Fair Food Campaign. I do not regard this as a hardship on my part. By God’s grace I can offer the luxury of my time to brothers and sisters whose humanity I value as much as my own. I count it a privilege, as the season of Lent begins, to, as Paul asks of us in Romans 12:1: “…present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”
Some Presbyterians are farmworkers harvesting tomatoes. Other Presbyterians are consumers, purchasing those tomatoes in the aisles of Publix and other grocery stores. Still other Presbyterians are executives of grocery chains. And others are growers.
From the practice of fasting we should be able to see God’s vision of justice and well-being for our world more clearly and become determined to live with integrity. Fasting helps us identify the grave injustices around us, acknowledge and take responsibility for our participation and complicity in such injustice, and prepares us to act with God to transform ourselves and our world. Through this Fast for Fair Food, may we become part of God’s holy, transforming work.
Question for reflection
To what is God calling you within this movement for fair food?
Prayer
God of mercy, open our hearts that we may sense your love and leading. Make us aware of how we are connected to our neighbors near and far. Especially deepen our awareness of how we are connected to one another in our food system. We pray for the Fair Food Program and the way it has brought respect and dignity into relationships between farmworkers, growers and corporate buyers. We pray for the ongoing work of implementation and monitoring. We pray that Publix and other corporate buyers would join in this work of transformation. Direct us God, toward the justice and well-being for which we were created. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
