Friday, February 19, 2021
Friday after Ash Wednesday
The Rev. Charlie Nichols
The Collect of the Day
Support us, O Lord, with your gracious favor through the fast we have begun; that as we observe it by bodily self-denial, so we may fulfill it with inner sincerity of heart; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Readings: Isaiah 58:1-9a, Matthew 9:10-17 & Psalm 51:1-10
Two of the readings appointed for today, from Isaiah and Matthew, speak of fasting. In the circles I travel in, the notion of fasting doesn’t come up very often, if at all. But if we turn to the source of all knowledge, and Google “fasting,” I get nearly 1.3 billion (with a “b”!) hits. At the bottom of the first page, one catches my eye – “Fasting: God’s Secret Weapon.” I don’t think I want to go there, as the notion of God maintaining an arsenal of weapons – secret or otherwise – is not what I need these days.
When we do encounter fasting, apart from requisite fasting in conjunction with medical procedures, it likely has an attachment to religion. In our tradition, our Ash Wednesday liturgy includes these words of invitation: “I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial …”
I spent the majority of my church life worshipping in an Anglo-Catholic parish and the calendar we used to follow the church year was called the “Ordo Kalendar.” This calendar taught me all sorts of obscure things – like what a Feria is – but it also carried this directive, “On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, both Fast and Abstinence are strictly required.”
Like so many of us who follow an organized religion, we use the cafeteria approach, picking and choosing those elements that appeal to us. For me, fasting and abstinence were infrequent visitors, and still are. Although, I do remember fasting on one Good Friday decades ago and I can still recall the heightened awareness I had of not eating and specifically, why I chose not to eat. Being mindful of not eating opened a space for me to take in a different form of nutrition.
Brother Curtis Almquist from the Society of St. John the Evangelist penned a brief reflection on fasting nearly twenty years ago, but his words are still so totally relevant today. He suggests that we reframe our notion of fasting and look upon it “not in the sense of eliminating something or denying yourself of some food, but fasting in the sense of holding firm, of fastening our resolve to a kind of discipline or practice.” We can shift our notion of fasting to be “an affirmation of some principle rather than a renunciation of some desire.” Doesn’t it sound so much more life-giving to choose an affirmation over a renunciation?
Brother Curtis continues, “You may find an invitation in your soul to do something different, something more, with your time or your money. You may make some kind of daily resolve to practice an act of kindness or generosity with your spouse or partner, with one or more of your colleagues, or neighbors, or family members.”
Friends, in this Lenten season, let me suggest we “fasten our resolve” to hold fast.
Hold fast to kindness.
Hold fast to generosity.
Hold fast to one another, friend and stranger alike, for as St. Paul reminds us, God shows no partiality.