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The Upload

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

I pray that you have had a blessed week.

We have officially started the Season of Lent and for many, we immediately think about fasting. I cannot tell you how many people have said to me, “So, what are you giving up for Lent?” So far, I know of people who are giving up chocolate, coffee (I could never do this!), Coke, all sweets, and one person told me that were going to stop watching reality TV. The irony of all this fasting is that for most of us, the longest this fast will last is until Easter. Then, on Easter, we will jump right back in to our old ways. On Easter Sunday, we will stuff ourselves with Chocolate, or drink a pot of coffee, or, well, you get the point. We will fast, but we won’t really change our lives for the long-term.

According to scripture the point of fasting has always been to help us change our lives, or the lives of others. The prophet Isaiah said that true fasting is done so that the bonds of injustice are loosened, so that the ties of the yoke that oppresses may be broken, and so that the oppressed can be set free. Isaiah then goes on to say that fasting is done so that we might share our bread with the hungry and be able to bring the homeless into our fold (Isaiah 58:6-9).

The real point of fasting is that fasting in supposed to help us refocus our faith. Fasting should help us grow as children of God and help us understand better how we might help and be a bigger part of building God’s church. Fasting is a discipline that is supposed to help us come to know God in a new and refreshing way, but for many fasting is only seen as punishment for being overweight or as way of simply giving up something that gives us joy and neither of this reasons are scriptural. Fasting is often scene as something we are supposed to do that will help us understand suffering and Lent is a perfect time for that, right?

But that is not what Lent is intended to be about at all. Lent is a time of renewal and a time of action. In John’s Gospel, Jesus first invites his followers to “Come and see.” He invites them to walk with him and share his life, which is how they will get to know him, and where they will get to know themselves better and what their purpose in life is. The disciplines of Lent, prayer, alms giving and fasting are all intended to be actions that will help us enter into a closer relationship with Christ and help us know ourselves better so we can better serve Christ and the world. WE do not do these things so htat we might be saved, for we are already saved, but we do them as a f=gracious response to Christ and his saving faith in us.

As one writer recently said, “Faith in Christ alone saves us, but his intention is for an active, communal faith that blesses us and others. It is a faith that calls us to assemble regularly to feast on his word, share our gifts to honor God as well as for the good of others, and it is a faith that calls us to action. It isafaith that calls us to care for all in need and find ways to be Christ-like to the world.

So, as we begin this Lenten journey, I pray that you find ways to open your heart and your minds to Christ and that through these actions, you come to know him and yourself better so that you might be discover ways that you, too, can be part of loosening the bonds of injustice, and offer freedom to those who are oppressed

Have a blessed week.

Shalom,

Pastor Dave

“O taste and see that the Lord is good …” (Psalm 34:8).

Tags: Weekly Word