Giving Up

I ran across a few things surfing the web today about the Season of Lent. A Chicago Tribune columnist is asking readers to share with him their funny stories about giving something up for Lent. He gave examples of people giving up Facebook for the 40 day fast, a child giving up Playstation (but not X-Box), and a Saturday Night Live character giving up menthol cigarettes. Another site asked the question: Are you giving up beer for Lent?

I think there is value in giving something up for Lent. We are society of instant gratification. We can have pretty much anything we want... right this second. I could obtain a burger, a weather forecast, have a conversation with a cousin in Colorado, purchase a bottle Bordeaux wine, or find a box score for Game 5 of the 1982 World Series within 20 minutes. For the most part, the world is at my doorstep or at my fingertips. Therefore, to purposely go without something for Lent can be a powerful spiritual experience. We depend so much on the gods we surround ourselves with that we forget our true God who is the source of our life and being. A daily discipline of going without even one item or habit you treasure can remind you of your sinfulness and help you seek God.

But lately my mind has been centered on words from Isaiah 58. It lifts up concerns about fasting: the kinda concerns that create our so called "funny stories" about Lent. After all, more often than not we will fail in our endeavor. We will break the fast to early or turn the whole thing into a big joke. (Like God doesn't know you play X-Box instead of Playstation. Who are you trying to kid? Just who are you fasting for?) Too often our fasting causes us to turn inward and think only of ourselves and our pitiful situation. We don't end up looking for God, just for ways out. Serving others for our fast? Not likely.

If you are not familiar with the Isaiah 58 text, I included a portion of it in my post about Abraham Lincoln. But I want to lift up verses 6 and 7 again: "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?"

How about giving Isaiah 58:6-7 a try for your Lenten fast this year. You may fall short once again and not live up to what it requires but there no better way to look outside yourself this season of Lent than to intentionally seek out those in need. The fast becomes you giving up the chocolate or the burger so you can give it to someone else.

A friend of mine for some time now has been giving up his Whopper lunches at Burger King, not just to become more healthy, but to use the money saved to feed the hungry. Somehow, that seems to be the type of fasting God would have chosen for Lent.