Category Archives: fasting

Jesus Doesn’t Belong in an Egg…that’d be awkward.

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Did you do it? Did you practice Lent this year? Did you give up something that you value or enjoy for 40 days (remember that Sundays don’t count)? There should be a large cloud of people who will finally eat a piece of meat today, who will order a beer with lunch, or who will sign back into Facebook. The idea, right?, is that for 40 days you’ve been living in the reality of a dead God. God died for three days and during Lent we honor/grieve that reality through our own small attempt at giving up a piece of life. All throughout Lent Sundays are a break from that because Sundays are resurrection days, they’re the days that we celebrate the good news that God is no longer dead and that we have no fear of death.

So today, on Easter Sunday, the final piece to the lenten puzzle, all you fast-ers finally are set free from the grief of a dead God (and the loss of your TV time…or whatever you gave up). Congratulations! You did it! God’s not dead anymore and neither is your apetite!

Let me be honest and say that I didn’t give up a single thing for Lent. It just seemed foolish to give up one more thing when I’m already struggling with so much being taken from me. I know that’s not a very spiritual approach…but it is what it is. (insert lots of jokes here about giving up cancer for lent, giving up chemo for lent, etc. Those jokes are always funny…seriously) But the celebration that happens on Easter Sunday is becoming more core to my heart and my identity than ever before: resurrection.

If we don’t have hope in resurrection then what do we have? Because of Easter I’m freed to anticipate a new body that doesn’t suck, a restored world that is no longer broken, a continued life that isn’t marred or marked by death, an invitation to live this life free from the fear of death, an invitation to bring to this world what I know will be true in the resurrection: peace, harmony, love, community, beauty, etc. If I know its going to be true then than I have no reason not to invite that reality into today’s world–to live into that reality today. For example, if I know that in God’s intended and promised future that ALL peoples will be gathered around one table (a metaphor) then I know that if I live into that today there is no space for prejudice, racism, and exclusivism. What I know to be true later I can try to make true today. It’s an invitation to live differently, to live into the future in the way that Marty McFly did in Back to the Future (sorry, bad illustration).

Anyway, it is important that those who are following Jesus don’t get caught up in trying to make Easter a Christian holiday. It’s not. Easter (as a holiday) is about family coming together, candy, bunnies, and eggs. It takes too much work to try to find a way to spiritualize eggs, bunnies, and candies. Dont’ do it. You look funny when you do. Easter is an awesome time for our families and neighbors to come together and have fun, don’t ruin it by attempting to argue and push Jesus into those little plastic eggs. Jesus doesn’t belong in an egg. Candy does (everyone knows that right?).

Instead we need to embrace and celebrate the end of Lent. Call it Easter Sunday if you want, call it whatever you want, but today (for those who are following the Jesus way) is a day to remember as fully as you can that you’ve been given the greatest dual invitation ever:

  1. Freedom from death through the promise of resurrection
  2. Living into that, as of yet, only partially realized promise today through “resurrection living” (i.e. showing hospitality, impartiality, a commitment to peace, etc.)

So don’t miss the Easter egg hunts: they’re too much fun and of too much value.

But also do not miss the end of Lent: it’s too beautiful to waste.

Are you Practicing Ramadan?

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So my brother-in-law Ben is practicing Ramadan for the next few weeks in Bellingham where he works as a pastor of the Sterling Drive Church of Christ. Intrigued? Enraged? Impressed?
Read the article that ran in the Bellingham Herald newspaper, read peoples responses, and also take time to read Brian Mclaren’s blog about why he is doing it. Are you comfortable with this?

Article about Ben: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/102/story/1045056.html
Brian Mclaren’s blog: http://www.brianmclaren.net/archives/blog/ramadan-2009-part-1-whats-going.html

Let me tell you my quick thoughts about the whole thing. Ben’s not a Muslim. He’s not even trying to agitate things or “stir the pot”. I think he is doing what he can to learn to listen to the world around him, to learn to listen to the people around him that Jesus loves and died for. Ramadan is a season of prayer and fasting, both of which are traditional Christian practices. It’s not as if he’s joining in with sacrifices or or pilgrimage or some sort of practice that all Christians should not already be doing. I’m impressed by what he’s doing and I’m looking forward to hearing his observations about it. It’s not a stunt in anyway, rather it’s a willingness to go to places that Christians have often avoided, to listen to people that Christians have often been unwilling to listen to, and an openness to feast with people that have been rejected in normal Christian circles. Take some time to read through the gospels and tell me that Jesus did not feast with the “worst of sinners”, that he wasn’t willing to go to places that were considered off limits to “good God fearing folks” (do some research about Caesarea Philippi), and that Jesus didn’t listen to those who were considered rejects by the religious elite.

peace.

Ladies and Lentlemen

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How’d you like my title? Pretty witty eh? Sometimes I out due myself when trying to impress my readership. Can you feel it?

Do you practice Lent? Have you found it to be of value? I’ll be honest, sometimes I have a hard time translating fasting into a tangible spiritual practice. Often times during Lent I just miss eating sweets but I don’t feel any closer to God. Maybe I should fast from sinning, or I could fast laziness. Have you had this same struggle? Is the value of fasting in general simply the act of submitting yourself to something? Is that good enough? Or should I, when my hunger pains or sugar withdraws hit me instantly fall on my knees in worship or confession? That seems more spiritual right?

So many questions.

I’m a minister you know. I’m supposed to be answering these questions! I think, though, that I would be happy with myself if I always erred on the side of asking more questions than I answer.

In the end, for Lent this year, I’m going to try to fast from something that will be hard for me to give up, that will require changed behaviors (for better or worse), and will hopefully remind myself that I have the daily choice to submit to an all loving God whose desire it is to give deeper hope to mankind. I’m giving up sports. Sports talk radio and checking out my sports stuff on the world wide webula. Are you impressed? I didn’t think so.