Fastenzeit is Here!
Our Lord Christ tells us that when we fast we are to do so without making a show of it, or big deal about it, nor to disfigure our faces, nor to make sure others know we are fasting, but simply just to do it.Tomorrow, Ash Wednesday, begins the Lenten fast.
Christ assumes we do fast “when you fast,” he said, not “if you fast.” If this is so why did fasting fall out of favor among Lutherans? Probably, like most things like this, out of fear of Roman errors associated with it, and of course there are many such errors lurking and skulking about, but as the old saying goes, “Abuse does not negate use.”
And so, friends, let’s consider that in our Lutheran Church we do still confess that fasting is a “fine outward bodily discipline” as we say with Small Catechism. In fact, the Lenten season has been known since the Reformation with the word “Fastenzeit” which means, “Fasting time.”
And, while “giving up something for Lent” has become a popular substitute for fasting, let’s be sure we are clear on what fasting is. Fasting means not to eat as much. To forego a meal, or a portion of a meal, and to do so with intentionality and to let that time of hunger pain remind us to watch and pray, to remind us that our hunger should not be for bread alone, but every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Fasting is simply to be an aid for our devotional life in the Word and prayer.
Here is a great article on the Lenten fast from Pastor Weedon.
Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday? This must be one of those one-year lectionary things…
I’m going to keep munching until March 9th, but good article nonetheless!
in Christ,
jW
Was this a scheduled post?
I’m confused. I thought Ash Wednesday was March 9th this year.
Ash Wednesday tomorrow (Saturday)? What kind of calendar are you following?
“Tomorrow, Ash Wednesday”?
I assume that you did not mean to post this for a couple more weeks. Tomorrow is Saturday and Ash Wednesday is not until March 9th 2011. Your last line of the first paragraph set my heart a little pitter-patter. Thanks for the post.
This gives new meaning to the term “Pre-Lent.”
Here in South Louisiana we keep a very close watch on the calendar between the 12th Night of Christmas and midnight on Mardi Gras because society is very busy here then and one does have to keep her ball dresses in order to get through the season. However, great article otherwise, to fast is to be hungry in the tummy, got it. Why else all the gluttony of carnivale? Have you ever been in the Quarter at midnight that last night when the cathedral bells begin to toll and the police on horseback march side to side and clear the crowds out with the water trucks spraying down the road right behind them. “Party’s over, go home and get hungry.”
Are we under the Julian calendar again?!
Thank God! March is already here! Whatever happened to February and the rest of Epiphanytide? I guess a day in the sight of the Lord is possibly a month’s worth of our time. How fast time flies! Let me know when September arrives!
today is my son’s 14th birthday. He was telling me he wasn’t sure what to give up for Lent. I gave him the evil smile and suggested fasting, cuz it is traditional and that is kind of where the give up something idea came from. He looked at me and said, uh, no. Needless to say, at his age, he is always hungry anyway. Too funny.
I’m not sure about the posts I’m reading. I just received this post today, which is, by the way, Ash Wednesday. Fasting is a many splendored thing. Last year, I skipped the first two meals on Ash Wednesday. It took most of the rest of the week to get my blood sugar back into line. Think I’ll be a little less gung-ho about this year.