Why Do We Fast?
Click here for audio. It is the first Sunday of Lent, that time of preparation for the climax of the Christian year that is Holy Week. We have begun our fasts, however we might understand them. For some of us, the fast might be something positive. So to engage in a Lenten discipline is to join a small group, study a topic or book or author of spiritual significance. For others, it might be something negative—a fast in the more traditional sense—a temporary relinquishing of a good for the sake of something better. At my former College, Lenten fasts were a bit of a novelty for most students. Here were Baptists, Pentecostals, Evangelical Free kids trying to make sense of the three or four Anglican profs who had smudges of ashes on their foreheads. Who talked of fasting. And after a couple of years of observing, a few would try to enter into a Lenten fast. Foregoing Chocolate was a favourite . As was coffee or soda. A ...